The Basics Section is designed to help you learn about the variety of applications and capabilities available on Sharegate. Simply click on any link of interest in the right column to change the information displayed on the left.
*Keep an eye out for the Visual Tour links on the top right of certain pages to view a visual demonstration of those Sharegate functions in action.
Close WindowDashboard
The Sharegate dashboard is one of the most dynamic and informative applications on Sharegate. The dashboard serves as the main communication interface and can be customized by each user. The left side of the dashboard features several customizable news feeds. The center news feed contains streaming events from fellow shareholders, organizations, and companies which the user owns or has chosen to watch or listen to. They can be sorted by type and function.
Market News. By choosing Market News you will see a streaming market news feed that presents assorted market-related reports from the majority of major media providers.
Portfolio News. By choosing Portfolio Related sorting the news feed is changed to display only events relating to companies which you own or are watching.
Sharegate News. By choosing Sharegate sorting, you will be presented with news either originating on or pertaining to the Sharegate network. This includes headlines (organization releases) generated by organizations you have chosen to listen to or watch.
The Events Column (center)
The center column of the dashboard displays recent events based on your ownership or parties or persons whom you have chosen to listen to or watch. Posts on the Dashboard present your with a variety of information while providing several sorting functions for processing it.
A Dashboard post consists of the profile picture and name of the person or organization initiating the post. It also lists the related corporation (if applicable) by ticker symbol. The post format allows up to three lines of text to populate the text field followed by the date and time, and a More hyperlink. Selecting the hyperlink will access the post in its entirety at the source location on Sharegate.On the right side of the Dashboard post there are two vertical, colored lines, which each contain a title. These colored lines represent the type of initiator and the type of communication. Various green shades are used for Individual members, black for Institutional members, dark brown for Corporate members, purple for Affiliate members, and light blue for Academic members. The types of communications are sorted as follows: yellow for Share Ask, red for Share Action, blue for Share Pitch, and orange for Share Vote.
Sort Functions. If you own several stocks and have developed your own network of members, your Dashboard may become a busy place. To assist you in sorting through the large amount of data, we have installed several sorting functions. There are five sorting buttons which appear across the top of the display and are labeled All, Ask, Action, Pitch, and Collaborate and Listen. These buttons change the column, only displaying the type of data selected.
- The All button displays all data.
- The Ask button displays only Share Ask exchanges, allowing you to view only corporate dialogue.
- The Action button displays only Share Action events, allowing you to view shareholder actions and proposals.
- The Pitch button displays only Share Pitch events, allowing you to view only investment ideas and proposals by other members.
- The Collaborate and Listen button displays only posts and content initiated by members with whom you are collaborating or have chosen to listen to.
- By selecting All Sharegate, the column will display all events occurring across the network, with the most recent events posted at the top of the column.
- By selecting My Holdings, the column will be reduced to events that concern your actual holdings only.
- By selecting My Watch List, the column will only display events that concern companies that you are watching.
- To return to the default setting, select the All button on the left side of the sorting buttons.
My Sharegate (right side)
This column, located on the right side of the Dashboard, allows you to view current trading information regarding your holdings or stocks. The ticker, current share price, price change data, and the Network Voting Power (NVP) pertaining to this stock are displayed. NVP is the percentage of shares of a company owned by Sharegate members.You may switch between viewing data from either your holdings or your Watch List by clicking on either title at the top of the column.
Corporate Profiles
A Corporate Profile page exists on Sharegate for every major corporation traded on a U.S. exchange. In some cases these pages have been claimed and are administered by the corporation. If corporations maintain a Sharegate membership, they have the ability to add additional information to these pages. In some cases, the corporation may not have claimed a profile page. The format of the Corporate Profile is the same for all corporations. This facilitates ease of use for all members.
You can access a Corporate Profile by clicking a company’s ticker symbol anywhere it is posted on Sharegate. To search for a specific corporation, type in the company’s name or ticker symbol in the Find Corporations search box in the Sharegate header. This will display search results, and you may click on the ticker symbol to go to the Corporate Profile page.
On the page you will find the profile broken down into five main sections: three on the top and two on the bottom.
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In the upper-left section you will see the corporation’s name and ticker symbol. Below this is a place where the corporation’s logo may be displayed. If the company maintains a Sharegate membership, the corporation may choose to present corporate contact info. In the small rectangular box below the upper left section you may find a rectangular area where the picture, name, and title of the Investor Relations Officer (IRO) or other appointed corporate representative is listed. By clicking on the representative’s name, a pop-up box will appear with additional corporate information, including address, city, state, and zip.
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In the upper-middle section you will see the corporation’s current share price when trading is open, or closing price, and last closing price when the market is closed. You will also see fourteen other data points relevant to the stock. Below this you will find the four symbols for the Share Ask, Share Action, Share Pitch, and Share Vote applications. By clicking on any of these symbols, you will be taken to the appropriate page to initiate the associated process (if permitted), based on your current holdings.
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In the upper-right section you will see the corporation’s Network Voting Power (NVP), the Network Shares (NS), and the Communication Performance Score (CPS) listed. (See the Sharegate Basics on Network Voting Power (NVP) and the Communication Performance Score (CPS) for more information related to these topics.) The Network Shares (NS) listed are the total number of shares owned by members on Sharegate. Below these figures is the corporate presentation area.
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The corporate presentation area allows a Corporate member to display up to five different marketing slides which cycle at four second intervals. Below this imagery there are up to five market icons that allow a direct link to various content.
- The Chart icon allows the user to view stock charts for the particular corporation.
- The Television icon allows the user to view video content hosted by the corporation.
- The Presentation icon allows the user to view presentation materials hosted by the corporation.
- The Factsheet icon allows the user to view factual material in a PDF format hosted by the member.
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The Signpost icon allows the user to be redirected to the corporation’s official site in a new window.
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In the large bottom-left section you will see all the communications related to that corporation, including general posts, Share Asks, Share Actions, and Share Pitches. These communications are listed by subject, initiating member, rating (RTG), number of replies (RPL), date and time of the original post. At the top of this section users will find a variety of filter and sort options related to these communications. Clicking on New Post creates a general post on the Corporate Profile page. Users also have the ability to filter the communications according to the different Sharegate symbols listed (see the Sharegate Basics on Symbols and Colors for more information), the chronological order, ratings score, or number of replies. Users may also search through the corporate communications using the search box.
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In the bottom-right section you will see information related to that specific corporation. You may click on the News Feed to view information pulled from various news sources. You may also click on Corporate Releases to view information posted by the corporation directly to Sharegate. If a corporation does not maintain a Corporate Membership, this information link will not be active.
Integrated Brokerages
Sharegate is currently developing safe and secure data transfer integration with the largest and most established brokerages in the U.S. market. The following brokerages have been selected for the initial 2012 beta test period. Additional brokerages will be added based on market demand.
