Short-sellers take a lot of heat for allegedly doing bad things to stocks, and their defense always has been that they do exhaustive research and offer superior insight.
But manipulation must often seem like a good idea in the heat of the moment--when a company is facing bad news on an important product that cost hundreds of millions of dollars to develop.
The one thing that those CEOs forget in the heat of the moment, is that badmouthing an ex-client can cast their agencies in a bad light with existing clients and prospects alike.