Apple shareholders unwilling to swallow any more iPhone and Leopard delays
In the 23 minutes of turmoil between the minute the rumor of the delay of Apple’s iPhone and its new Leopard operating system hit the stock market, and Apple’s announcement that the email that started the rumor was “fake and did not come from Apple”, nearly 15 million shares or around 60% of Apple’s normal volume changed hands. Apple’s share price went down 2%.
That spells a lot of money lost for investors, a clear indication that shareholders are unwilling to swallow any more iPhone and Leopard delays.
Apple’s stock plunged after technology news blog Engadget posted information on “authority” saying Apple had delayed the iPhone until October, and Mac OS X Leopard a second time until January 2008.
It turns out that “authority” was a forged e-mail sent to thousands of Apple employees, which was eventually leaked to Engadget.
According to Apple, both the iPhone and Leopard are still on track to ship as previously expected. However, the company declined to offer any comment beyond reiterating that the email “wasn’t authentic” and that both the iPhone and Leopard are on track as previously announced.
Engadget quickly posted a retraction.
The stock recovered most of its lost value, but not before a lot of investors holding complicated positions in the options market got squeezed.
The responses to the post on Engadget that caused the stock price drop were mixed. Many people expressed anger at the trouble the technology blog had caused.
This event makes it crystal clear that Apple shareholders are losing faith in the company and are unwilling to swallow much more bad news from Apple. A stock drop of over two percent within minutes of the news breaking is considered an extreme reaction and may be an indication that shareholders are loosing confidence in Apple.
Apple TV was delayed, and the release date for Leopard has also been pushed back. It seems that this has made shareholders jittery. And today, they demonstrated a willingness to dump stock if there’s a hint of any more delays.
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May 17th, 2007
What balderdash!
To say that ‘shareholders are losing faith in the company’ makes you guys look just as bad at your jobs as the junior scribblers at Engadget..
Just look at the massive impact these market changing products are expected to have! Of course delays would impact the price. What was amazing was how little impact it had, and how quickly it was forgotten. Just as I will forget Tech.Blorge!
I hope the perpetrators get 10 years in clink for it too.
May 17th, 2007
This post kept repeating like a broken record. Half of what you wrote could have been edited out and still have made your point.