News Corp’s The Australian has today published an apology to Network Ten and one of its major shareholders, David Gordon, after it incorrectly reported that Gordon had sold most of his shares in the embattled broadcaster just prior to the network going into voluntary receivership last week.

The Australian has since removed the offending piece from its website.

Under the headline “Apology to David Gordon and Network Ten board” the retraction “acknowledges that Mr Gordon did not sell any shares in the company and in fact his shareholding increased in the period before the company was placed into administration.”

It added, “The Australian acknowledges that its statement was inaccurate and untrue and apologises to Mr Gordon.”

Further, the apology said: “The article also stated that Mr Gordon and the Network Ten board failed to conduct scenario modelling on cashflow analysis and were caught unprepared when the three main shareholders decided not to back a financial restructuring of the broadcaster. The Australian also acknowledges that both of these statements were inaccurate and untrue and apologises to Mr Gordon and the board.”