What Impact Will Mandatory Arbitration Have on Securities Class Actions?

Did the SEC Just Kill the Securities Class Action? Lawyers Are Weighing Impact of Mandatory Arbitration Agreements

The corporate litigation world experienced a shock when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced that companies could go public, even if they require shareholders to sign mandatory arbitration agreements. The announcement has left securities litigators waiting to see who’ll be the first to take advantage of the SEC’s new leniency.

The policy shift goes against decades of SEC history blocking companies that mandate shareholder arbitration. Chairman Paul Atkins said the commission’s Sept. 17 decision, when combined with another policy concerning automatic stays, were part of his campaign to make initial public offerings “great again.” […]

But securities litigators are unsure whether the policy change will be a bomb or bust, saying they’re waiting to see who’ll be the first to embrace mandatory shareholder arbitration—and how they’ll fare against the inevitable legal and shareholder heat ahead.

SEC’s Proposed Move to Semiannual Reports Portends Wider Shakeup

Overhauling financial disclosure rules from historic quarterly reports wouldn’t just ease workflows and costs inside public companies—it would fundamentally change how US markets and finance sector work.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is weighing a shift to semiannual reporting, agency Chairman Paul Atkins said Friday amid a growing campaign for the change. Proponents, led by President Donald Trump, bill twice-a-year reporting as a way to save public companies time and money and incentivize private companies to join their ranks, while opponents say the move would hurt transparency.

Nixing quarterly reporting, which has been around since 1970, would bring changes outside of cost savings and more opacity: Much of the country’s financial system, for better or worse, is built around reporting every three months. Changes to that schedule would potentially shake up how companies set up insider-trading windows, how analysts spot trends and make recommendations, and how traders and the broader market factor earnings into stockpicking, experts say.

Theranos?

We talked last week about a guy who revived Enron Corp. as a bit. But here is a website called “Theranos Labs” — “the New Theranos: the lab test, REE-invented” — and … ? There is a long, wild video. I don’t think it’s a bit? It sure is something, though. They’ve got a thing called “Blue Magic.”

Crypto hoarders turn to share buybacks in push to boost falling stock prices

Struggling crypto-hoarding companies are launching share buybacks in an attempt to boost their stock prices, in the latest sign that this year’s “crypto treasury” craze is unravelling.

An online gaming company and a maker of golf carts are among lightly traded companies that pivoted to buying cryptocurrencies as little as two months ago, yet are now embarking on share buybacks in an effort to lift their falling stock prices. Some are taking on debt to fund the purchases.

At least seven companies have taken such steps in recent weeks — five of which have a market value that has sunk below the value of their crypto holdings, as investors worry about a saturated market and raise questions about the crypto treasury business model.

“It’s probably the death rattle for a few [of these companies],” said Adam Morgan McCarthy, senior research analyst at crypto analytics company Kaiko.