Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Sometimes I am glad I host this blog at Google (Muddy Waters edition)

Muddy Waters Research (of Sino Forest fame) published a negative piece on Focus Media (the American listed stock of a real Chinese outdoor advertising company).

A day later Muddy Waters website is down - albeit with a short message:


MW regrets that our site has been hacked. We will bring it up as soon as possible.  
FMCN is still a Strong Sell. 
Happy Thanksgiving,  
MW


Google does not have a flawless record at keeping Chinese criminals (ahem the Chinese Government) from hacking them - but I suspect they could beat any attempt by an outdoor advertising company.



John
at

8 comments:

  1. Sam AntarNovember 23, 2011 at 12:55 PM

    Amen.

    ReplyDelete
  2. longshorttraderNovember 23, 2011 at 4:23 PM

    The comments I found MOST amusing were that Muddo somehow orchestrated this hack himself to get more attention. I kid you not, a few actually went on the record to say that.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousNovember 23, 2011 at 5:03 PM

    "but I suspect they could beat any attempt by an outdoor advertising company."

    I highly doubt Focus is dumb enough to direct a hacking of the MW site. There are plenty of "patriotic" and pissed off Chinese who may very well have done it independently

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousNovember 23, 2011 at 6:57 PM

    I am continually left with the view that Chinese entities have a real problem dealing with the real world. They get very very upset when we see through the smoke and mirrors.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousNovember 25, 2011 at 6:45 AM

    Can't wait to see your analysis of the Muddy Waters research

    ReplyDelete
  6. Xaio long MaoNovember 26, 2011 at 12:00 PM

    Absolutely right anonymous! You hit the nail on the head about the Chinese. They understand so little about the rest of the world ( even less than American) that they cannot understand a system where corruption isn't commonplace and widespread. They expect that their way of operating is normal and consider our "western scepticism" is disguise for being anti Chinese. If I wasn't taking lots of their money I'd have left to come back to Oz years ago!

    ReplyDelete
  7. CurmudgeonlyTrollDecember 3, 2011 at 10:51 AM

    If ever there was a business that is easy to verify, it's got to be advertising screens in highly trafficked places.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousDecember 15, 2011 at 1:15 PM

    Looking at the latest report from Focus Media published on their website today, the first Auditor confirms the screen numbers.

    It would be very interesting to see the results of the second report. If the second report confirms Focus Media's position, I suspect their could be new Defamation lawsuits filed against various parties.

    The CEO has gone on public record in a recent China interview that they are now consulting their Chinese and American lawyers.

    One nice thing about the Shorts is the amount of work they have provided to the Litigators. Bravo!!

    ReplyDelete