good journalistic practice is to not report something as fact until it is independently verified. So in the online world with a rush to push the article, the headline has to reflect what they actually know ('oracle reported'). They will probably update the headline once they get confirmation.

A lot of times headlines use quotes to indicate that someone other than than the news org said it. But I wonder how many readers are barely literate and don't realize this.

In this case the headline could be;

Orace Co-CEO Mark Hurd 'has died'

That sounds a bit weird. That would imply the term 'has died' was somehow facetious or metaphorical.

What about:

Oracle: Co-CEO Mark Hurd has died.

Ah, scare quotes. How about:

Oracle: "Co-Ceo Mark Hurd Has Died"

This is better than the title?

Why?

Because the subject of the title is Oracle, while the subject of the suggested title is Mark Hurd.

It actually sounds like something North Korea would say.

“The hostages ‘succumb to an accident’”

I find that worse, it suggests something is known definitely to have happened but it's being described in an unusual way. In any case I'm not sure this is the time for such conversations.

Maybe they’re still waiting for the transaction to commit?

too soon...but I did chuckle.

When I die I hope I achieve such fame as to be immortalized in a pedantic hacker news arguement.

Agreed, I had the same immediate reaction. Almost as if they were making an implicit claim that Oracle might have a reason for claiming he has died when he might not have.

But ultimately, I think this is just journalist practice when reporting things as they happen. Until things are more certain, it's more prudent to report the announcement than the event.

It might be an attempt to play on the word “Oracle”, but I don’t think death announcements are a good time to play with words... so, not sure.

I'm very sure that's not the case.