GlobeNewswire, we meet again . . .
Shares in Petros Pharmaceuticals, a Nasdaq-listed developer of treatments for erectile dysfunction and penile deformity, are suspended up 230 per cent on apparently fake news that it’s to be acquired. Five minutes before US markets opened, the GlobeNewswire distribution platform sent out a statement announcing a $67.2mn offer from private equity group Henry Crown and Company. It was picked up for repetition on all the usual aggregator services — including Petros’s own investor relations page.
Just under an hour later (also via GlobeNewswire!) Petros “confirmed that a press release issued on July 28, 2022 regarding a purported acquisition of the company was fraudulent and not issued by the Company. The Company is not a party to any such acquisition and has reported the fraudulent activity to Nasdaq.”
You might remember GlobeNewswire from a phony news-drop in September 2021 that claimed Walmart was adopting litecoin. The company blamed that one on a “fraudulent user account”, saying at the time: “This has never happened before and we have already put in place enhanced authentication steps to prevent this isolated incident from occurring in the future.” Hm.
At pixel both the genuine and fake releases are still available on Petros’s website — though with no recall note yet from GlobeNewswire it might not be 100 per cent clear which is which.