Sharegate will serve individual investors who have accounts at these supported and partner brokerages:
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CHARLES SCHWAB
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ETRADE
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FIDELITY
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FIRST TRADE
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INTERACTIVE BROKERS
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MB TRADING
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MERRILL LYNCH
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OPTIONS EXPRESS
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OPTIONS HOUSE
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SCOTTRADE
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SHARE BUILDER
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SOGO INVEST
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TD AMERITRADE
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THINK OR SWIM
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T ROWE PRICE
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TRADE KING
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TRADE STATION
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USAA
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VANGUARD
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ZECCO
Individual Public Profiles
Your public profile is the online representation of yourself accessible to other Sharegate members.
| Basic viewable information may include your name, your picture (once uploaded), your age, your city and state, the date you joined Sharegate, the number of posts you’ve made, and your Reputation Score. These data points were chosen based on common information that might be disclosed while attending an actual shareholder meeting. |
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You may also add additional information about yourself, your best investment story, and your worst investment story. These information displays are presented to allow members to share experiences, find commonalities, and enrich the social experience of Sharegate. These also serve as an interactive template where other members may choose to listen or collaborate with you, offer proxy voting rights, view your Watch List, or send you a private message. |
Users are able to see your listeners - who you’re listening to, and with whom you are collaborating.
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Private Profiles
Your name, age, and state of residence are the primary details that will be publicly available. In addition, we have created three entry templates for you to add a little information about yourself and your own investing outlook, your best investing victory, and your worst investing defeat (again, this information is entirely optional). By filling out this information you make Sharegate a more interesting and lively place to interact and conduct business. Entering data here is voluntary, but highly encouraged.
Your private profile is what you see when selecting Profile from the global navigation bar at the top of the page. Your private profile allows you to manage your information, permissions, and notification settings. These functions are broken down into the following seven categories, which you can select under your picture:
Manage My Account - Update your basic information, including your name, email address, physical address, date of birth, and time zone.
Manage My Profile - Enter an introduction about yourself, as well as your best and worst investment stories.
Update Profile Image - Add a personal picture.
Change My Password - Change your login password.
Manage Permissions - Adjust your privacy settings to allow other members, corporations, or collaborators to see your holdings. This data will show what companies you hold but not the amount of your shares or your account value.
Notification Settings - If you would like to be notified of certain events, you may select the event notification settings to enable this feature.
Individual Members
If you are one of the millions of investors who own stock in American markets, then you qualify for an Individual Membership on Sharegate, a site designed and built specifically for you. As an Individual Member on Sharegate, you will have the capability to engage and be informed like never before.
As you interact with other investors on Sharegate, you will find opportunities to learn from one another. Other investors may value your input and knowledge. The social network functions of Sharegate allow you to interact with many different investors and build your own personal network for a lifetime of benefit. Such a diverse combination of minds, perspectives, and experiences will prove invaluable to your investing career.
Sharegate’s Share Ask application allows you to communicate transparently and effortlessly with any company traded on an exchange supported by Sharegate, without leaving our portal. As investors and companies communicate on Sharegate, you will have a “seat at the table” to view and participate in these dialogues.
Are you too busy to stay current with the corporate governance events and issues regarding your holdings? Sharegate empowers you and fellow shareholders to assist one another and work as a team. The Share Vote application allows you to offer your proxy to a fellow owner of your choosing. As you build your personal network of investors, offering your trusted peers the ability to exercise your vote follows naturally. You may also share voting responsibilities by voting on their behalf.
Have you ever felt powerless or isolated as an individual shareholder? Sharegate empowers you by verifying your holdings and then connecting you to other verified shareholders. You and other individual shareholders can gauge your collective influence by viewing the total sum of shares owned on the network for any given corporation. Sharegate’s Share Action application allows you to propose topics for vote and, likewise, vote on topics introduced by other shareholders. Just as election polls predict election outcomes, Share Action will help gauge sentiment and predict the likely success of a shareholder proposal.
Share Action also enables you to generate official, regulatory-compliant proposals for inclusion on a corporate election proxy. Sharegate guides you through the requirements as set forth by the SEC, assists in the generation and assembly of a compliant proposal, and facilitates sending it to the company. In addition to simplifying this process, Sharegate allows you to access the proposals submitted by other members. With Sharegate, becoming a proactive and informed shareholder has never been easier.
When it comes to investments, do you value a second opinion before making decisions? How about a third, fourth, or 100th opinion? Share Pitch allows you to share your latest investment idea and receive feedback from fellow investors. Likewise, you will have access to the pitches of other investors, which may help you discover new and valuable investment ideas.
Additionally, Sharegate provides current news, stock quotes, and fundamental data for all publicly traded companies while automatically applying individually selected data filters. We then feed this information to you based on your portfolio. Our valuable communication network distributes information from fellow shareholders and your personal network of selected investors. As your holdings change and your network grows, Sharegate automatically detects these changes and customizes your live feed.
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Sharegate securely integrates with many of the leading brokerages in the U.S. Our secure data aggregation software allows you to link your existing brokerage account to the Sharegate network. A large amount of the information presented on Sharegate is generated using the holdings data of our members. By allowing Sharegate to securely access your holdings information, your communications are filtered and customized for you as your ownership interests change.Are you concerned about data security and your personal information? Sharegate values your privacy and takes data security extremely seriously. We work with some of the top firms in the data security industry to conduct security audits and provide the latest protections to help ensure that our network and the data within are safeguarded. We understand that the information you share with us is private, and we do everything possible to keep your personal information secure.
Institutional Members
The individual investor population is often the target customer audience for institutional fund marketing efforts. Our research has shown that most individual investors also maintain ownership in managed funds. Initiating or participating in Sharegate events allows you to represent your company and interact with a large number of potential clients. This interaction will allow you to accumulate listeners and potentially customers. By simply engaging with fellow members, you will be effectively promoting your organization at no additional cost.
Excluding the base subscription cost, Sharegate membership fees are attributed to the network’s effectiveness at promoting your organization. Additional use fees are assigned based on your assembled audience of listeners, user hits accessing your promotional content, and page re-directs to your business website. This “pay for performance” cost structure ensures our product provides clear and measurable value. Established fees are directly attributed to and commensurate with this value.
Corporate Members
Sharegate Corporate Members have the unique opportunity to market their company as an investment, interact with a community of institutional and individual shareholders, gain insight into shareholder initiatives, and represent their organization on the investment community’s most modern and dynamic financial social network.
Investor Relations professionals often find it challenging to target their audience of current and potential investors accurately. To overcome this challenge, IR managers are now beginning to utilize social media venues, as traditional media channels become less effective with the emergence of an increasingly tech-oriented generation of investors. Sharegate was designed with these challenges in mind and purposefully built for the investment community.
Shareholder Insight
Sharegate allows corporations to interact with a verified and quantifiable investor population, while providing exact metrics of effectiveness. The NVP statistics show exactly how many shares of the company are represented among the Sharegate population. The shareholder viewing display shows the faces of shareholders and the institutions that maintain holdings. Most importantly, Corporate Members will gain insight as shareholders discuss their companies and vote on initiatives. These insights will give Investor Relations departments and management teams the ability to fine-tune company messages and address shareholder concerns before they become proxy issues.
Affiliate Members
Any person or organization who fits this description (and does not qualify as an Individual, Institutional, Corporate, or Academic member) may apply for an Affiliate Member account. Sharegate will approve Affiliate accounts on a case-by-case basis.
An Affiliate Member account allows you to communicate with corporations and shareholders while representing your organization. Additionally, you will have unfiltered insight and access into shareholder communications, intentions, and actions. As an Affiliate Member, you will have the ability to interact with the Sharegate community by creating your profile page, presenting information, establishing a network of listeners and collaborators, and participating in discussions. Additionally, Affililiate Members have exposure to valuable statistical data, such as the amount of assembled shareholder influence, ongoing shareholder actions and discussions, and corporate responses to shareholders. Sharegate also allows you to use your profile page to present promotional content.
