Chen Yongzhou, 27, a journalist with the New Express based in the southern city of Guangzhou, confessed to police for continuously releasing a series of unverified and false reports against Zoomlion at the request of others for "money and fame", state-run Xinhua news agency said.
Chen fabricated facts and wrote 14 reports out of 18 published by the Express from September 29 last year till August 8 this year about Zoomlion's "financial problems" based on supplied materials, without verification, bringing huge losses to the company and its share prices, Xinhua quoted police officials as saying.
Chen would like to apologise to Zoomlion, the stock investors and his own family members, and warned his peers to "learn a lesson" from his experience, police said.
The story, written at the request of a middleman, and widely forwarded over the Internet, caused Zoomlion share in Shenzhen to be suspended for two days, arousing industry regulators, shareholders, celebrities and investors to query and criticise the company's sectors of finance, management and sales.
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According to the Changsha City Public Security Bureau, they received complaints from Zoomlion about Chen's series of false reports on September 9, and detained him with the help of police in Guangzhou after investigation.
The newspaper released a story under Chen's name on Zoomlion's advertising fee, claiming the annual amount reached 513 million yuan (USD 84.34 mn) and that irregular marketing practices were involved, they said, adding, he received "rewards" by other people ranging from thousands of yuan to tens of thousands of yuan during this period.
Zoomlion later issued a clarification statement, citing audit reports that the mentioned amount also included the company's travel expenses and marketing fee in 2012, while the advertising fee only accounted for 20 per cent of the total.