Former Funcom CEO Investigated For Insider Trading

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Honestly, I had no idea my game was going to suck. Stepping down as CEO the day before the game launched and selling off all my stocks was a coincidence. Sheesh! :D

Trond was able to sell about 650,000 of his Funcom shares, but is now being investigated by the OSE and Norway's Financial Services Authority. Aas claimed that he has redeemed and sold stock options a few times in the past and that the timing on this sale was purely fortuitous, except for the fact that he's now suspected of insider trading; he also stated that, having resigned as CEO, he knew nothing about the poor sales of The Secret World until the company released a financial update on August 10.
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The Secret World is a nice game. But unfortunately, it is too expensive ($50 + $15 monthly subscription).
 
Oh wow! Wonder if European laws will crucify him or give him a pat on the back.
 
Aren't they the ones that made ZanZarah? Amy was one of the best protagonists in any video game ever.
 
Being the CEO I would think this would be an open and shut case.

But let's assume for a second that instead of being a CEO that he was a middle manager and after fighting tooth and nail to get changes made to the game realized that the game was going to suck hard and result in the value of his stock in the company would tank. Would it be legal for him to quit, and using his inside info about the game sell off his stock before the game release drove it's value into the dirt, or would that be insider trading as well?
 
SkribbelKat said:
Aren't they the ones that made ZanZarah? Amy was one of the best protagonists in any video game ever.
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They are the developers of "The Longest Journey" and its creator, Ragnar Törnqvist, is also the man behind "The Secret World". They also developed Age of Conan and Anarchy Online.
 
sviola said:
They are the developers of "The Longest Journey" and its creator, Ragnar Törnqvist, is also the man behind "The Secret World". They also developed Age of Conan and Anarchy Online.
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Oh! I've played The Longest Journey and Dreamfall too. Those were both good games. I've never heard of Age of Conan, but Anarchy Online is something I make fun of occasionally because my brother got deep into it at some point.

I looked up ZanZarah and it's made by Funatics...I guess that's not Funcom so nevermind. Still, that was a great game. :)
 
SkribbelKat said:
Oh! I've played The Longest Journey and Dreamfall too. Those were both good games. I've never heard of Age of Conan, but Anarchy Online is something I make fun of occasionally because my brother got deep into it at some point.

I looked up ZanZarah and it's made by Funatics...I guess that's not Funcom so nevermind. Still, that was a great game. :)
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You should give The Secret World a look. It's very nice. An MMORPG, in today's world. Except that every conspiracy theory, lore and monsters are true. Also, there are some really interesting features, like an in-game browser so you can search Google to help on solving the puzzles (one of the early puzzles require translating morse code, for instance).
 
sviola said:
You should give The Secret World a look. It's very nice. An MMORPG, in today's world. Except that every conspiracy theory, lore and monsters are true. Also, there are some really interesting features, like an in-game browser so you can search Google to help on solving the puzzles (one of the early puzzles require translating morse code, for instance).
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It does look kinda interesting, but it has system requirements that make my computers look completely pathetic and old. :( I might have to wait a little while to try playing it.
 
DarkStar_WNY said:
Being the CEO I would think this would be an open and shut case.

But let's assume for a second that instead of being a CEO that he was a middle manager and after fighting tooth and nail to get changes made to the game realized that the game was going to suck hard and result in the value of his stock in the company would tank. Would it be legal for him to quit, and using his inside info about the game sell off his stock before the game release drove it's value into the dirt, or would that be insider trading as well?
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Does the middle manager work for the company? Check
Is his knowledge the game is going to suck as a result of his working for said company? Check.
Is the company being unwilling to make changes to the game in said area NOT public knowledge or NOT publically released knowledge? Check.

Yes, that would be insider trading too. Insider trading is not about how high up your in the company but whether you had access to information the general public did not and used it to manipulate profit via stock trading.

The CEO here is attempting to faine innocent via "Whatttt? I didn't have any inside info about my own company's game. I have no idea the game was going to suck. I know nothing about the product we produce and am therefore innocent as i had no inside information". That either makes him a terrible lair, terrible CEO or someone that deligates way too much and doesn't follow up on how projects are going.
 
Hopefully this game will last. I really like it. It's been a long time since an MMO has grabbed me like this one.
 
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