Ali Velshi's Billion Dollar Gaffe

July 26th, 2007 1:43 PM

Ali Velshi needs a teleprompter. Maybe then he wouldn't misstate corporate earnings by billions of dollars.

“ExxonMobil reporting quarterly earnings of $10.26 billion a share, John. We’re on this and we’re going to continue to find out where that money is being made,” said Velshi during the 8 a.m. hour. of the July 26 CNN "American Morning."

Of course, Velshi didn't mean $10.26 billion per share. ExxonMobil actually showed a second quarter earning of $10.26 billon, or $1.83 a share. That’s down a $100 million from this time a year ago.

In addition to Velshi's gaffe, the "American Morning" team bashed ExxonMobil complaining about the company's earnings.

“In about a half an hour I’ll come back and tell you how much money they made and all the happiness will be gone,” said Velshi in the “Minding Your Business” segment near the end of the 6 a.m. hour.

Later, co-anchor John Roberts chimed in: “Maybe not a record, but nobody’s crying poverty.”