The SEC uses Tradeworx datas to analyze the market and causes of flashcrashes, while high-frequency traders get a prime access to the SEC’s datas to place bets. Fair trade.
Hedge funds and other rapid-fire investors can get access to market-moving documents ahead of other users of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s system for distributing company filings, giving them a potential edge on the rest of the market.
Update : Now Felix Salmon thinks PIMCO should exit the mutual fund business altogether.
Virtually no large pool of assets in this industry is completely Pimco-free, whether we’re talking about Total Return or any of their other funds and SMAs. The issue cannot be ignored because the end-customers of these investors will have read plenty on the topic this weekend and will have questions and concerns of their own. No amount of reassurance from Pimco can change this fact right now.
This is the question that will lead off almost every investment committee meeting on earth tomorrow.
Aral is leaving Ello :
When you take venture capital, it is not a matter of if you’re going to sell your users, you already have. It’s called an exit plan. And no investor will give you venture capital without one. In the myopic and upside-down world of venture capital, exits precede the building of the actual thing itself. It would be a comedy if the repercussions of this toxic system were not so tragic.
Personally, I don’t really mind VCs selling my datas to advertisers and brands. That’s the price I’m willing to pay for a good service.
The other way to build a social service like this would be to set a subscription, like App.net does, though it has not proven to be very popular.
Now, how to maintain a service without funding ?
This is mythical. I think Aral’s note falls short without explaining his ideal way to fund a company and feed its employees.
Venture Capital might not be the perfect match between privacy and social medias, but I think it sustains creativity and encourage entrepreneurs to take risk — sometimes in creating some pixel-perfect layouts.
From Bloomberg’s Market Makers :
Celebrity sells. And it can sell mutual funds as well as it sells sneakers. Bill Gross helped build Pacific Investment Management Co. into a $1.97-trillion firm by becoming a star. He cultivated his fame with a busy media schedule and colorful commentary on everything from Paris Hilton to the U.S. economy’s “new normal.”
Abnormal Capitalist 