Thus, when the company's executives scheduled a meeting with investors and analysts yesterday, a great many of them showed up at Phaholyothin Road headquarters.

The press appeared in huge numbers too in the hope of gaining access to hard-to-get corporate information. To their surprise, only representatives of Dow Jones Newswires and Reuters were allowed to enter the meeting room.

"We can control how they will report the information. We can't let others in because we have no control over their reporting," said an investor relations officer.

Her comment caused an uproar. How can a respected listed company like Shin Corps come up with such unfair treatment? Whatever, the rest of the media waited patiently in front of the meeting room. And they were glad that they did, for they got important information that was not divulged inside.

It came from Shin CEO Boonklee Plangsiri. He was reported earlier to have gained Bt900 million from selling his shares in Shin to Temasek. That sparked rumours that he would soon quit his job now that he is fabulously rich.

"I'm not that rich. I will be working for a long time," he said, explaining that he had borrowed money to buy the shares and he had to finance the interest. Roughly, he paid about Bt20 per share against the Bt49.25 sale price. Meanwhile, he is subject to 37 per cent income tax.

He did not say how much he netted, but it is said to be about Bt200 million.

Some found this story about the CEO more interesting than the information from the company he works for.

achara_d@nationgroup.com