from Hacker News

The Art of Handling a PR Implosion

by malditojavi on 9/26/15, 12:05 PM with 3 comments

• by ryporter on 9/26/15, 12:34 PM

  While I'm loathe to agree with the conspiracy theorists out there, the only way this whole ordeal makes sense to me is if he (or an associate) had a massive short position on biotech. Shkreli is far too smart, and his actions were far too extreme, not to have anticipated this response. This article even mentions that he had previously attempted "to influence the FDA not to approve certain drugs made by companies whose stock he was shorting," and is arguing that he made "fatal" flaws in his handling of the controversy.

• by kelseydh on 9/26/15, 12:48 PM

  He is a great example of Alinsky's Rules for Radicals: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_for_Radicals#cite_ref-RU...

  Institutions are hard to attack, but people are not. By giving his interviews, Shkreli gave a face for people to villainize. By giving repeated interviews he made every PR mistake in the book.