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Fake Rumors of Steve Jobs Heart Attack Circulate

huh?

Dejavu said:
This is a non-story.
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Tell that to the investors who lost money this morning.

Tell that to those who had stop loss orders executed because of this fake.

This kind of behavior is inappropriate and is indeed a story.
 
4chan has gotten out of hand.

I'm not gonna lie, I kind of enjoy the site, as much as it's the @$-hole of the internet, it still at times can be brilliantly funny (see chocolate rain, rick-rolling, lol-cats, Anonymous, Project Chanology and famously hacking Sarah Palin).

This all ties into their "goodnight sweet prince" meme. It is a concept where you take a celebrity, never really a A-list celebrity (though sometimes it is) and they spread rumors that the person is dead. There is also a picture of the person (usually not the most flattering) with a photoshopped banner that usually reads "Goodnight Sweet Prince/Princess" depending on who it is. They did it recently with Oprah and that made some headlines.
 
Ah the Internet! Isn't it great how anyone.... ANYONE can spread false rumors about Steve Jobs' health, which then results in a direct slam of AAPL shares, which could (assuming the value doesn't recover for a while) conceivably devastate the wealth and or 401k retirement investments of thousands of people? Amazing.

It's stupid greed-based short-selling stunts like THIS... which will eventually lead to stronger and stronger draconian Federal regulation/legislation --- SOCIALIST REGULATION --- of Wall Street in the long term. Eventually, it will destroy what free-market capitalism is left in the USA.
 
mr_matalino said:
Stock manipulation is crime. Those responsible should be prosecuted.
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Let's demand an investigation from that website. Along with "outing" the original poster's IP adress, their home address. And demand an FBI investigation as well as an SEC investigation (for criminal stock manipulation). :D
 
Negative in a "positive" way?

TheQuestion said:
Positive because it's false?
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tgildred said:
People may have voted positive to say, "thank god, it's only a rumor." Or, "I'm glad MacRumors and other sites are highlighting this as fake, so people can stop panicking and dumping stock." The positive/negative voting system is very subjective.
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Hmmm, you two may have a point.

But surely the fact that this rumour appeared in the first place, the fact that the stock price was affected because of it and the fact that it still circulated (and may still be circulating) around various websites with people believing it's true, should be a major cause for concern and portray this story as a negative one?

However...

tgildred said:
The positive/negative voting system is very subjective.
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...I agree with this 100%. Time and time again this has found to be the case with regards many stories on this site. This is not helped by MR's very own ambiguous explanation for the rating system! ;)
 
Saladinos said:
Steve isn't blameless these kinds of things happen. The culture of secrecy he created at Apple makes rumours and speculation on areas important to the company.

There is some shared responsibility here. He doesn't have to make everything public, but he has options to crush the rumours. He could, for example, ask his doctor to submit his medical records to the SEC, so they can verify his health and release a statement. Jobs' health is a major issue for shareholders - if you want to have that much influence on other peoples' money, you have to sacrifice some privacy.
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That is bull, I mean it's the man's private life for friggin sake, why should anybody be privy to his private life and health, the world is screwed up right now, actually putting blame on someone for spreading a rumour about him having a heart attack. :mad::rolleyes:
 
jcb10 said:
Sounds like someone's short-selling, trying to pick up some cheap APPL.
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Sounds like someone is about to get a visit from the feds and they won't be bringing a medal. They, will, however, be bringing some metal to adorn their hands as they do the perp walk. Book 'em, Danno!
 
MacTraveller said:
It's stupid greed-based short-selling stunts like THIS... which will eventually lead to stronger and stronger draconian Federal regulation/legislation --- SOCIALIST REGULATION --- of Wall Street in the long term. Eventually, it will destroy what free-market capitalism is left in the USA.
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Um. Market manipulation like this is already illegal. I suspect the authorities are already on the case.
 
mspman said:
I SWEAR if I catch the &@#$&^@!*$Y%&$)*@#%*#$!)@#$&%@&^!#)$&@$%&!^@#$)@#$%&@#)!#&*%#$) who did this I'm going to rip him a new Macbook Air. I am SO TORQUED by this. My call options lost $1 in 10 minutes because of this and they're not exactly recovering right now.

WHY THE HECK IS IT TRADING AT $104!! AAPL should be trading at $110 easy! :mad:

Okay, rant over. Time for some relaxing music. :)
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it's a tragic that some investment decisions are betted on the physical and phycological health of another human being rather than the financial health of a company.

daniel chow
philadelphia, pa
 
Yeah....

