When a public company wants to share important information or news, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires it to make "public disclosure of that information." This is usually done via press release. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings decided to Facebook was just as good.
Back in July, Hastings took to Facebook to announce that Netflix monthly viewing exceeded 1 billion hours (image 2). The SEC is now considering taking legal action against Hastings on the grounds that the announcement wasn't public enough and violated Regulation FD.
With over 1 billion users, isn't Facebook the most public of public forums? Reed Hastings has a quarter of a million subscribers on Facebook. That's a pretty public reach in our eyes. We're sure next time he'll just send a press release.
[via Bloomberg Businessweek]
