It urged members of the public and media to disregard screenshots of a fake CNN story titled “Tony Fernandes Leaves Air Asia, Jumps On Financial Tech” circulating on social media.

https://twitter.com/tonyfernandes/status/970550430794166272

“Fernandes remains committed to AirAsia and will continue to oversee its strategic direction and business operations,” the low-cost airline said in a statement.

Fernandes had also tweeted about the fake news, saying: “Had many scams on me. This is the best fake news. The reality is long way to go before I leave AirAsia and AirAsia is investing big in Fintech. Some very valuable assets coming.”

The fake post, which carried a CNN tech logo, had stated: “The real-life Ironman, Tony Fernandes, has just announced that he will quit his job at AirAsia to free up more time for a new company that he thinks will change the world more dramatically than AirAsia, QPR (English football club Queens Park Rangers) and Caterham F1 (Formula 1 team) ever could.”

Fernandes subsequently posted both the fake news and AirAsia’s denial in his Twitter account.