It'd only be rated positive if Steve *really* suffered from a heart attack, right?

(My point here is, these "positive" or "negative" ratings on stories here are incredibly pointless.... You never know why someone really rates a given story one way vs. the other. All depends on perspective.)

One person might say this story was "negative" because they're angered by the prank, while the next person might rate it "positive" because they're happy to hear it was, indeed, a made-up story.


xix said:
To anyone who rated this "positive": die in a fire.

Edit: Also, 4chan is not "unmoderated." Way to fact check.
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Chupa Chupa said:
Um. Market manipulation like this is already illegal. I suspect the authorities are already on the case.
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Illegal, but historically, it was rarely prosecuted until very recently (e.g. Enron). The fact that the nation is now clamoring for scapegoats in Wall Street.... means that the voices are getting louder demanding strong regulation (PREVENTATIVE) so that this manipulation crap is avoided in the first place. Eventually, when the extreme regulation mindset grows louder.... free market capitalism will suffer. Suffice to say, THAT will be bad for everyone, everyone.... except for maybe fans of Marxism and Socialism (who will claim victory).
 
The stock market is manipulated by rumors all the time. Oil companies have been doing it a lot the past few years. This isn't new, even if it is egregious.
 
Adjei said:
That is bull, I mean it's the man's private life for friggin sake, why should anybody be privy to his private life and health, the world is screwed up right now, actually putting blame on someone for spreading a rumour about him having a heart attack. :mad::rolleyes:
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Unfortunately when a company has a lot at stake in the hands of one person a certain portion of the share price is based around the fact that that person remains at the company and is in good health and able to lead the company. Because of this the shareholders do want to know that Jobs is in good health and not potentially in a position where he would need to leave the company on short notice without a proper transition plan in place.

The health of almost all employees is off limits, just once you get to the highest levels of the company (and this would apply to almost all listed companies) there is a definate need for openess and a well documented transition plan.

some examples:

Apple - Jobs
Microsoft - Gates (organized hand over did not impact shares)
Oracle - Ellison
Berkshire Hathaway - Buffet
Dell - Dell

If Apple was not a listed company then they are under no obligations to provide any information other than what is required by law and I guess that would mainly be more tax related and available under freedom of information.
 
kingtj said:
They've already got him in the waiting room, practicing throwing around the chairs.... he'll be back to normal in no time.
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He is chanting 'Developers, Developers, Developers, Develop me a Penis, Developers.' (the latest report from iReport)
 
danielchow said:
it's a tragic that some investment decisions are betted on the physical and phycological health of another human being rather than the financial health of a company.

daniel chow
philadelphia, pa
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See my previous posts, the health of Apple, at least viewed from outside the company is in part based on Steve Jobs being healthy and able to function as CEO etc. Apple is Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs is Apple. Regardless of whether Steve invents the products or not, he is viewed as instrumental in making Apple what it is.
 
The false rumors are malicious, that seems to be consensus.

However, IMHO, Apple could dampen future speculation about Jobs' health in a more pro-active manner: publicly make it known that Chairman Steve is actively grooming an heir to the throne, some 2 or 3 brilliant persons in Apple who might one day ease the transition of leadership-transfer when the day comes that Chairman Steve must retire from active duty. At the very least, that would easy the fears of long-term investors. The challenging part here is that Apple (somehow) needs to convince investors that they DO have some great future leaders (candidate successors) just waiting in the wings.
 
jbernie said:
See my previous posts, the health of Apple, at least viewed from outside the company is in part based on Steve Jobs being healthy and able to function as CEO etc. Apple is Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs is Apple. Regardless of whether Steve invents the products or not, he is viewed as instrumental in making Apple what it is.
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"I am France! And France is me!" - Napoleon Bonaparte, 1804
 
Oh boy. I hate to say it but Ole Stevo is on his way out. Something is wrong with that chap. Either its mental or physical but NOBODY looks that skinny unless there is a major problem. Here are the possibilites:

1. Thin is in: He is OBSESSED with thin and refuses to eat = Mental Problem.
2. Cancer: His cancer is back and he is fighting it.
3. Drugs: He is addicted to crack. Would explain a lot.


And the last option...

4. Normal: There is nothing wrong with him. This one is the most unlikely. His appearance gives him away.


This is why a stupid rumor of his death is so quickly received as fact. Everyone knows its coming soon, they are just waiting for the first person to admit it. Heck, Apple knows the stock will plummet when he finally goes. I wouldn't be surprised if it is covered up for a while weekend at Bernie's style just to keep the stock up until they can figure something out.
 
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