SiliconBeat

Equinix, the Foster City supplier of data-center hosting,  said today in a regulatory filing that it “is not aware of any undisclosed accounting
matters affecting the company.

Several investors had contacted the company to inquire about a rumor in the market regarding “speculation about Equinix’s accounting, ” according to the filing. Normally the company said it doesn’t comment on “unsubstantiated rumors.”

What forced the official filing was the fact that an unnamed  director on Equinix’s board was contacted personally by an investor to respond to the rumor, to which the director said he was “not aware of any facts supporting the rumor.”

The director’s interaction with an individual investor ran the risk of being a “selective disclosure” under Regulation FD, a measure adopted by the SEC in August 2000 to combat the problem of unequal releases of information to some investors and not others.

The company ran the risk of violating Regulation FD unless it distributed to all investors the same denial given by the director to one investor. Hence today’s filing.