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Update May 16, 2012: German publication Handelsblatt (via Bloomberg) quoted Chief Executive Officer Oliver Seidl of German TV manufacturer Loewe as saying the company has had “no contact” with Apple regarding an acquisition.
Less than a month after posting a false claim about Apple’s CEO Tim Cook visiting the Valve HQ, ole’ Danny Dilger claimed this weekend that Apple is moving to acquire a German TV manufacturer called “Loewe.” Again, we did not run with the story, because we preferred to mock it instead via Twitter. Not only has that story been debunked, but more allegations about Foxconn’s CEO Terry Gou having confirmed an Apple television are now being denied by the company. Oh, and Digitimes’ track record…
Just as Valve’s CEO debunked the previous claim, Loewe’s told German newspaper Hesse (via TNW) that “there was nothing to the rumor.”
Some originally even made connections between the Loewe’s rumor and recent reports from China Daily that quoted Foxconn’s CEO Terry Gou as claiming the company is preparing for an Apple television. As expected, Foxconn now confirmed to TNW that Gou “neither [confirmed] nor [speculated] about Foxconn’s involvement in the production of any product.”
It makes sense, as Fortune’s Philip Elmer-Dewitt pointed out, reports from Bloomberg, Reuters, and Associated Press all seemed to miss the quote. Even with denial from the companies, that is not stopping Loewe’s stock price from going crazy as markets open in Germany this morning.
As noted by PaidContent, Loewe’s stock price skyrocketed by a whopping 25-percent this morning on rumors of being acquired by Apple. At closing bell on Friday, Loewe’s market cap sat at €59.1 million. However, fast forward to this morning: It has increased by over €18 million to a cool €77 million. That is after Loewe’s PR denied any rumors of an acquisition and with the European market being slammed this morning.
In other debunking news, TIME’s Harry McCracken today put Taipei-based Digitimes under the microscope; when it comes to its Apple rumor track record, the publication is “wrong most of the time.” The result of the report, which breaks down the accuracy of some of the website’s biggest past claims, is that “Digitimes rarely does anything other than to simply pass along gossip it’s heard.” You can read the full breakdown here.
Related articles
- Rumor: Foxconn exec says ‘iTV’ preparations are underway (9to5mac.com)
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