Even if they were direct competitors with the exact same market and product (Which they don't appear to be), that could mean that he's got a much better idea of

Even if they were direct competitors with the exact same market and product (Which they don't appear to be), that could mean that he's got a much better idea of how his competitors may be doing spammy things then we do. Since these are algorithmic changes not site specific changes any resulting fix would get applied to his own site as well. The motives here don't offend me.