DoubleClick's Double Talk

SAN FRANCISCO -- Roughly four weeks after a press release drove shares of DoubleClick (DCLK Quote) up more than 40%, the company concedes the release was "misleading."

On June 30, the Internet advertising-placement company put out a statement saying it had the "third largest audience reach on the Internet behind America Online [(AOL Quote)AOL] and Yahoo! [(YHOO Quote)YHOO], according to Media Metrix," which measures Web site use. (Reach is the percentage of Net users logged onto a given site.) New York-based DoubleClick also said it would be included in Media Metrix' monthly Web report beginning in July.

Never mind that Media Metrix disavowed the release. After all, throwing seemingly good news on fiery Net stocks makes them erupt. Wall Street pushed shares of DoubleClick as high as 77 1/8 from 49 11/16 in just four days. ...