George Soros. Status: Alive.

In an occurrence no news organization wants to encounter, Reuters on Thursday erroneously published a pre-written obituary for the billionaire, in which the 82-year-old was described as “a predatory and hugely successful financier and investor, who argued paradoxically for years against the same sort of free-wheeling capitalism that made him billions.”

The story’s headline would’ve tipped off readers that the news of Soros’s death was premature: “George Soros, enigmatic financier, liberal philanthropist dies at XX,”  marking the spot where his age would’ve been inserted. As is customary, Reuters also typed “XX”s  in place  of the day  of Soros’s eventual death.

Thursday, April 18, 2013 was not  that day.

Reuters, in acknowledging the obituary was  mistakenly published, said a Soros spokesman told the news group that “the New York-based financier is alive and well.” Reuters also said it “regrets the error.”

Of course, the obituary made the rounds across the Internet,  with recounts of the error carrying headlines including,  “Reuters Killed George Soros” and inspiring tweets like:

If  Soros did read the piece,   he would’ve seen his obituary  say he was known as ‘the man who broke the Bank of England,’ for selling the British pound short in 1992, and that his Soros Fund Management was “widely blamed for helping trigger the Asian financial crisis of 1997,” by selling short the currencies of Thailand and Malaysia.

“An enigma, wrapped in intellect, contradiction and money,” Reuters wrote of Soros.

– Carla Mozée