Who Do Rumors Benefit?

I was told that when you hear rumors about a merger, it's just bankers raising a balloon to see about interest. It's there way of testing the waters so they can "earn" some money with a little M&A action.  (You wonder why banking is in trouble? What do they actually produce? Nothing. Very little value comes from companies merging. It only results in lay-offs, market share gains, and bankers pocketing millions).

This week - besides the swine flu hysteria - was the rumor that VZW would get an Apple device to sell.  AT&T and T-Mobile run on GSM like most of Europe; VZW and Sprint run on CDMA, like nowhere else.  It would be difficult to roll out one CDMA model for VZW. Anyway.... who benefits from these rumors? Well, everyone. According to John Gruber, Apple and VZW definitely benefited from the rumors. AT&T just gets added pressure to secure exclusivity on the iPhone for more than one more year. [More here]. Rumors: someone always benefits.