E-mail Spoof Throws Apple for a Loop

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Dirty, Rotten E-Mail Liar Accuses
 Apple of Being Worth a Lot More

 By JIM CARLTON
 Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal 

 To Apple Computer Inc.'s litany of woes, add a mad e-mailer. 

 The e-mailer struck this week with a copy of a bogus message
 from Sony Corp.'s president threatening a hostile takeover of the
 Cupertino, Calif., computer maker. The "letter" showed up in e-mail
 baskets of computers throughout Silicon Valley and beyond. 

 Managers at Apple read the letter with great interest -- until they
 got to the part about Sony offering $63 a share, or roughly double
 Apple's stock value. 

 Now Silicon Valley is abuzz about who the mad e-mailer is. Sony
 has launched an investigation, promising to explore "the availability
 of appropriate legal action against those responsible." 

 At first glance, the letter appears to be worded authentically
 enough. Addressed to Apple CEO Michael Spindler from
 Nobuyuki Idei, it says Sony intends to buy all of Apple's shares for
 $7.74 billion after a breakdown in merger talks that were
 supposedly taking place between the two companies. "We believe
 this is the fastest, most efficient way to bring our companies
 together," Mr. Idei purportedly says. 

 But at Apple, executives quickly dismissed the letter as a prank.
 For one thing, the Apple e-mail address was for a "c.franz," a
 person unknown to the company. The letter also misidentified Mr.
 Idei as Sony's chairman and CEO. And initial notification of such a
 takeover bid is almost never made by letter, for secrecy reasons. 

 So just who is the mad e-mailer? The return address was left
 blank, and a list of suspects could prove endless. A disgruntled
 employee is one possibility. Scads of Apple managers have
 departed in recent months. Or, analysts say, it could be a cheap
 shot by an employee at an Apple competitor. Whoever the culprit
 is, "this sounds like a real attempt to tick somebody off," says Mark
 Macgillivray, an industry consultant in Sunnyvale, Calif. 

 The e-mail letter was circulating as Apple was announcing an
 estimated loss of $68 million and plans for a restructuring that
 analysts expect to include massive layoffs. Since Apple has long
 been rumored to be a takeover target, the letter added to the angst
 in Cupertino. 

 In a reflection of morale at Apple, some engineers are joking
 they're disappointed the letter was phony. They would have liked
 Apple to accept the offer.