WASHINGTON — It’s April Fools’ Day, which means you have to be even more internet savvy today as businesses and brands are having “fun” with pranks and playful advertisements.

This year, one April Fools’ Day “joke” caught a lot of people off guard and quickly became a trending search topic on Google. 

Financial education website GoBankingRates published a self-described “satirical” article announcing that billionaire CEO Warren Buffett is buying Tesla from Elon Musk for $1 trillion. 

“While I’ve publicly maintained that I don’t understand tech companies, I’ve secretly been driving a Cybertruck around my Nebraska neighborhood at night,” the article claimed Buffett told investors on a April 1 conference call.

The article also said that Elon Musk would be taking on a new role as “chief meme officer.”

The end of the article, however, says, “APRIL FOOLS! This article is entirely satirical and was published on April 1, 2025. Warren Buffett has not acquired Tesla, and all quotes and information in this piece are fictional.”

The joke quickly made rounds online, becoming a trending search on Google and appeared to be automatically syndicated on Yahoo! News and AOL.com before being quickly taken down on those sites. 

Yahoo! News later addressed the prank in a separate article of its own highlighting April Fools’ Day jokes they’ve caught today, writing “In reality, while Musk has publicly recommended that Buffett invest in Tesla, Buffett does not seem interested in the company.”

GoBankingRates also published another April Fools’ article claiming the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) would be sending $1 million stimulus checks to Republicans.