Interested in financial communications? Check out this article by IR Web Report. The article, "41% of heavily traded US-listed international firms shun PR wires," discusses how new rules by the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ Stock Market minimize the need for international issuers to use paid PR wire services to meet their disclosure requirements.
In an attempt to distribute an earnings release as widely as possible for fair disclosure (meaning everyone has the same access to information, at the same time), many publicly traded companies use wire services (ex. PR Newswire). Now, it is being recognized that SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) filings, using the SEC EDGAR database, and simply posting the release on the company website is thorough enough.
Click here to read more about the new disclosure rules for US-listed international firms (I encourage you to read for yourself), how Investor Relations firms are impacted, and how companies are using social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to provide information and establish closer ties to their US-based shareholders.
Showing posts with label investor relations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label investor relations. Show all posts
Friday, August 27, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
The 15 Most Hated Companies in America
We all, without a doubt, have an ongoing list of companies that we dislike for a myriad of reasons ranging from poor customer service to poor quality of product.
Recently, 24/7 Wall St. has examined these issues with corporations to create a list of the 15 most hated companies in America. The list was created based on five criteria: employee impressions, return to shareholders, customer satisfaction numbers and reputation figures, brand valuation changes and lastly, views of taxpayers, Congress, and the Administration of these companies. 24/7 Wall St. analyzed hundreds of companies and produced the top 15 most hated corporations.
Surprisingly, some of the companies you would expect to see due to recent news or established poor reputations did not make the list such as Goldman Sachs, AT&T, Comcast and Wal-Mart.
Here are just a few of the companies that made the Top 15:
1. AIG: AIG is the most hated company in America; the prominent reason being taxpayers extreme dislike for the firm for receiving $180 billion in government aid. Additionally, employee morale is incredibly low due to the company firing a large amount of employees and operates to turn around its operations. In the last two years, AIG lost over 99% of its value, wiping out the firm's equity investors.
4. Hertz: Hertz, the largest car rental company in the US, has been suffering from financial problems that has resulted in massive layoffs. The company was also placed on the Audit Integrity list of American companies most likely to go bankrupt. The company also makes the Glassdoor list of "worst companies to work for" and Vanno gives Hertz low ratings in both customer and employee satisfaction.
8. Dell: Dell's shares are off over 30% over the last two years while its competitors Hewlett-Packard and IBM have shown impressive gains. The company also trails Apple, Toshiba and HP in many Customer Reports measurements of laptop computers by screen size and their score on the Customer Service Index has dropped from a 78 to a 75 out of 100. Additionally, Dell has laid off a massive amount of employees which included 8,000 in 2008 and at least 1,400 last year with their most recent group of layoffs fired in November.
12. Rite Aid's: Their stock is down nearly 50% over the last five years and and nearly 30% over the last two. The company has repeated labor problems and has faced legal and political actions because of the treatment of their employees and received low reputation scores from both Glassdoor and Vanno. With over 5,000 stores, tens of thousands of low-paid workers and millions of customers serving a population that is unhappy with the health care system, their reputation is unlikely to improve anytime soon.
Check out the full list here.
Recently, 24/7 Wall St. has examined these issues with corporations to create a list of the 15 most hated companies in America. The list was created based on five criteria: employee impressions, return to shareholders, customer satisfaction numbers and reputation figures, brand valuation changes and lastly, views of taxpayers, Congress, and the Administration of these companies. 24/7 Wall St. analyzed hundreds of companies and produced the top 15 most hated corporations.
Surprisingly, some of the companies you would expect to see due to recent news or established poor reputations did not make the list such as Goldman Sachs, AT&T, Comcast and Wal-Mart.
Here are just a few of the companies that made the Top 15:
1. AIG: AIG is the most hated company in America; the prominent reason being taxpayers extreme dislike for the firm for receiving $180 billion in government aid. Additionally, employee morale is incredibly low due to the company firing a large amount of employees and operates to turn around its operations. In the last two years, AIG lost over 99% of its value, wiping out the firm's equity investors.
4. Hertz: Hertz, the largest car rental company in the US, has been suffering from financial problems that has resulted in massive layoffs. The company was also placed on the Audit Integrity list of American companies most likely to go bankrupt. The company also makes the Glassdoor list of "worst companies to work for" and Vanno gives Hertz low ratings in both customer and employee satisfaction.
8. Dell: Dell's shares are off over 30% over the last two years while its competitors Hewlett-Packard and IBM have shown impressive gains. The company also trails Apple, Toshiba and HP in many Customer Reports measurements of laptop computers by screen size and their score on the Customer Service Index has dropped from a 78 to a 75 out of 100. Additionally, Dell has laid off a massive amount of employees which included 8,000 in 2008 and at least 1,400 last year with their most recent group of layoffs fired in November.
12. Rite Aid's: Their stock is down nearly 50% over the last five years and and nearly 30% over the last two. The company has repeated labor problems and has faced legal and political actions because of the treatment of their employees and received low reputation scores from both Glassdoor and Vanno. With over 5,000 stores, tens of thousands of low-paid workers and millions of customers serving a population that is unhappy with the health care system, their reputation is unlikely to improve anytime soon.
Check out the full list here.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Wall Street's #1 Rule: Always Disclose!
Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil suit against Goldman Sachs, one of the leading investment firms on Wall Street, and one of its former employees, claiming the bank defrauded investors by creating a mortgage scheme designed to collapse and eventually fail. The SEC says Goldman enabled John Paulson, a hedge fund manager who made a large income based on purposely betting against certain markets and choosing several mortgages that would eventually default.
Goldman supposedly marketed those mortgages, converted them into a bond that it then sold it to investors, who were unaware of the arrangement between Goldman and Mr. Paulson. Whether or not Goldman disclosed the information to investors, which is ultimately the Golden Rule of Wall Street firms, a public relations campaign and 'image overhaul' is needed to reassure current shareholders, ensure the trust of forthcoming investors and fight for the reputation they previously built.
In a statement released earlier this week, Goldman Sachs said the charges are "completely unfounded in law and fact" and the company said it would "vigorously contest them and defend the firm and its reputation."
This guest blog was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member, Stephanie Loiero.
Goldman supposedly marketed those mortgages, converted them into a bond that it then sold it to investors, who were unaware of the arrangement between Goldman and Mr. Paulson. Whether or not Goldman disclosed the information to investors, which is ultimately the Golden Rule of Wall Street firms, a public relations campaign and 'image overhaul' is needed to reassure current shareholders, ensure the trust of forthcoming investors and fight for the reputation they previously built.
In a statement released earlier this week, Goldman Sachs said the charges are "completely unfounded in law and fact" and the company said it would "vigorously contest them and defend the firm and its reputation."
This guest blog was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member, Stephanie Loiero.
Friday, March 26, 2010
PR Isn't Just for Health Care: It's for Bankers too!
The new health care bill isn't the only one getting some public relations love these days. Wall Street is also about to start a public relations campaign, and it seems it is much-needed. A new Bloomberg National Poll found that almost two thirds of Americans said they have an unfavorable opinion of business executives. According to the Bloomberg.com article, Wall Street is undertaking an "image-improvement campaign aimed at showing the financial industry as trustworthy and a positive force after more than a year of being chastised in Washington."The campaign is set to begin as the mid-term election season gears up, and is led by APCO Worldwide, Luntz Maslansky Strategic Research and advertising agency DDB (owned by Omnicom Group Inc.).
"The financial services industry is dedicated to earning back the trust of the American people, and is engaging in a comprehensive effort to communicate directly with them," says the board of the Financial Services Roundtable.
Scott Talbott, chief lobbyist for the Roundtable says "Our focus is two things- one, to have a conversation with our customers and two, to demonstrate the positive benefits the industry brings to the economy and consumers' lives."
Although the specific tactics of the campaign have not been finalized, it is planned to initially focus on setting up a Web site and using various forms of social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
When I read this article on Bloomberg yesterday I thought "What in the world are they going to talk about on Facebook or Twitter?" As someone who is interested in pursuing a career in Investor Relations I was intrigued by the thought of the financial services industry using new media to communicate. Ironically enough, when I opened my "PR Daily Newsfeed" e-mail today I saw a post about a social media conference for financial communicators.
According to the site, attendees will learn the following:
- Build a community of evangelists and promote your organization to a broader online audience
- Monitor conversations about your organizations and react quickly during a crisis
- Pitch financial journalists and and bloggers using Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
- Create "YouTube-like" videos, blogs and podcasts to engage your employees and turn them into your best brand ambassadors
- Navigate the legal issues surrounding online liability, content control and copyrights - and be aware of all the new regulatory requirements for using social media in your organization
As I have found in my research on investor relations (IR), one of the main priorities for IR professionals is to disseminate financial information about their organization timely and fairly. One investor should not have access to financial information before another. Mass media and investor relations Web sites are typically their main tools for this, but adding social media to the kit (if done correctly) can only help improve the efficiency of financial communicators.
Do you agree?
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