EventHorizon1984

eBay: Donahoe May Kill the Kijiji Brand

"I'm curious as to why you've only recently begun adding "eBay is a minority investor in ChannelAdvisor" to your disclosure. You've been writing on Seeking Alpha since January of 2008. eBay has been a minority investor in ChannelAdvisor since 2002.

David Steiner
President
AuctionBytes.com"


Scot Wingo apparently made the latest changes due to his Seeking Alpha articles being a violation of 1975-1980 FTC regulations.

www.ftc.gov/bcp/guides...
FTC GUIDES CONCERNING USE OF
ENDORSEMENTS AND TESTIMONIALS IN ADVERTISING

That is, Seeking Alpha is holding Mr. Wingo to their high legal standards.

Still this is not a particularly full disclosure, since for example '§255.5 Disclosure of material connections' states "such connection must be fully disclosed." And interestingly there is no statement made that 'Scott Wingo is CEO of ChannelAdvisor', i.e. the casual reader would not know the significance of "eBay is a minority investor in ChannelAdvisor." Ergo all of his Seeking Alpha articles (seekingalpha.com/autho...) remain in highly probable violation of these FTC Guides.

Although "eBay is a minority investor in ChannelAdvisor" and 'Scot Wingo CEO of ChannelAdvisor' remains an interesting read.


"I've found that when you want to know the truth about someone that someone is probably the last person you should ask."
Gregory House MD, House

FTC Complaint Assistant
www.ftccomplaintassist.../