Reuters has been left red-faced after it accidentally published a pre-written obituary of billionaire financier George Soros.

Published for 30 minutes on Thursday night, it starts: "George Soros, who died XXX at age XXX, was a predatory and hugely successful financier and investor, who argued paradoxically for years against the same sort of free-wheeling capitalism that made him billions." The piece, written by Todd Eastham, carries on in a pointed vein, referring to the 82-year-old's multibillion-pound currency gambles, including a famed punt against the pound that led to a political watershed for the post-Thatcher Conservative government in the early 1990s.

"He was known as 'the man who broke the Bank of England' for selling short the British pound in 1992 and helping force the United Kingdom to withdraw from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, which devalued the pound and earned Soros more than $1bn (£650m). And his Soros Fund Management was widely blamed for helping trigger the Asian financial crisis of 1997, by selling short the Thai baht and Malaysian ringgit."

Reuters removed the article within 30 minutes, although references could still be found on Friday morning via Google searches, and apologised to Soros for the mistake. By then, however, Twitter had done its work.

The 1,000-word article lists several of Soros's philanthropic endeavours, which according to his Wikipedia page include giving away over $8bn to human rights, public health and education causes. But the first half prefers to dwell on perceived faults while arguing that he was contrary in his views. For instance, it includes comments by economist Paul Krugman, who accuses Soros of helping trigger financial crises from which he benefited.

Reuters said in a statement: "Reuters erroneously published an advance obituary of financier and philanthropist George Soros. A spokesman for Soros said that the New York-based financier is alive and well. Reuters regrets the error."

It is not uncommon for obituaries to be written before the death of a prominent politician, businessman or celebrity. However, publishing one is more unusual.

This week, with the death of Margaret Thatcher, the former political editor of the now-defunct News of the World, David Wooding, published pictures of what the former PM's souvenir pullout would have looked like – had she not outlived the paper.