I have to agree to not believing all you read. I seems we see a little bit of history re-writing here. The missing chapter is probably the A330, that was launched at the same time as the A340, years before the 777.
Airbus broke open the widebody twin market with the A300, in the seventies. Boeing was pushing the quads 707 and 747 and MD the DC10 and Lockheed the Tristar at that time. The 767 entered service in 1982, 10 yrs later.
ETOPS - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In 1977, the A300B4 became the first “ETOPS compliant” aircraft – its high performance and safety standards qualified it for Extended Twin Engine Operations over water, providing operators with more versatility in routing.
If I remember well the JAA and FAA only disagreed in the nineties on ETOPS 180/207. The JAA wanted a year of route proving before allowing 180/207.
Bottom line in the news quoted is that the 777 has outsold the 340 six to one.
379 A340's were sold, do the math..