Hat tip to Adam Zand: Utterz - AdamZand's Discussion

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) posted a transcript of a speech in which it recommended "that the Commission issue an interpretive release to provide additional guidance and greater certainty on how companies can use their web sites to provide information to investors in compliance with the federal securities laws..."

Four main topics will be addressed:

• When information posted on a company web site is “public” for purposes of the applicability of Regulation FD;

• Company liability for information on company web sites – including previously posted information, third-party hyperlinks, summary information and the content of interactive web sites;

• The types of controls and procedures advisable with respect to such information; and

• The format of information presented on a company web site, with the focus on readability, not printability.

Adam Zand speculates that press releases distributed through wire services might not be required. He says that the SEC's "interpretive release" probably won't be available for about a week or more.

Demise of Wire services? SEC on Web disclosure

Please see the full text of the SEC speech at the end of this post.

Foremski's Take:

If a company's web site is RSS enabled and it releases financial information and any other material information through that web site, that should satisfy FD requirements. This is because financial analysts and investors can opt-in and subscribe to that information through RSS news readers, or choose to have that information emailed as soon as it is published.

This form of distribution is much broader than through a wire service such as BusinessWire or PRNewswire. Distribution through RSS and email takes advantage of the full breadth of the Internet and does not require an intermediary such as a wire service. Yahoo Finance and Google News would provide additional free distribution services in those cases where investors are not subscribed to a company's financial information.

Companies will be able to save considerable amounts of money in bypassing those wire services, where a single release can cost at least $1200 and often more.

The SEC might mandate a transition period in which RSS and email distribution runs in parallel with wire service distribution.

For many years wire services have made considerable revenues from carrying FD information because companies were scared that they might face SEC penalties if they didn't disclose material information in the right manner. FD has suffered from not having clear rules around what is considered best practices.

The SEC appears ready to change or more clearly define those rules to reflect the broad distribution offered by the Internet and a company's web sites.

- - -

It's interesting that the SEC wants company web sites to focus on "readability, not printability." This speech is anything but readable:

Hat tip to Adam Zand: Utterz - AdamZand's Discussion

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) posted a transcript of a speech in which it recommended "that the Commission issue an interpretive release to provide additional guidance and greater certainty on how companies can use their web sites to provide information to investors in compliance with the federal securities laws..."

Four main topics will be addressed:

• When information posted on a company web site is “public” for purposes of the applicability of Regulation FD;

• Company liability for information on company web sites – including previously posted information, third-party hyperlinks, summary information and the content of interactive web sites;

• The types of controls and procedures advisable with respect to such information; and

• The format of information presented on a company web site, with the focus on readability, not printability.

Adam Zand speculates that press releases distributed through wire services might not be required. He says that the SEC's "interpretive release" probably won't be available for about a week or more.

Demise of Wire services? SEC on Web disclosure

Please see the full text of the SEC speech at the end of this post.

Foremski's Take:

If a company's web site is RSS enabled and it releases financial information and any other material information through that web site, that should satisfy FD requirements. This is because financial analysts and investors can opt-in and subscribe to that information through RSS news readers, or choose to have that information emailed as soon as it is published.

This form of distribution is much broader than through a wire service such as BusinessWire or PRNewswire. Distribution through RSS and email takes advantage of the full breadth of the Internet and does not require an intermediary such as a wire service. Yahoo Finance and Google News would provide additional free distribution services in those cases where investors are not subscribed to a company's financial information.

Companies will be able to save considerable amounts of money in bypassing those wire services, where a single release can cost at least $1200 and often more.

The SEC might mandate a transition period in which RSS and email distribution runs in parallel with wire service distribution.

For many years wire services have made considerable revenues from carrying FD information because companies were scared that they might face SEC penalties if they didn't disclose material information in the right manner. FD has suffered from not having clear rules around what is considered best practices.

The SEC appears ready to change or more clearly define those rules to reflect the broad distribution offered by the Internet and a company's web sites.

- - -

It's interesting that the SEC wants company web sites to focus on "readability, not printability." This speech is anything but readable: