
Stats show PR wires less effective than company web channels
STATISTICS from trackable links in company press releases suggest that even small companies’ websites are the most heavily used sources for financial disclosure information and that dissemination via PR wire services is mostly ignored by investors.

Thomson Reuters ONE feed added to Yahoo! Finance
AFTER weeks of testing and waiting, Thomson Reuters corporate clients in North America and Europe can finally distribute their news releases directly to Yahoo! Finance.

IR vendors in war for US disclosure business
A MAJOR battle is shaping up in the United States between giant Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI), NASDAQ OMX (NASDAQ:NDAQ) and the big PR wire services as they compete for control of companies’ financial disclosures.

Reuters distributes press releases in editorial feed
IN AN unconventional move that blurs the lines between journalism and public relations, Reuters is now distributing press releases of its parent company’s corporate clients in its editorial feed to Yahoo! Finance, the world’s most popular investing website.

How to fix the 80-second disclosure gap
NOW that we’ve shown that PR wire services can’t guarantee simultaneous access to disclosure information for all investors, let’s look at why it matters and what you can do to treat all shareholders fairly.

Most US investors get PR wire releases 80 seconds after Wall Street
A SIMPLE analysis of 100 company news releases shows that the average delay between when PR wire services release the information to Wall Street and when most non-professional investors actually have access to it on Yahoo! Finance is just over 83 seconds.
Thomson Reuters buying Hugin is bad news for European IR and investors
Early this morning, I posted the following on the IR Web Report Bits blog. I normally would not cross post items like this because IR Web Report is usually reserved for less personal and more detailed articles, but I think this calls for an exception. I’m sure there will be much more discussion about this [...]
NYSE, NASDAQ move to scrap compulsory news releases
THE New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NASDAQ plan to eliminate rules that currently require listed companies to issue press releases when disclosing important information. The NYSE has filed a proposed rule change (PDF 503KB, 18 pages) to amend its Listed Company Manual to allow listed companies to comply with its immediate release policy by [...]
OmniVision, PR Newswire release earnings by mistake
A WEBSITE scheduling glitch at OmniVision Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: OVTI) and a mistake by PR Newswire led to the halting of the company’s stock last week. Barron’s blogger Eric Savitz pieces the story together: Sometime after noon Pacific time on Thursday, the company inadvertently posted the announcement on the investor section of its Web site. [...]
What really happened in Business Wire hacking case?
THE SEC has finalized its case against two Estonian citizens and a financial services firm for hacking into Business Wire’s computer system and trading in advance of more than 360 press releases — but how the scheme was pulled off remains shrouded in mystery.
Wire services target Euro gold rush
IT IS deeply ironic that while people like me are jabbering on about the demise of the big newswires, over the pond in Europe they’re just getting their first taste of mandatory regulatory wire services.
Social media wire releases are bogus
THERE’s a lot of talk these days from the big wire services about “social media news releases.” However, almost all of it is meaningless because people are mostly trying to reinvent something that is actually obsolete. Newswires have latched onto social media releases because they’re looking for ways to stay relevant in a world that, [...]
Another newswire sold! Sixth deal this year.
IN THE sixth newswire deal this year, Canada’s second largest news release distributor CCNMatthews is being acquired by the private equity arm of Canadian pension fund OMERS. The cash deal, terms of which were not disclosed, will also see Manulife Capital, the private equity group of insurer Manulife Financial, take a minority stake. CCNMatthews, which [...]