False web report plays havoc with Apple stock

A false Internet report that Apple Inc's Steve Jobs had suffered a heart attack briefly slammed his company's stock on Friday and raised fresh questions about the delicate relationship between traditional and new media.

The posting on iReport.com -- a citizen journalist site owned by Time Warner Inc's CNN -- is the most recent incident in which a faulty online report created brief, but wrenching, confusion among investors.

Apple quickly denied the report about its chief executive, but not before its stock dropped more than 2 percent, hitting a 17-month low of $94.65. It later recovered, climbing as much as 4 percent, before closing at $97.07, down 3.03 percent for the day.

The report claimed Jobs was rushed to the emergency room after suffering "a major heart attack." CNN later removed the posting from iReport.com and disabled the user's account.

"iReport.com is an entirely user-generated site where the content is determined by the community," CNN said in a statement. "Content that does not comply with Community Guidelines will be removed. After the content in question was uploaded to iReport.com, the community brought it to our attention."