Dow Jones & Co., the parent of Dow Jones Newswires, The Wall Street Journal and MarketWatch.com, apologized Tuesday for sending out a false story and headlines about Google acquiring Apple.
The headlines and story were published on its Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday between 9:34 and 9:36 a.m. ET.
The items, which were never intended for publication, were accidentally published as part of a technology test.
“I take today’s inadvertent and erroneous publication of testing materials extremely seriously,” said William Lewis, CEO of Dow Jones and publisher of The Journal, in a statement. “While immediate corrective action has been taken, I have also ordered a review of news and technology processes in this area.”
The story noted that Google was acquiring Apple for $9 billion. Apple currently has a market capitalization of more than $850 billion.
The headlines included:
“DJ UPDATE: Google, Apple Join to Create Tech Giant”
“DJ Google to buy Apple for $9 billion”
“DJ Google Says Yay”
“DJ Google Says Steve Jobs Suggested this in His Will”
