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Jabil Acquisition Post A Hoax

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By RICHARD MULLINS

rmullins@tampatrib.com

Published: December 3, 2008

At first glance, it looked like huge news for Jabil Circuit Inc.

Late Monday night, a news release popped up online that said the St. Petersburg electronics maker was making an unsolicited bid to take over its much larger rival Flextronics Inc.

In the world of electronics, that would be like Pepsi trying to buy Coca-Cola. Jabil makes some of the world's best-known electronics, such as Nokia cell phones and Philips DVD players. Flextronics makes electronics for Sony-Ericsson, Xerox, Kyocera and Nortel among others.

The release even included an ebullient quote, purportedly from Jabil Chief Executive Officer Tim Main, about the virtues of the deal.

Here's the catch: It's not true; It's a hoax. A sophisticated and authentic-looking hoax. "It's bizarre," said Jabil spokeswoman Beth Walters.

Jabil isn't trying to buy Flextronics. It is trying to find out who would publish a hoax like that and why. Jabil has dispatched its attorneys to have the fake release removed from the site where it first appeared, PRLog.org.

That Web site purports to distribute news releases free from anyone who wants to post them. This one included a good deal of accurate information about Jabil, but the phone number listed for the company's St. Petersburg headquarters was a listed number for suburban Atlanta. Messages left with PRLog.org Tuesday were not returned.

Still, the fake story was the buzz of Jabil's hallways at corporate headquarters Tuesday morning. Walters sent out an internal e-mail to employees, letting them know the news was fake. If the hoax manages to grow further or cause any serious confusion in the ranks of investors and analysts, Jabil will send out its own news release, Walters said. That one would be authentic.

Jabil's stock fell 7 cents Tuesday to close at $6.13.

Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at (813) 259-7919.

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