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Aaron Greenspan
Who writes these headlines?
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May 25, 2024 at 12:14 AM EDT •  Reply |
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Aaron Greenspan
Today, in an article about Carvana Co. (CVNA) earnings—which were moved suddenly last night from early August to this morning, before market open—CNBC neglected to mention what Bloomberg referred to as a $1 billion share issuance. From a share price perspective, CNBC covered the positive, which was that Carvana had restructured part of its debt, but apparently glossed over the negative, which was that existing shareholders would be diluted.
The information about the share issuance was stated in the SEC forms filed by the company, but not in its press release. This isn't too surprising because Carvana Co. (CVNA) is run by a convicted felon and his son. Also, they sell used cars. Any reasonable person, let alone journalist, might be skeptical and on guard especially given the late-breaking change of earnings announcement and the fact that the internet was abuzz last night with rumors of new shares being issued.
I pointed this out to the reporter on the article, Mike Wayland. At 5:27 A.M. PDT, he said, "Thank you for the email. You are completely correct, that should be in there. Was unfortunately distracted with another editing problem and missed that. It is being updated now." This was about an hour-and-a-half after the news broke, and Carvana Co. (CVNA) stock was up 35% and climbing. When I pointed out that there should be an alert to offset the first alert containing the omission, he balked, stating, "articles are frequently updated as information becomes available."
The problem is that the information was available when Mike wrote his article. He just didn't bother to do any research.
Presumably Mike's billion-dollar editing error is fixed now. But it's not clear that it matters; the damage is done. |
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July 19, 2023 at 12:48 PM EDT • Reply |
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Aaron Greenspan
Catching up on last week's CNBC misinformation...
On Thursday, July 13th, CNBC published a headline suggesting that Ripple had sued the SEC and won a victory. No. The SEC sued Ripple. Which makes things slightly different. I've talked about why that order is a logical disaster elsewhere. (So has Matt Levine, who practically wrote a book about it in his newsletter for Bloomberg.)
Then, on Friday, July 14th, CNBC reported that the FTC's Ninth Circuit appeal had been denied—in a day. The headline was basically accurate, that the "bid," meaning "motion," for a preliminary injunction had been denied. But denying one motion in an appeal is a very different thing than denying an entire appeal.
Fortunately, CNBC corrected both of these problems after I explained them. But come on guys.
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July 17, 2023 at 12:15 PM EDT • Reply |
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Aaron Greenspan
I am going to start documenting all of the errors I find on CNBC.
CNBC is a really important media outlet and crucial resource for public markets. But the frequency with which it posts misinformation is just astonishing, and that's not even counting the infamous Jim Cramer, who I'm embarrassed to say graduated from the same school I did.
So here's a story from a few days ago. Coinbase Global, Inc. (COIN) filed an Answer in the SEC's lawsuit alleging that it had sold unregistered securities. CNBC reported, both on its website and in a video segment, that Coinbase Global, Inc. (COIN) had asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit. That wasn't true. If it had, it would have filed a Motion to Dismiss, effectively the opposite of an Answer. The video segment even said that Coinbase Global, Inc. (COIN) had asked for dismissal even as the graphic displayed showed the document filed, which clearly said "Answer" on the first page. Apparently editors don't know the difference, which is concerning.
Today, reporting on a confusing court order on summary judgment in the SEC's lawsuit against Ripple, CNBC reported "The news marks the end of a three-year battle between Ripple and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which initiated a lawsuit against the company in 2020 for breaching U.S. securities laws by selling XRP without first registering it with the agency." See https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/13/xrp-surges-after-judge-delivers-a-huge-win-to-ripple-in-its-case-against-the-sec.html. That's also not true. The court order says a trial will be scheduled, so the case is ongoing.
There will undoubtedly be more to come. |
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July 13, 2023 at 12:46 PM EDT • Reply |
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