Former General Electric CEO Jack Welsh's conspiracy theory-esque tweet about President Obama's latest jobs report — and the (justified) criticism it has received — has forced the business executive to quit his contributing gig to Fortune Magazine and Reuters.
"Unbelievable jobs numbers," wrote Welch last week. "These Chicago guys will do anything… can't debate so change numbers." The illicit tweet found Welch on Chris Matthews' "Hardball" hot seat trying to defend his position to no avail. Both Fortune and Reuters — among plenty of others — quickly took turns skewering Jack Welch's divisive tweet theory. Reuters even ran a story in which it labeled Welch's idea "hilarious" by Barry Ritholtz, the CEO of Fusion IQ. In an email to Fortune's managing editor, Andy Serwer, and Reuters' Steve Adler, Jack Welch said he was quitting based entirely on he and his wife's column not getting enough "traction" at those publications. We should just take his word for it, right?
