This may be one of the few times when a story about one company NOT acquiring another company makes headlines. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and ICOA INC (PINK:ICOA) sources say that an announcement earlier this morning that said the search engine giant had purchased ICOA Wireless was false. The report said Google purchased the company for $400 million, and many top media outlets picked it up, including TechCrunch, PCWorld, PC Magazine, and others. ValueWalk even fell for the fake report earlier this morning. The release was distributed via PRWeb. Here’s a link to the fake press release in its entirety. At this point no one knows who distributed it.
Google And ICOA Responses To Fake News
Today ICOA INC (PINK:ICOA) CEO George Strouthopoulos said that the information provided in the release was untrue. He also told CNET that his company has “never had any discussions with any potential acquirers” and speculated that a stock promoter may have released the false information. Strouthopoulos said his company would report the false press release to the proper authorities.
An official Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) spokesperson has not yet released a statement on the false news, although sources inside the company do confirm that the search engine giant did not purchase ICOA. In addition, there was no official statement from Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) about its acquisition, which would be extremely unusual. There was also nothing about the supposed acquisition on either Google’s blog or on ICOA’s website.
About ICOA
ICOA INC (PINK:ICOA) is a major player in Wi-Fi networks. Share prices of the stock increased sharply after the “news” about Google’s acquisition of the company was circulated. Trading volume also surged suddenly.
