MovieChat Forums > Good Advice (2001) Discussion > inside information (spoilers)

inside information (spoilers)

posted 18 years ago by unctorious
4 replies | jump to latest

In the end of the movie, when Ryan buys stock in Simpson's company and then sells it to make a profit, wasn't he relying on inside information in the deal? He knew Cindy was going to his company, how is that any different from learning of a merger before it happens and profiting from it? I guess you could say that he didn't know for sure she was going over to his company, but I dunno, it seems that they would be investigated for it. Not to mention the whole fraud thing, opening somebody else's mail, etc, and yeah I know it's just a movie, surprisingly good too.

[–] MidNYteStorm 18 years ago

"Its just a movie", LOL. You took the words right out of my mouth.

I've had a pain in the a$$ for the past 45 years! You got any chicken soup for that?

[–] joeblough79 18 years ago

Since Ryan doesn't work for Simpson, he "guesses" Cindy is going to work for the competition - so he is just using good trading sense by buying the stock before it goes up. Even when the announcement is made by Simspson and Ryan sells all of his stock at the higher price, he's within the law ("movie" or not). And when he sells short (a common device used by traders daily when they think a stock is going to go down) as Cindy announces that she hasn't been writing her column, he's still going on what he's hoping to happen - based on his experience with Cindy.

Hedge Fund managers do deals like this daily. Since the stock sequence is one of my favorites, I'd love to be in Ryan's situation at the end of the movie.

The other issue of opening the "Dear Cindy" mail that has been sent; who does the mail actually belong to? Cindy or the Newspaper?

Overall, it's still a good movie that I enjoy when it comes on.

[–] chilii 17 years ago

that was definetly illegal insider trading. The SEC and Elliot Spitzer should have a closer look on this.

[–] carloski2003 17 years ago

i see your point
however how do you expect us to believe your claim without a reason

try this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insider_trading
<quote>Insider trading is the trading of a corporation's stock or other securities (e.g. bonds or stock options) by corporate insiders such as officers, key employees, directors, or holders of more than ten percent of the firm's shares.[1] Insider trading may be perfectly legal, but the term is frequently used to refer to a practice, illegal in many jurisdictions, in which an insider or a related party trades based on material non-public information obtained during the performance of the insider's duties at the corporation, or otherwise misappropriated.[2]</quote>

his act of purchasing and selling Simpson stocks was not illegal he bought the stocks with the public already knowing Simpson was chasing Cindy.

technically only Ryan knew that Cindy wasn't writing her column and joined Simpson Publishing under false pretenses.
He used this non-public information to facilitate his selling Simpson stocks short expecting this fact to become publicly known.