AGORACOM Small-cap Investor Relations Blog

Good afternoon to you all. The good folks at IR Web Report have posted a report titled SEC OK’s Websites and Blogs For Regulation FD. The report stems from new guidance unanimously approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission today. I am in Europe and unable to review the SEC Staff Statement in detail for several hours but I trust the analysis of Dominic Jones and his team at IR Web Report implicitly.

GREAT NEWS FOR AGORACOM, OUR CLIENTS AND THE INDUSTRY

How big and important is today’s news? I can best summarize it by referring to the opening remarks of SEC Chairman Christopher Cox where he stated:

“The use of electronic media is arguably superior to providing company information the old way.
It’s a better way to provide information to most investors since today it can be presented in
interactive format that allows each individual to click through or drill down to the level of detail
that’s appropriate to him or her.”

Chairman Cox went on to add:

“Technological advances and the reduced costs associated with the implementation of technologies over time, now allow the inclusion of more interactive and current information on company websites than was the case previously. That’s moved websites beyond being just electronic filing cabinets
for electronic documents. Today, company websites are being shaped by the market’s desire for
highly current and interactive information.”

Where have we heard all of this before! 🙂

Suffice it to say this is excellent news for AGORACOM and the entire small-cap space given the fact we strictly use the web to help clients market and communicate faster, better and more cost-efficiently than “traditional” IR has ever provided.

We still need to review the full interpretive release from the SEC, which is expected within the next couple of weeks but it is clear that online investor relations has made a massive leap forward today.

HIGHLIGHTS

I will have more to say later but here are some of the highlights reported by IR Web Report:

• Previously, the SEC held that corporate websites could only be used as part of the disclosure process, but with the new guidance corporate websites or blogs can now be the sole means of disclosure.
• SEC Chairman Chris Cox called the new guidance “a big step forward for investors.”
• While the new guidance says that companies and their employees remain liable for information they post on blogs and discussion forums (not really news), they have NO DUTY to correct inaccurate information posted in comments on their sites by third-parties.
• John White, director of the SEC’s division of corporation finance, said the new guidance was intended to promote “more innovation, more creativity, more use of interactive technology on company websites and that they become more user-friendly for investors.”

AGORACOM welcomes and applauds the SEC’s official position on the use of web technologies to communicate with investors. The entire world now lives in a Web 2.0 world of online communities, webcasts, blogs, RSS Feeds and “Investor Generated Content”.

The SEC has just proven that it is not only unafraid of Web 2.0, it is actually embracing it. For this we say, thank-you and congratulations! Investor Relations is never going to be the same.

Regards,
George