(From Insider Chatter by Donna Bogatin...)
"LinkedIn’s Mike Gamson is touting an impending fee-based “Research Network” aimed at capitalizing on the reams of data LinkedIn houses on those millions of people:
The service will help hedge fund managers and investment banks find people who used to work at a company they’re interested in, or even who is working for a customer of a company they are interested in. (as cited by eWeek)
In other words, insider corporate intelligence, or espionage:
Let’s say I’m thinking about making an investment in a producer of product X. I might want to speak to people that sell that product, people that buy that product, or that used to work at that company as part of my research process to have a better understanding of how valuable that product is.
BUT, “let’s say” the “producer of product X” does NOT want current or past employees talking to hedge funds and investment banks about its proprietary, confidential, insider goings on. LinkedIn’s financial incentives to its “17 million professionals” may nevertheless be hard to resist. Gamson boasts, “If we can begin to help our members make money and help our clients find the right people, that’s when you create value on both sides and we like those situations.”
Corporations about which LinkedIn users divulge insider information to hedge funds and investment banks, however, will undoubtedly NOT “like those situations.” (more)