Affiliate organizations do not fall into traditional member categories, so to be eligible for Sharegate membership, your organization must have a related objective that provides tangible value for our members, the investment community, or society at large. Organizations which seek access to Sharegate purely for advertising or self-promotional purposes may be denied Affiliate Membership.
Academic Members
Sharegate is a robust communication platform designed for both companies and investors. Our transparent information exchange provides an incredible opportunity to learn, interact with companies and investors, and observe corporate governance first-hand. These attributes make Sharegate a dynamic and interactive tool for teaching students about finance and the investment world. Instead of merely reading about stocks in a textbook, students can use virtual money to buy stocks and watch their virtual accounts grow (or shrink) in value. Additionally, they can communicate with other companies, shareholders, and students. This interaction helps build their knowledge, analytical skills, and investing confidence, all of which have the potential to benefit them (and, by extension, the investment community) throughout their lives.
A Sharegate Academic Membership allows teachers and professors to establish student accounts for participating students, and then enables each student to build a portfolio by virtually investing $100,000 in up to 20 stocks. Students can use Sharegate to communicate with other shareholders and representatives of publicly traded companies. Additionally, students will have the opportunity to compete against other classes and students to win scholarships awarded by Sharegate for superior performance.
Sharegate is also an excellent teaching tool for future business managers. On Sharegate, corporate governance occurs quickly and transparently, in real time. Observing these events helps future managers gain insight into the emerging dynamics of shareholder politics and decision-making, at both the individual and institutional levels. Additionally, Sharegate allows these candidates to learn how to adapt to and communicate with a centralized shareholder population using modern communication tools.
Academic Memberships are for use in classroom settings by educators whose expertise pertains to finance, capital markets, investing, or corporate governance and communication. Academic Memberships are further divided into high school or college categories, with high school memberships being more restrictive.
High school Academic Members are restricted from adding personal photos, and the account will display their first name only. Student accounts will have one picture of the class mascot or school logo, which will appear on the profile of all members who are associated with that specific academic account. Additionally, Sharegate has established the age of sixteen as the minimum age required for participation.
Academic Member accounts are not subject to membership fees. We offer these accounts free of charge because we believe that introducing students to investing and the investment community early, in a structured, academic setting, will enable them to develop into more successful investors later in life.
• Academic Membership is not scheduled to be available until 2013.
Share Ask
The Share Ask software was designed to allow members to communicate easily with the thousands of publicly traded companies trading on exchanges served by Sharegate. This can be accomplished on Sharegate by utilizing the unique communcation tools available on the network. Furthermore, these exchanges are transparently displayed and viewable by all network members, enabling everyone to benefit from the discussion. These communications are archived and may be referenced later by a keyword search.
The Share Ask application may be accessed on organization profile pages. To generate a Share Ask request, users may simply click on this icon, provide a title and content on the entry template, then send this inquiry to the concerned member.
The inquiry will be posted on the organization's profile page in the lower left, along with the message subject, your profile picture and name, and the date and time it was submitted. It will be posted in the Share Ask forum, as well as on the dashboards of all members who own or are watching this company or listening to this member.
Corporate Members who receive Share Ask inquiries have seven days to respond. If a response is not detected within the seven-day period, the message will be flagged as an insufficient response, effectively ending that particular Share Ask communication. An insufficient response negatively affects the company’s Communication Performance Score (CPS), which is viewable by all Sharegate members and could be considered by potential investors when making investment decisions.
Corporate Members which receive an inquiry for information that is in violation of Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD), may simply select the Reg FD violation link that is presented with the inquiry. Selecting this link notifies the requestor of the infraction, presents reference material concerning the requirement, and closes the Share Ask communication. Selecting the Reg FD link is recognized as a sufficient response and contributes towards establishing and maintaining a high CPS score.
Additionally, since these exchanges are publicly displayed, all viewers are presented with guidance about Reg FD requirements. Over time, this allows the network population to learn about Reg FD compliance, while reducing the amount of inquiries for restricted information. Sharegate designed this functionality primarily for the Corporate Member, allowing Investor Relations representatives to maintain compliance while also providing responsive communication.
The Share Ask software was designed to allow members to communicate easily with the thousands of publicly traded companies trading on exchanges served by Sharegate. This can be accomplished on Sharegate by utilizing the unique communcation tools available on the network. Furthermore, these exchanges are transparently displayed and viewable by all network members, enabling everyone to benefit from the discussion. These communications are archived and may be referenced later by a keyword search.
The Share Ask application may be accessed on organization profile pages. To generate a Share Ask request, users may simply click on this icon, provide a title and content on the entry template, then send this inquiry to the concerned member.
The inquiry will be posted on the organization's profile page in the lower left, along with the message subject, your profile picture and name, and the date and time it was submitted. It will be posted in the Share Ask forum, as well as on the dashboards of all members who own or are watching this company or listening to this member.
Corporate Members who receive Share Ask inquiries have seven days to respond. If a response is not detected within the seven-day period, the message will be flagged as an insufficient response, effectively ending that particular Share Ask communication. An insufficient response negatively affects the company’s Communication Performance Score (CPS), which is viewable by all Sharegate members and could be considered by potential investors when making investment decisions.
Corporate Members which receive an inquiry for information that is in violation of Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD), may simply select the Reg FD violation link that is presented with the inquiry. Selecting this link notifies the requestor of the infraction, presents reference material concerning the requirement, and closes the Share Ask communication. Selecting the Reg FD link is recognized as a sufficient response and contributes towards establishing and maintaining a high CPS score.
Additionally, since these exchanges are publicly displayed, all viewers are presented with guidance about Reg FD requirements. Over time, this allows the network population to learn about Reg FD compliance, while reducing the amount of inquiries for restricted information. Sharegate designed this functionality primarily for the Corporate Member, allowing Investor Relations representatives to maintain compliance while also providing responsive communication.
Share Vote
* The Share Vote application is currently in continued development and undergoing extensive regulatory review. We do not expect this application to be available until late 2012 or early 2013.
Share Vote will allow you to offer your shareholder voting rights to another member who is also an owner of stock in the same corporation. If the other owner accepts the offer to vote on your behalf, the proxy will be redirected from the initiating member to the receiving member.
We created Share Vote because we believe it can improve the low participation rate seen among individual investors in corporate elections. If shareholders can easily delegate voting rights to another owner of their choosing, we believe that such proxies will not go unused. The system of delegating votes is already common among institutional investors and proxy voting firms. Share Vote offers the individual shareholder a similar benefit.
Since ownership status is kept private between members, a Share Vote offer may be denied if the recipient does not own shares. The offer may also be denied if the recipient refuses the offer or simply does not take action before the offer period expires. In all cases, the initiating member is notified via a denial notification. The specific reason for the denial is not delineated and the denial notification is always sent at the end of the expiration time frame. This allows ownership status or lack of ownership to remain undisclosed.
Additionally, Share Vote contracts are automatically revoked if either participating party fully divests him- or herself of the associated stock or if either member manually selects to revoke the agreement. Share Vote agreements and the proxy redirection they instruct remain perpetual unless a change is initiated by either of the parties.
Sharegate is cognizant of existing proxy solicitation rules and is designing and implementing control measures to comply with both existing regulations and expected future regulatory requirements. Sharegate is implementing control measures that will notify appropriate parties if, through the Share Vote application, the voting power accumulated by any member exceeds 5% of the outstanding shares of a concerned company.
Share Action
The Share Action application is designed to allow shareholders to gauge sentiment and project possible outcomes of shareholder proposals by allowing a non-binding vote to occur among verified members. Since only owners may vote and exact share amounts are tabulated in real time, these votes are highly accurate and may be potential predictors of actual shareholder proposal outcomes. As majorities of shareholders assemble on Sharegate, these polls, non-binding yet highly accurate, will become increasingly important.
Share Action allows any verified shareholder to propose an issue and gather feedback from other shareholders via an informal, yet collective, vote. The ability to communicate and conduct this type of process using Sharegate provides many benefits to members, including time and cost-savings when compared to current conventional processes.
Share Actions may be initiated from several areas on the website. The primary access point is located on the Corporate Member profile page for the concerned corporation, via a click on the Action button. You may also initiate a Share Action from the Share Action forum.
Upon verification of ownership, the Share Action application will allow the member to title the event, clearly define the voting options, and enter up to a 500-word summary explaining the action. You may notice this 500-word limit matches the SEC requirement for an actual shareholder proposal.
When the process is completed by the initiator, all shareholders of the company will be notified on their dashboards and/or by email notification if selected. Members who have chosen to watch this company will also be notified. Owners will be provided with the option to vote their shares. As this occurs, the actual share amounts supporting any one voting option will be transparently displayed; however the identity of the voters and related share amounts are not disclosed.
During Share Action evolutions, the outstanding shares issued by the company are accounted for. This allows actual percentage statistics to be displayed. These accurate real-time statistics may then be utilized by members to measure community sentiment and determine whether to submit an actual shareholder proposal. It is likely that majority decisions reached by Share Action events will be able to predict successful shareholder proposal outcomes.
In addition to providing a voting option, the Share Action application contains a shareholder proposal notification tool. Members who have submitted an actual shareholder proposal to a company may use the Share Action shareholder proposal notification tool to notify all owners and watchers of the existence of the proposal.
A member may submit a proposal by entering the title and body copy into the shareholder proposal tool. Upon submission, all owners and watching members are notified on their dashboards and/or by email. The proposal is also displayed in the Share Action forum and on the Corporate Member profile page of the related company. This is valuable because it allows a member to notify the rest of the shareholder community easily regarding the submittal of an existing proposal, prior to such a proposal being included or excluded on the next proxy.
The Share Action application is designed to allow shareholders to gauge sentiment and project possible outcomes of shareholder proposals by allowing a non-binding vote to occur among verified members. Since only owners may vote and exact share amounts are tabulated in real time, these votes are highly accurate and may be potential predictors of actual shareholder proposal outcomes. As majorities of shareholders assemble on Sharegate, these polls, non-binding yet highly accurate, will become increasingly important.
Share Action allows any verified shareholder to propose an issue and gather feedback from other shareholders via an informal, yet collective, vote. The ability to communicate and conduct this type of process using Sharegate provides many benefits to members, including time and cost-savings when compared to current conventional processes.
Share Actions may be initiated from several areas on the website. The primary access point is located on the Corporate Member profile page for the concerned corporation, via a click on the Action button. You may also initiate a Share Action from the Share Action forum.
Upon verification of ownership, the Share Action application will allow the member to title the event, clearly define the voting options, and enter up to a 500-word summary explaining the action. You may notice this 500-word limit matches the SEC requirement for an actual shareholder proposal.
When the process is completed by the initiator, all shareholders of the company will be notified on their dashboards and/or by email notification if selected. Members who have chosen to watch this company will also be notified. Owners will be provided with the option to vote their shares. As this occurs, the actual share amounts supporting any one voting option will be transparently displayed; however the identity of the voters and related share amounts are not disclosed.
During Share Action evolutions, the outstanding shares issued by the company are accounted for. This allows actual percentage statistics to be displayed. These accurate real-time statistics may then be utilized by members to measure community sentiment and determine whether to submit an actual shareholder proposal. It is likely that majority decisions reached by Share Action events will be able to predict successful shareholder proposal outcomes.In addition to providing a voting option, the Share Action application contains a shareholder proposal notification tool. Members who have submitted an actual shareholder proposal to a company may use the Share Action shareholder proposal notification tool to notify all owners and watchers of the existence of the proposal.
A member may submit a proposal by entering the title and body copy into the shareholder proposal tool. Upon submission, all owners and watching members are notified on their dashboards and/or by email. The proposal is also displayed in the Share Action forum and on the Corporate Member profile page of the related company. This is valuable because it allows a member to notify the rest of the shareholder community easily regarding the submittal of an existing proposal, prior to such a proposal being included or excluded on the next proxy.
Share Pitch
Share Pitch is an evaluation and discovery tool for reviewing and creating investment analysis. This application allows you to present your own analysis of a company and allows other members to provide feedback your analysis. Share Pitch also allows you to view others' analyses of various companies. Such interactions expose you to many differing and diverse investment ideas and viewpoints.
Share Pitch is an evaluation and discovery tool for reviewing and creating investment analysis. This application allows you to present your own analysis of a company and allows other members to provide feedback your analysis. Share Pitch also allows you to view others' analyses of various companies. Such interactions expose you to many differing and diverse investment ideas and viewpoints.
You can initiate a Share Pitch from the Share Pitch forum or by selecting the lightbulb icon on any Corporate Member profile page. You will then be presented with a template allowing you to title the pitch, add content, disclose ownership, and add projected Earnings per Share (EPS) and a one-year price expectation.
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You will also be given the opportunity to cite up to three Internet-accessible references that support your thesis. When submitted, your Share Pitch is posted to the concerned Corporate Member's profile page, the Share Pitch forum, and the dashboards of all shareholders, as well as those who have added this company to their Watch List. At this point, other viewing members will have the opportunity to read your pitch and provide feedback.By sharing your thoughts and analysis with fellow Sharegate members, you will receive feedback from people who are interested in the stock and related issues. Share Pitch gives members the opportunity to come together and conduct an informed discussion regarding the stock and associated themes. It also allows you to fine-tune your analytical skills by soliciting feedback and by offering your own input to other pitches.
Network Voting Power (NVP)
Network Voting Power, or NVP, is a common figure that all members will encounter throughout the Sharegate network. NVP is the ratio of outstanding shares of a company which are held by Sharegate members to the total number of shares, displayed as a percentage.
For example, if Company A has issued 10 million shares and 1 million shares are owned among all the institutional and individual investors on Sharegate, then the Sharegate NVP for Company A would be 10. This communicates in a simple, clear manner, that 10% of Company A's shares are held by members on the Sharegate network.
The NVP is calculated by using information from several key sources. The outstanding share data is obtained from corporate filings and the holdings data is obtained from the individual brokerage accounts of individual members. Institutional account data is provided by the funds registered who have established institution accounts. Our proprietary Sharegate software then calculates total sum holdings to generate NVP information data.
The NVP numbers are used in several locations. A company's NVP is clearly displayed on its profile page. Additionally, the NVP for a stock may also be seen on the Dashboard under the My Sharegate column.
NVP is also utilized for the Share Action software. This allows all Sharegate members to see the “true force” behind any potential shareholder action. Since only the verified shareholders of a company are allowed to vote in Share Action events, the NVP scores may be accurate predictors for the potential success of shareholder initiatives.
As shareholders centralize on Sharegate, the NVP for certain companies could potentially rise above 50%. This is an important milestone because it means that a decision-making majority is now assembled on the network. Were this to occur, it would be highly likely that decisions could be initiated and voted upon in the Sharegate network, and then be officially enacted through the existing proxy processes.
Reputation Scores (RS)
Sharegate intends to provide a communication platform for millions of users. This large population will be both communicating and providing content. Moderating such a large base of members requires a combination of incentives and penalties for activities encouraged or specifically disallowed. Reputation scores were designed as an incentive and recognition program. It was meant to incentivize members to partake in the activities for which Sharegate was designed, and to provide a method for recognizing those members who provide exceptional content to the network.
Reputation scores are a numerical representation of community opinion attributed to activities deemed of value by fellow members and by Sharegate. Reputation scores are increased by consistently providing valuable content and feedback to fellow shareholders, participating in worthwhile activities and discussions, and utilizing Sharegate's software tools.
To a more limited degree, RS points can also be earned by simple tasks such as posting a personal picture, fully completing a member profile, inviting new members, and other activities not specifically explained here. High reputation scores are earned over time by consistent participation and broad value-adding contributions to a large population of fellow members.
Color Usage
As individual reputation scores rise over certain thresholds, the color representation for individuals changes from white to progressively darker shades of green. This is a visual indication of rising experience and value. One can quickly identify more experienced and valued shareholders by the darker colored bars on the dashboard and posted content associated with those members.
Reputation points may be revoked for violating Sharegate posting rules and/or the Sharegate Terms Of Use. Sharegate members can avoid point revocations and associated fines by practicing good behavior and consistent quality contribution.
Sharegate employs specific algorithms that reduce the value of “rate ups” occurring repetitively from the same members. Similar measures are employed across the spectrum of events that result in award points. Higher scores may only be achieved through diverse activities recognized by a large and diverse group of individuals.
For additional information regarding point revocation and associated fines, please visit the Sharegate Fine and Fee Policy.
Listening Capital (LC)
Listening Capital is a numerical representation of assembled financial influence and is transparently displayed on the profile pages of Institutional, Individual, and Affilaite Members. As a Sharegate member, you may likely build relationships and accumulate listeners. The Listening Capital (LC) numeric identifies the sum collective brokerage account capital, when combining the accounts for all your institutional and individual listeners.
This is a valuable metric that transparently displays the capital amount that may be “listening” to any particular member. Listening Capital, Reputation Scores, and accumulated listeners are the three main metrics for network perceived importance and influence, when considering Sharegate members that are not Corporate Members.
If you choose to listen to another member, your account value is added to their Listening Capital in group intervals of ten individuals. When they listen to you, your listening capital increases by their account value subject to the same interval.
Listening Capital is not displayed until a minimum of ten listeners is achieved. Since account values are displayed as a sum for groups of ten investors at a time, viewers are unable to distinguish actual account values for individual investors.
Institutional Member Listening Account Values are added to Listening Capital upon initiation and do not utilize a group interval. As in all cases on Sharegate, actual holdings and share amounts are not disclosed.
The following examples may be used to better explain the equations used to calculate Listening Capital:
Example 1: A member with less than ten individual listeners. LC < 10 Listeners:
LC is not displayed.
Example 2: A member with 16 individual listeners.
LC is displayed for the first 10 listeners. The capital amounts for remaining listeners will not be shown until the next interval of 20 listeners.
Example 3: A member with 31 individual listeners.
LC is displayed for the first 30 listeners.
Example 4: A member with two institutional listeners and 87 individual listeners.
LC is displayed for the two Institutional listeners and the first 80 individual listeners.
What happens when I lose a listener?
For institutional listeners, LC will immediately be reduced by the amount of the institutional account. For individuals, the interval of 10 is still utilized. If a member has 90 listeners and loses one, the LC figure will change to the first 80 listeners instead of 89 listeners. By doing so, actual account values are not disclosed.
Communication Performance Score (CPS)
On each corporate profile page, you will see a Communication Performance Score (CPS) and corresponding letter grade listed in the upper right corner. This score is calculated based on a company’s responsiveness to Share Ask questions and ranges from 0 to 100, with 100 being the best, indicating a timely response to every question asked.
To process the CPS, the Share Ask software records outgoing queries from Sharegate members and incoming responses from the related corporation. Sharegate computes the CPS by dividing the number of Share Ask questions answered (Qans) by the number of Share Ask questions asked (Qask) and then multiplying by 100. This, in effect, calculates the percentage of Share Ask queries to which the company responded against the total of questions asked. Also of note is that Sharegate uses data from the preceding 365-day period in the calculation of a current CPS. The formula Sharegate uses is: (Qans/Qask x 100) computed over a rolling 365-day period.
In addition to the CPS numeric score, a letter grade is assigned based on common academic trends. For example, a CPS 90-100 is an “A,” 80-89 is a “B,” 70-79 is a “C.” Anything below 70 is an “F.”
For example, company “XYZ” received 248 inquiries through the Share Ask software application in the last 365 days. During that period, the company responded to 225 inquiries within the 7-day time requirement.
225/248 = .907 x 100 = 90.72
Company “XYZ” CPS = 90.71. This warrants a grade of “A.” The CPS and corresponding letter grade are displayed on the corporate profile page in the upper right corner.
The closer a company’s number is to 100 and the better the corresponding letter grade, the more responsive the company is to the Share Ask queries. This may be a factor shareholders consider when evaluating a company.
Icons and Colors
To ease identification and help our members navigate the many functions of Sharegate, we utilize several icons and colors to identify different types of members and events. This allows members to quickly recognize certain functions and identities. A summary of these icons and colors are listed below.
Color Labels
Individual member labels. On Sharegate, individuals are identified by the color green. This color can be seen on the vertical bars to the right side of posts on the dashboard. As reputation scores rise, the green bar coloring associated with this member will slowly darken to signify a rising reputation. Green vertical bars are also viewable on the postings of particular members in the forums where a member may post and on individual posts by the member.
Organization member labels. Sharegate allows certain organizations to obtain membership on the network. Institutional investors, corporations trading on exchanges supported by Sharegate, and various relevant affiliate organizations are eligible for an organizational membership on Sharegate. These organizations can be indentified by black, dark brown, purple, and light blue labels as shown below.
Sharegate Application labels. On the Sharegate Dashboard and Profile page forums, specific events may be indentified by a color label corresponding to the actual function.
Share Ask Events. Yellow is utilized along with the word “ask” in vertical bars on Dashboard. Forum posts simply contain a smaller yellow bar. This allows users to recognize communications between members and corporations.
Share Action Events. Red is utilized along with the word “action” in the vertical bars on the Dashboard. Forum posts simply contain a smaller red bar. This allows users to recognize shareholder actions or proposals.
Share Pitch Events. Blue is utilized along with the word “pitch” in the vertical bars on the Dashboard. Forum posts simply contain a smaller blue bar. This allows users to recognize member-provided investment proposals and analysis.
Share Vote Events. Orange is utilized along with the word “vote” in the vertical bars on the dashboard. Since Share Vote events only occur between two members, this color is not used in any forums.
Icons
Sharegate Media icons. On Sharegate, organizations may present videos, slide presentations, and documents. They may also redirect viewers to their own website utilizing the variety of icons shown below.
Sharegate Application icons. Sharegate uses icons and colors to assist members in sorting through large amounts of information. These icons remain standard throughout the website are used in the following manners:
Share Ask. Conversation icon. By selecting this icon on the Dashboard or in any forum, you may change the display to only show Share Ask events. Simply click on the icon or button. You may also access the Share Ask software to communicate with a corporation or organization by pressing the “Share Ask” button located on an organization's profile page.
Share Action. Pencil icon. By selecting this symbol on the Dashboard or in any forum, you may change the display to only show Share Action events. Simply click on the icon or button. You may also access the Share Action software to initiate a shareholder action or proposal by pressing the “Share Action” button located on a Corporation's profile page.
Share Pitch. Light Bulb icon. By selecting this icon on the Dashboard or in any forum, you may change the display to show only Share Pitch events. Simply click on the icon or button. You may also access the Share Pitch software to pitch an investment idea and receive feedback from other investors by selecting the “Pitch” button on the related Corporation's profile page.
Share Vote. Contract icon. You may offer voting rights to other members by selecting this icon on the related Corporation’s profile page. This allows you to offer your proxy to a fellow owner, who can then vote on your behalf.
Sharegate forum sorting buttons. Additionally, in the various forums you may use the following symbols to sort by the following methods:
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- "All" Sharegate icon (dot circle) - Select this icon to reset the sort and viewing display to the default setting.
- "My Shares" icon - Select this icon to view events that only concern your holdings.
- Collaborate and Listen ("C & L") icon - Select this icon to view events initiated by members you are listening to or collaborating with.
- ">50% Shares" symbol - Select this symbol to view Share Action events ranked by a voting outcome exceeding 50% of the outstanding shares. This would comprise a majority decision by the concerned shareholders.
- ">25% Shares" symbol - Select this icon to view Share Action events where an event was supported by greater than 25% of the outstanding shares.
- ">5% Shares" symbol - Select this icon to view Share Action events where an event was supported by greater than 5% of the outstanding shares.
- "People" symbol - Select this icon to view Share Action events ranked on largest participation by unique members.
- "Rating" arrow - Select this icon to view events that received the highest ratings by fellow members
- "Replies" arrow - Select this icon to view events that generated the most discussion and replies.
- "Time/Date" icon - Select this icon to view events in chronological order
Data Protection
Sharegate places the highest priority on protecting your Non-Public Personal Information. While a detailed description of our security architecture and methodology would be counterproductive for security, we can disclose the following important points about our security standards:
- Sharegate utilizes industry-standard 128-bit SSL-encrypted connections for all of our connections, whether it is your connection to Sharegate or Sharegate’s connection to your Brokerage.
- Sharegate stores all usernames, passwords, and financial account information in encrypted databases behind Rackspace Managed Hosting's dedicated hardware firewall which has earned ICSA Firewall and IPsec certification, and Common Criteria EAL4 evaluation status.
- Sharegate's hosting platform, provided by Rackspace Managed Hosting, is regularly updated and tested against the latest software vulnerabilities, is continuously monitored by an advanced Intrusion Detection System (IDS), and is equipped with an advanced DDoS mitigation hardware system.
- Sharegate and Rackspace are compliant with the industry-standard ISO27002 Framework and all financial data protection standards as required by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA).
In addition, Sharegate's hosting provider, Rackspace Managed Hosting, provides the following physical security measures at their data centers:
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Physical Security:
- Keycard protocols, biometric scanning protocols and round-the-clock interior and exterior surveillance monitor access to every one of our data centers.
- Only authorized data center personnel are granted access credentials to our data centers.
- No one else can enter the production area of the datacenter without prior clearance and an appropriate escort.
- Every data center employee undergoes multiple and thorough background security checks before they're hired.
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Precision Environment:
- Every data center's HVAC (Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning) system is N+1 redundant. This ensures that a duplicate system immediately comes online should there be an HVAC system failure.
- Every 90 seconds, all the air in our data centers are circulated and filtered to remove dust and contaminants.
- Our advanced fire suppression systems are designed to stop fires from spreading in the unlikely event one should occur.
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Conditioned Power:
- Should a total utility power outage ever occur, all of our data centers' power systems are designed to run uninterrupted, with every server receiving conditioned UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) power.
- Our UPS power subsystem is N+1 redundant, with instantaneous failover if the primary UPS fails.
- If an extended utility power outage occurs, our routinely tested, on-site diesel generators can run indefinitely
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Core Routing Equipment:
- Only fully redundant, enterprise-class routing equipment is used in Rackspace data centers.
- Fiber carriers enter our data centers at disparate points to guard against service failure.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)/Regulatory Compliance
Sharegate has conducted extensive regulatory review and built specific compliance methodology into our software. An explanation of these methods with specific reference regarding Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD), the use of electronic forums, and proxy solicitation regulations is better explained below.
Share Ask and Regulation FD
The Share Ask software was specifically built to allow shareholders to transparently communicate with the Investor Relations (IR) representatives of companies in which they maintain share ownership. Many individual investors are not aware when requested information may be considered “material information”. As such many IR departments may simply ignore these inquiries rather than risk formulating a response that may be later scrutinized.
This is not an optimum solution. A failure to reply could lead an individual to think the IR department is unresponsive and the company does not place importance on shareholder inquiries. Additionally, by being ignored, the shareholder may never actually learn the reason why.
On Sharegate, ignoring inquiries will lead to a declining Communication Performance Score (CPS), a metric that investors, at a future point, may consider when deciding to invest in your company. As such, we felt it important to develop a solution that allowed companies to address their shareholders in these circumstances while also educating investors of the regulatory restrictions.
If an IR department receives a Share Ask inquiry that contains a request for information that would be in violation of Reg FD, the company representative may select the Reg FD Violation Link in the email received by the company. By selecting this link, an automated response will be posted as a reply to the inquiry stating the regulatory restriction. In addition, the response will provide a link to the actual Reg FD rules posted by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Thus, with the simple click of a link, the IR representative can constructively address the issue.
Since this response is viewable by all members, every viewer will be presented with a simple lesson in Reg FD requirements and may access the link to the regulation. Over time, this will educate investors regarding Reg FD rules. This will also allow IR departments to provide timely responses and maintain a high CPS score, a numerical representation of a responsive and effective IR department.
Regarding material event disclosure, Sharegate is an information-release vehicle to be used either simultaneously or after the use of existing complaint channels, and as such should be considered a communication supplement, not a replacement, for current Form 8-K requirements.
A review of Reg FD requirements is available here: http://www.sec.gov/rules/final/33-7881.htm
Material event type information may be learned by reviewing the Form 8-K template available here: http://www.sec.gov/about/forms/form8-k.pdf
Share Action and Proxy Contests
The regulatory framework for use of electronic forums for shareholder interaction was established with the release of SEC 17 CFR PART 240 in February 2008. This guidance directly identifies the use of polling to establish shareholder sentiment regarding shareholder proposals or other issues of interest.
For legal clarification, we define the Share Action software as a polling tool capable of providing exact, realtime voting results, reflecting the total shares of actual share owners.
At a future point in time, shareholder majorities may become assembled on Sharegate. Share Action results may predict outcomes and/or closely mimic proxy contests. Despite this eventuality, we will continue to define this application as a non-binding, non-official sentiment indicator. It is not a replacement for existing proxy procedures.
Sharegate offers the Share Action software to Sharegate Members only. It is our policy to make the best effort to notify management teams of Sharegate capability and Share Action events through both direct contact and through professional associations such as the National Investor Relations Institute. We acknowledge that non-participant management teams may be disadvantaged by lack of knowledge of these ongoing events, however we understandably and clearly cannot require the use of our services.
SEC 17 CFR PART 240 may be accessed here: http://www.sec.gov/rules/final/2008/34-57172.pdf
Share Vote and Proxy Solicitation
As a general rule, proxy solicitation is not authorized on Sharegate. At a future time, we may reevaluate this policy and allow entities such as proxy solicitation firms to access Sharegate’s shareholder audience. This will occur, provided proper transparency disclosures are in place and such activity does not degrade the integrity, usefulness or quality of the network. In the interim, proxy solicitation is simply not allowed and fineable under the Sharegate Terms of Use.
If a member is found to be engaging in unauthorized proxy solicitation efforts, Sharegate will take appropriate steps to remove the content, fine the member, and reduce the member's reputation score. Repeat offenders will simply be removed from the network.
Share Vote
The Share Vote software is not scheduled to be available until 2013 and will allow members to electronically transfer their proxies to fellow owners who choose to accept them.
It is important to note that although hosted on Sharegate, the Share Vote application does not utilize publicly viewable forums. These events are only viewable by the two involved members.
Furthermore, the Share Vote application only allows members to offer their proxy to another member who must also own the same stock and elect to accept the transfer. Share Vote does not allow members to request or otherwise electronically solicit a proxy.
Share Vote was designed to address the burden imposed on the individual investor who may not have appropriate time or expertise to knowledgeably vote their proxies. It was not designed to allow electronic proxy solicitation to occur.
Share Vote allows them to pick a fellow shareholder who they deem a worthy candidate. Such worthiness may largely be determined by frequent contribution valued by fellow members, familiarity with the company in question, and a previously established relationship or dialogue.
Personal Holdings Data
Personal Holdings information represents some of the most important data which drives the Sharegate communication platform. It allows us to connect you with other shareholders of the same companies. At the same time, we strive to keep your personal holdings information private.1
Sharegate accesses this information via a software interface with supported brokerages. We utilize your brokerage account information to both verify your identity and to obtain holdings data to establish your eligibility for Sharegate membership and to construct your account on Sharegate. After this initial account creation, Sharegate will verify your holdings data nightly. Your account will always reflect your holdings data as of the day prior. This allows communication and event data to be constantly customized to your present holdings.
Sharegate considers data security to be the most serious of issues. In light of the prevalence of phishing scams and identity theft schemes, we understand the importance of safeguarding sensitive personal information. To mitigate these risks, we use many of the same data security technologies and methods prevalent in the financial sector. We consider it our highest priority to be good stewards of the sensitive access data that you provide us. To facilitate this we will consistently employ industry-wide security measures and robust administrative measures to safely guard your information.
It is also important to note that we do not derive revenue from providing your personal information, holdings data, or investment patterns to third parties. Additionally, this data is not compiled, mined, or otherwise organized for third party usage. We exist to provide communication and process services to our members only. Our interests, services, and products are driven by our members’ needs, not external entities, profiteering, or the interests of other third-party organizations.
1By default setting, Sharegate does disclose your ownership status to the corporation but does not disclose actual share amounts or total sum value of shares owned. A member may choose to keep their ownership status hidden from the corporation by selecting this setting on the profile update page. Additionally, a shareholder may choose to disclose their sum share number if they so choose.
Institutional Holdings Data
On Sharegate, Institutional members have the unique ability to input their own holdings data concerning their fund holdings. We understand that holdings data and related investment strategies are considered sensitive information. We agree, and treat it that way. As such, access to fund holdings data is restricted to only the account administrators appointed by the institution. Additionally, inside Sharegate, institutional holdings data access is highly restricted with only a fey key individuals maintaining access for technical reasons.
Although Sharegate does not generally review institutional holdings data for accuracy or legitimacy, it should be noted that all holdings input data does become part of a stored record of transactions. This record may be accessed by regulatory authorities or by Sharegate should questionable or damaging events occur in which we have reason to believe that such event(s) occurred due to misrepresentation by an institutional account representative.
It is generally expected and required that institutions actually maintain ownership interest in the shares for which they have input ownership data into Sharegate. To do otherwise would be a violation of the terms of use and could expose the errant institution to legal liability or regulatory violation if such incorrect data was used to influence a corporate action or to misinform the public, fellow shareholders, or corporate representatives, or to attempt to influence the price of a security.
This insitution holdings manager tool is shown below.
Fine and Fee Policy
Sharegate provides a communication platform built for use by millions of users. This large population will be both communicating and providing content. Moderating such a large user base of members requires a combination of incentives and penalties for activities encouraged or specifically disallowed. Fines and Reputation Score revocation serve as the penalty system designed to promote a high quality product for all our users.
The assignment of various fines and point reductions allow Sharegate to pass the costs of moderating directly to those who violate the standards and protocols that have been established. Activities that are in violation are clearly explained in the terms of use and the Sharegate Basics “posting rules” tutorial. In accomplishment of the fine and fee policy, Sharegate administrators have broad discretion in assigning warnings and fines. By utilizing Sharegate, you are agreeing to be held accountable for these violations. Specific activities, the associated penalty, and frequently asked questions are below:
1. Respect Violation: Treat other members as you would like to be treated. Name calling, belittlement, personal, or character criticism may result in a respect violation. Punishment for this violation will is: -1 RS point + 10$ per reported incident.
2. Profanity Violation: At certain times, minors may be present on the Sharegate network. Do not use inappropriate language, profanity, or engage in conversation that would not be appropriate for younger ears or your grandma. Network administrators will levy penalties on intent, so attempts to space out words or misspell them to fool the word search engines will still result in penalty. Punishment for this violation is: -1 RS point + 10$ per incident.
3. Pumping Violation: Pumping is defined as making general, uninformative statements regarding the positive outcomes of a stock without providing proper justification, time frames, or references. Sharing investment ideas and positively endorsing stocks is welcome as long as an informative case is made for the stock. For example “Stock XYZ is going to double next week!” is pumping. Restated, “I think stock XYZ should steadily rise during the next two quarters due to increased revenue and reduced management cost noted on the last quarterly report and conference call,” is not pumping. Punishment for this violation is: -1 RS point + 10$ per incident.
4. Bashing Violation: Bashing is defined as making generalized, uninformative statements regarding the negative outcomes of a stock without providing proper justification, time frames, or references. Sharing negative information regarding stocks is welcome as long as an informative case is made against the stock. For example, “Stock XYZ is worthless and due for a drop,” is bashing. Restated, “I think stock XYZ will steadily decline in share price during the next two quarters due to reduced market share and increased production costs noted on the last quarterly report and conference call,” is not bashing. Failing to provide reasons or justification can turn a good “bear” case into a “bashing" violation. Punishment for this violation is: -1 RS point + 10$ per incident.
5. Relevance Violation: Sharegate is intended to be utilized for discussing and coordinating investor activities. There are plenty of other forums dedicated to the discussion of politics, religion, international affairs, history, etc. Free speech related to investment activities is welcome to an appropriate degree. Discussing politics and other non related subjects on this network will result in relevance violations. A small amount of “off topic” friendly banter will be allowed, however, one should generally avoid non related topics or view points. Sharegate administrators employ great latitude in determining relevance violations. Decisions may be based on reputation scores and prior violation history, in determining the assignment of a warning or a fine. Punishment for this violation is: -1 RS point + 10$ per incident.
6. Fact/Reference Violation: Statements offered as factual with no provided reference. Sharegate is an Internet based network. Statements of fact sourced from any media or internet source must provide a link or the electronic web address to allow other members to verify the statement and source. Non-Internet based references must provide reference detail to reasonably access the information. Failure to provide this in the reference body will incur an infraction. Hyper-linking source data is allowed, as long as credit (through citation) is given to the source in the hyperlink. Copying data or cutting and pasting data without permission from the source is not allowed and will incur a reference violation. The fine for this violation is: -1 RS point + 10$ per incident.
7. Post Violation: Advertising in any form is strictly prohibited unless specifically authorized by Sharegate and in accordance with approved channels for other than individual membership types. Post violations include spamming, unapproved advertising, or providing hyperlinks to other networks for other than “source reference” reasons. The fine for this violation is: -2 RS points + 20$ per incident.
8. Spelling and Grammar Correction: Sharegate exists to facilitate communication and collaboration among corporate stakeholders, not to improve the grammar and writing skills of our members. Mastery of the written English language is not a prerequisite for being a proactive contributing member of the Sharegate community. Our members should feel free to post and communicate without being corrected or belittled for spelling or grammar errors. Point being, if you insist on providing unsolicitated English and Grammar advice on Sharegate, it will effect your reputations score and you will have to pay for the right to do so. -1 RS point + 10$ per incident.
9. Improper Reporting Violation: Members who improperly utilize the “report violation” function will incur a penalty for improper reporting. Member conduct should only be reported if a violation of the rules has occurred. Unnecessary reviews of content are a time and resource drain. Any member who improperly reports a violation will incur an improper reporting violation. One should not report other members unless one is familiar with the rules. The fine for this violation is: -1 RS point.
10. Conduct Violation: A serious offense to include racial slurs, threat of physical violence, intentional misinformation, or any undeclared activity deemed by Sharegate to have dangerous and damaging consequences to the network. Membership is not anonymous and any activities deemed to be an actual crime will be reported to the appropriate authorities along with the personal information of the members involved. Punishment for this violation is: - deduction of RS points, possible account deletion, monetary fines, and legal recourse as determined to be applicable.
Frequently Asked Questions regarding Fines
• How are fines enforced?
Membership accounts are frozen and inaccessible until the fine is paid. After 60 days the account is deleted. Refunds of account membership fees are not given for fine related deletions or for any reason when a fine is outstanding.
• Am I legally required to pay a fine?
You agree to the fine policy by accepting the Sharegate Terms of Use.
• Are members with high reputation scores entitled to warnings vice fines?
Not by any defined policy, but administrators are free to take extraneous factors into account in the decision to assign a fine or a warning. Members who are highly valued by fellow members may be awarded a dispensation for the rare mistake. This is up to the reviewing administrator.
• What happens if I don’t pay the fine?
After 60 days, your account will be deleted. The account may be reinstated when the fine is paid, however the reestablished account will be a “new” account and no legacy information or relationships from the previous account will be carried over.
• I was fined for an infraction which I see other users also committing. Why?
Sharegate responds mainly to reported violations. If you were not previously fined for an activity, it is likely because the violation was not reported. Such an instance has no bearing on the offense for which you were reported. Each user is responsible for knowing and following the rules.
• I was awarded multiple fines for things I posted weeks or months ago.
Repeated violations may cause administrators to conduct a historical review of your provided content. If the reviewing administrator finds more offenses, the administrator may assign more fines, as applicable. There is no statute for violations.
• I don’t agree with the administrator. Is there an appeal process?
You may appeal in writing to Sharegate, whereupon a senior administrator will respond to your appeal with a decision. There is no further appeal process.
• Does paying a fine to Sharegate mean that I am not liable for anything else regarding the violation?
No. If other parties are damaged as a result of your conduct, then you remain liable for those activities. The fine you are assigned by Sharegate accounts for the administrative time expended in removing the content. Paying your fine to Sharegate does not absolve you from other liabilities nor does it preclude, in any way, other parties from pursuing you or your organization through other legal channels.
Membership Fees
The Sharegate revenue model is based upon subscription fees, not advertising. We pursued this model because we endeavor to build the best communication network for our members, not advertisers. Additionally, by collecting smaller fees from a larger group of users, Sharegate may better maintain a neutral and independent position.
Membership fees vary by type of membership. These fees are waived during our beta test and network build-up cycle which is currently scheduled to end Jan 01st 2013. During this time, we will continually examine our fee structure and the value received by our members. Our initial fee structure is presented below, however this may change prior to implementation in 2013.
Individual Membership Fees. Our current individual membership subscription cost is expected to be 39$ per year, about the cost of a magazine subscription. It is our expectation that the content and utility of Sharegate will provide justifiable value prior to commencing the fee structure.
Institutional Membership Fees. Institutional account fees are based on assets under management, accumulated listeners (audience), and user hits per profile page. We have adapted this structure to align costs with the size of each organization and the effectiveness of Sharegate for marketing or communication pursuits. This allows fees to rise with quantifiable success (number of listeners and web site hits). An institutional account representative can further explain this fee structure and the justified value Sharegate provides.
Corporate Membership Fees. Our corporate membership fee structure currently uses two important variables; the first is market capitalization, and the second is network voting power (abbreviated as NVP - this is the amount of a corporation’s shareholders present on the Sharegate network). This adjustable fee structure will rise and fall with the value of the company and the percentage of shareholders on Sharegate. A corporate account representative can further explain this fee structure and the value Sharegate provides.
Affiliate Membership Fees. Affiliate account fees are based on the size and scope of the organization, accumulated listeners (audience), and user hits per profile page. We have adapted this structure to align costs with the results and effectiveness of Sharegate for marketing and communications. This allows fees to rise with quantifiable success (number of listeners and website hits). An affiliate account representative can further explain this fee structure and the value Sharegate provides.
Academic Membership Fees. It is our pleasure to offer Sharegate to professional educators. As such, we do not charge for academic memberships. Sharegate capability allows teachers to utilize our system as a dynamic and effective teaching tool for informing and grooming the next generation of investors and corporate managers.
Listening and Watching
Listening
You will likely encounter many intelligent and informed shareholders and organizations on Sharegate. If you are interested in following the activities of these members (called "listening"), you may do so through the Sharegate "Listen" feature. When you choose to Listen to another member, your dashboard will be updated to display the activities of those members, as well as information they provide. Additionally, you will be identified as a listener to those members. Individuals, Institutions, and Affiliates have the ability to accumulate listeners, and to listen to other members as well.
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Just as you may choose to Listen to other members, other members may similarly value your network contributions and choose to Listen to you. You may review both who is listening to you, and to whom you are listening, on your personal profile page. Accumulating listeners is a sign of your increasing perceived value to your fellow shareholders and other organizations on Sharegate.
Watching
Watching is similar to Listening in that, once selected, you will be provided with updated news and information relating to a corporation. You may choose to “Watch” a corporation in which you do not currently possess any holdings. To Watch a corporation, select the "Watch" button on that corporation's profile page. For those corporations in which you are a shareholder, you will automatically be provided with these updates and do not need to select them to "Watch."
Collaborating
By participating and communicating on Sharegate, you will connect with fellow shareholders and begin to build relationships. An offer of collaboration may be extended to those members you desire to add to your personal network of shareholders and investors. Through 2012, Sharegate will continue to add additional features for collaborating members to join and create groups, share additional information, and interact in other valuable ways.
A large and diverse network of collaborating shareholders with varying degrees of experience and expertise can help you make better-informed and researched decisions. As such, we expect you will receive greater value in establishing your own network of members with whom you interact throughout your investing career.
BASICS LINKS
