Yes, Reg FD was one of the first things I learned about securities law. You would think the CEO of a major public corporation would be aware of it too.
Unless he actually considered -- and truly believes -- his argument that the information wasn't material because of previous disclosures of views "close to" a billion per month. But to me, that's not very wise thinking, because 1) when it comes to compliance, if it might cause trouble, probably don't do it, and 2) why not just issue the press release first and get it in the news, THEN congratulate the guy on Facebook? Wouldn't that be better PR anyway?
But the question we should be asking is that what was he thinking when he posted that information on his FB page?U thought a person of his status would have develop the habit of allowing management to review his information before posting them on his FB page.
So does Hastings FB page carries the same weight and authority as the corporate FB page of Netflix?
@Alison: Agreed! Netflix just can't seem to get social media right as Joe pointed out. I took a peek at the link for "(again)" and just as I suspected, it was in regards to Qwikster.
It's funny -- Netflix got flak for not saying enough on social before, and now they're getting flak because they're still not saying enough yet saying too much at the same time!
Hastings needs to take one of Internet Evolution's 7DEE courses!
Reed Hastings was wrong to post that information to Facebook. Sure, he had 200,000 friends there by some reports, which is hardly private. But social media is fragmented, and businesses can't count on all their investors being on any given social platform -- not even Facebook.
Material disclosures should be made through accepted channels.
Business financial reporting is still one of those things like school summer vacations that seem based on the agricultural cycle of Druids. Quarterly and yearly information? Business are formed, grow and die in 3 months! No, I think Hastings was on the right track. If the financial markets are ever going to gain respectability again, as something that a regular guy could put his money in because he reads up on a company and thinks its a good stock then we have to start considering the heterogeneous information such as that in Facebook as part of it all. So it's not so much that Hastings only made it available to the 1 billion Facebook users worldwide, but that the SEC and other regulators have to go a step further and say, yes, this all part of the picture, and one that augments, and doesn't detract from, those quarterly reports. In fact, we need to start seeing real time "health monitors" for business that are updated each and every hour. Look, busineses spend money every second. In an instant they can make a decision costing or earning millions. Shouldn't even the guy with a Scott Trade account know this as soon as the guy sitting in the building next to the NYSE knows it?
This is one of those worries that companies have - and rightly so, apparently - when it comes to social media. In this case, it's the head of the company and the SEC. In others, it's a lower-level employee and a public relations nightmare. We keep hearing about mistakes that happen when people say something they shouldn't on a company FB or Twitter page; now that more employees have the freedom to post in their organization's name, this is only going to become more of a challenge for organizations to handle, I'd imagine - whether it's a legal/financial issue like this or another costly error that happens in the court of public opinon.
This is hard for me to digest. Believe me when I say I have never been in any sort of an executive position, my knowledge of SEC regulations is superficial at best, but even I, Bolingbroke Know-Nothing or Nearly Nothing, am aware of the requirements regarding news important to stock holders, heck this SEC 101, it's one of the few SEC rules even I am aware of and I've never run anything. Is this SEC rule news to anyone reading this?
So what the heck is Hastings doing?, is this the result of him hearing the news right after maybe one too many Michter's rye. Does this man have any handlers?
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