> How can I become one of these anonymous "people with knowledge on the matter"? Be a C-level executive at Microsoft who feeds tips to a reporter or banker? Co

> How can I become one of these anonymous "people with knowledge on the matter"? Be a C-level executive at Microsoft who feeds tips to a reporter or banker? Corporate espionage is a real thing, and every major investment firm engages in it. How else can you explain things like the market's ability to perfectly predict earnings results hours before they are released? After working at high levels of big companies in corporate America, I learned that there are no secrets at any company. Executives will speak privately and candidly to each other about their company's plans; while their companies may be competitors, it benefits both of them personally to have advance knowledge of the plans of the other company (and they may work together at some point in the future). There are a great many things that nobody will confirm publicly, but any major effort at any large US company has been tipped to financial analysts or the press long before its announcement.