4 ms·

If they knew they were rosy, or didn't make an honest effort to get them right, then it's intentionally mislaeding the stock market.

mattigames 8y ago
What would happen if Bill Gates says "Windows 10 is the best windows ever", is he misleading the stock market? What if he doesn't actually believe its the best Windows? Seems like trying to see a line between optimism and projections an that's idiotic. Seems to me that legally an accusation of misleading the stock market should happen only when putting fake data on official marketing reports or sales reports not about CEO's tweets.
- rpeden 8y ago
  "Windows 10 is the best Windows ever" isn't a projection, though. People wouldn't rush out to buy MS stock based on a statement like this. I hope not, anyway. "We're going to sell 800 million Windows 10 licenses this quarter" would be a projection. People might buy MS stock based on something like this. Publicly traded companies routinely provide earnings guidance based on production/sales forecasts. And earnings guidance absolutely has an impact on share price. So if a company is knowingly providing unlikely guidance figures, they're also knowingly misleading the market. I'm just speaking generally here. I don't know enough about the Tesla case to comment one way or another.
  - wpietri 8y ago
    Exactly. The technical term for things like "best ever" is puffery: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffery "Best ever" is a subjective statement, and most people would not take it as a neutral statement of carefully researched fact. Official corporate financial projections, on the other hand, are taken very seriously. People expect they might be wrong, but not that they might be fraudulent or negligent with regards to the truth.
- mabbo 8y ago
  Consider: yesterday Amazon announced quarterly results and projections. It wasn't very rosey: next quarter will see growth, but less than usual. The stock took an immediate 10% hit. Now, what if they had been 'optimistic'? Well, they might have said "yeah we're going to keep hitting growth targets!" And the stock would have done very well today. All those employees holding stock would have seen a nice boost to their bottom line. But it is the responsibility of a publicly traded company to provide such accurate forecasts to the best level they can so that the stockholders- members of the public like you and me- can make decisions based on facts, not hopeful opinions. Amazon had to tell the truth even when it personally cost everyone in the company some net worth. This is just one cost/responsibility that comes with being publicly traded.
- bobthepanda 8y ago
  "Windows 10 is the best windows ever" is not a statement of fact that has a direct impact on a stock's earnings and price. "We are going to sell and ship ten billion Xbox Ones" does.
- joecool1029 8y ago
  >What would happen if Bill Gates says "Windows 10 is the best windows ever" That would be considered puffery: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffery

mattigames 8y ago

What would happen if Bill Gates says "Windows 10 is the best windows ever", is he misleading the stock market? What if he doesn't actually believe its the best Windows? Seems like trying to see a line between optimism and projections an that's idiotic. Seems to me that legally an accusation of misleading the stock market should happen only when putting fake data on official marketing reports or sales reports not about CEO's tweets.

rpeden 8y ago
"Windows 10 is the best Windows ever" isn't a projection, though. People wouldn't rush out to buy MS stock based on a statement like this. I hope not, anyway. "We're going to sell 800 million Windows 10 licenses this quarter" would be a projection. People might buy MS stock based on something like this. Publicly traded companies routinely provide earnings guidance based on production/sales forecasts. And earnings guidance absolutely has an impact on share price. So if a company is knowingly providing unlikely guidance figures, they're also knowingly misleading the market. I'm just speaking generally here. I don't know enough about the Tesla case to comment one way or another.
- wpietri 8y ago
  Exactly. The technical term for things like "best ever" is puffery: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffery "Best ever" is a subjective statement, and most people would not take it as a neutral statement of carefully researched fact. Official corporate financial projections, on the other hand, are taken very seriously. People expect they might be wrong, but not that they might be fraudulent or negligent with regards to the truth.
mabbo 8y ago
Consider: yesterday Amazon announced quarterly results and projections. It wasn't very rosey: next quarter will see growth, but less than usual. The stock took an immediate 10% hit. Now, what if they had been 'optimistic'? Well, they might have said "yeah we're going to keep hitting growth targets!" And the stock would have done very well today. All those employees holding stock would have seen a nice boost to their bottom line. But it is the responsibility of a publicly traded company to provide such accurate forecasts to the best level they can so that the stockholders- members of the public like you and me- can make decisions based on facts, not hopeful opinions. Amazon had to tell the truth even when it personally cost everyone in the company some net worth. This is just one cost/responsibility that comes with being publicly traded.
bobthepanda 8y ago
"Windows 10 is the best windows ever" is not a statement of fact that has a direct impact on a stock's earnings and price. "We are going to sell and ship ten billion Xbox Ones" does.
joecool1029 8y ago
>What would happen if Bill Gates says "Windows 10 is the best windows ever" That would be considered puffery: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffery