What not to say

Here's a piece of unsolicited advice. If you work in an industry that has anti-trust regulations, you should not tell people that you intend to put your competitor out of business.

From Steve Perry at the Minnesota Monitor regarding Village Voice Media (VVM) being successfully sued in a predatory pricing scheme:

It appears likely that it was Lacey's [VVM's co-founder] mouth that made up jurors' minds in the first place. Three former New Times/SF Weekly employees testified that he came to town after NT bought the Weekly in 1995 and announced in a staff meeting that he meant to put the Bay Guardian out of business. Sez local media attorney: "A predatory pricing claim is a very difficult claim to win, not just in the newspaper business but in any business. It involves assessing a very complex set of issues. So juries notoriously tend to look for simpler reference points for their decisions--such as comments like that one, I would guess."

Oops!