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

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.