I ve found myself calling analysts, not seeking insights but just a briefing about what was said. Carol Loomis of Fortune magazine, speaking at the National Investor Relations Institute conference on May 8, mentioned another common pre-Regulation FD experience. She would ask companies why she was being barred from listening to their analyst conference calls. Companies would say the analysts don t like it. As Loomis noted, information good and bad about companies eventually emerges in the public arena.
Fair disclosure requires that dissemination be made to all who are interested at the same time.
With today s burgeoning communications technology, no instrument is better suited to achieve timely and broad disclosure to the public than the financial press. Regulation FD places us, and through us the public, squarely on a level playing field with analysts, institutional investors and large shareholders.