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donathos on 13 January 2009
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Groucho said:

So... let me get this straight. If a media outlet releases "financial information" about a company, which they calculated without the actual company's data, to the public, which may influence its stock due to the media outlet's "reputation" (even though any information it obtained is either through underhanded information exchange, or violation of agreements with companies that the company in question deals with... hmm) that's "okay", even though insider trading is illegal?

Fascinating.  So if you jump through a lot of hoops, you can lose the "rumor" tag, and everyone believes what you say is true?  Wall Street is like a game where the rules are made to be bent, eh?  Who here believes you can "win" in Vegas, if you have the "technique" down?  Just curious.

 

Insider trading is using non-public information in a public exchange to profit at the expense of people who don't have the same access to that information.

A media outlet reporting on the fiscal state of a company is... journalism.  If journalism relied on the happy cooperation of all subjects--releasing internal numbers & what-not--there'd be very little written.  Many sources speak off-the-record or on conditions of anonymity.

If an organization like Forbes intentionally misrepresented things about a company like Sony with the intent to harm them (through causing their stock prices to fall, etc.), I believe that would be a crime, too.  But using whatever information they have in an honest attempt to relay what's going on to their readers?  That's their job.  (And, incidentally, if they're wrong about a major story, it's a hit to their most valuable asset--their credibility--so major publications tend not to simply report "rumor" w/o evidence.)

Incidentally (though I don't see how it relates, one way or the other), if you have the "technique" down, you absolutely can "win" in Vegas.  Certain ways of card-counting can change the odds to above 50% in the player's favor in certain games, like blackjack.  Which is exactly why, when a casino believes they know someone to be counting cards, they ask him to leave.