Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
Reg FD was enacted to make sure EVERYONE has access to material information at the same time. This was because brokers and analysts were getting info from companies and trading on it(front running) before the company disseminated such news. THIS IS MATERIAL NEWS THAT WAS MADE PUBLIC TO THOSE PEOPLE AT THE TIME THEY TOLD THEM ABOUT THE NEWS. OR, AT THE TIME THEY SENT E MAILS TO THOSE FIRMS THEY DO BUSINESS WITH.
A message board forum is not a proxy for any company. Fact and simple. Unless! Somebody from the company is posting here AND posts such information. That is not happening and will never happen.
I, nor anyone who has come into possession of any information, are officers or officials of the company. Therefore, they are not obligated to follow the rules of Reg FD, yet they will still be in possession of "material news" or "material information". Once posted, that information is viewable by THE PUBLIC, but is NOT MADE PUBLIC BY THE COMPANY.
In this matter, the company knows nothing, and continues to act is it normally would. Subsequently, anyone who makes a trade, or more, based on that information is acting on MATERIAL INFORMATION ONLY. It only becomes MATERIAL once the company announces the same news at a later time. It is non public news when it is posted here. It becomes PUBLIC NEWS when the company releases the same news at a later time.
Where most people lose their audience is when they get the idea in their head that anyone on a message board is a proxy for releasing news from the company. Up until that point, anyone who posts can only be viewed as rumor or innuendo at best. Where the SEC gets involved is when those postings identically match what the company says at a later time and there were trades by that same individual, or others who VIEWED it, that ended up being very profitable for all considered.
As a case in point. Let's say someone from SAB Miller told someone that SAB was making an all cash offer for Kid Rock Beer for $4.50 a share, and the entire company for $6.00 a share. And that info was posted on a message board with exact dates, etc., etc., and the company had accepted the offer in principle. They would put out the initial launch of KR beer and the existing executive management makeup would remain the same. SAB was purchasing the company take Bad Ass worldwide, with penetration into Asia and Europe to greatly bolster sales.
Now, in this case, material information regarding DKAM has been put out for public view, but this still remains non public information as it has NOT been properly disseminated by the guidelines of Reg FD. Therefore, anyone that trades on this information, would be trading on material non public information. Remember though, it only becomes "material non public information" once the company announces the same exacting news and makes it public.
Therein lies the struggle with an argument that makes no sense. Something is not non public until a force makes an identical statement that makes it public. Until then, it is a VERY concise set of items constituting information only.
