T-Mobile published a press release on Wednesday to disclose that it gained another two million customers last quarter, but told investors that if they really want the latest company news, they should be following CEO John Legere on Twitter and Periscope.
T-Mobile to Its Investors: You Need to Follow Our CEO on Twitter
The company cautions that financial guidance could come via social media in addition to the usual press releases or regulatory filings.
Asa Mathat
“The information we post through these social media channels may be deemed material,” it said in a press release. “Accordingly, investors should monitor these social media channels in addition to following the Company’s press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts.”
The Securities and Exchange Commission said, back in 2013, that social media posts can count as public disclosure under its Regulation FD, so long as investors are told they need to follow it.
Of course, T-Mobile investors get more than just the occasional financial guidance by following Legere. He also uses his Twitter account to pick fights with Donald Trump and poke at rival CEOs, especially AT&T’s Randall Stephenson and Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure.
In the past day, Legere has taken to Twitter to tout the company’s subscriber gains, express interest in Faraday Future’s Batmobile-style electric car and say he is looking forward to seeing UFC fighter Ronda Rousey host “Saturday Night Live.”
He also praised news that Twitter may allow longer posts of up to 10,000 characters, saying “More room for me to insult the evil $&%^ #duopoly,” a reference, no doubt, to AT&T and Verizon.
Separating the financial guidance from the frivolous on Periscope is a little trickier, since it involves watching live video. But again, investors certainly won’t be bored.
The real question is whether Legere will tone it down now that the company has said his tweets can constitute official investor guidance. We asked Legere that in a tweet but haven’t gotten a response so far.
https://twitter.com/inafried/status/684774231259758592
We also asked the company whether this means they are going to try to rein in the notoriously outspoken Legere. We haven’t heard back on that, either.
As for the fourth-quarter gains, New Street research analyst Jonathan Chaplin said they were better than expected and came largely from lower-than-anticipated churn of existing customers, and that they show Sprint’s aggressive pricing hasn’t hurt T-Mobile.
Update, 10:30 am PT: A T-Mobile representative said that Legere’s tweets aren’t reviewed by the company’s legal or accounting departments. The move to add the social media notice to the company’s disclosures, which began some time ago, was made to give him more freedom to include financial information in his tweets.
Legere also responded on Twitter that there is “NFW” he will tone things down.
https://twitter.com/JohnLegere/status/684805242718826496
“PS- I will become tame the day after we fix wireless for consumers and @Verizon wakes up!!!” Legere said in a follow-up tweet.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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