GetSwift to Consider Takeover After Bid Approaches, page-370

I know that there are posters here who defend the AFR as a hero to the little shareholders and that they were revealing truths. I don't buy into this. This type of gossip rag news (citing unnamed sources and even hotcopper posts) is done to sell newspapers.

I believe the AFR have been fed a lot of half-truths and rumours by people who have a score to settle. If you delve into the history of this company, it was a client of a tech incubator called The Blue Chilli. The owner/founder of Blue Chilli sat on the board of the new GSW, but only briefly, and it's unclear what caused his sudden departure. Hunter was also at Blue Chilli and has continued on, working for and with McDonald, who is the majority shareholder. In early interviews, McDonald spoke highly of the (now departed) board member then seemed to change his opinion in later interviews.

Then add into that any number of possible disgruntled people, such as fellow Blue Chilli clients who are envious or maybe felt they didn't get the support they needed, now seeing GSW take off in a short time (for instance by my calculations if the company were sold for $5.00 per share, McDonald would stand to get about $138 million for his shares). And he only started is first company a few years ago.

And then there is the assertion that Bane and McDonald have rubbed a few people wrong, perhaps there are reporters at AFR who have been snubbed or feel that they have been looked down on - never underestimate human emotion and the revenge factor.

So to answer your question, I can't for sure point to any one of the above, but there are enough possible suspects around that I smell a cutting-down of the tall poppy going on here.