Definition

Noun: * Confidential corporate intelligence: Important, non-public information about a company's plans, financial condition, or other material facts. Trading based on this information for personal profit is illegal in most jurisdictions.

Usage

This term is used almost exclusively in financial, legal, and business contexts to describe a specific type of privileged knowledge. It implies the information is secret, valuable, and gives an unfair advantage.

Examples

• The trader was accused of using insider information to buy stock before the merger was announced.
• Journalists must be careful not to publish insider information that could affect market prices.
• Sharing insider information with friends or family is a serious violation of securities law.

Advanced Usage

• "To have/trade on insider information": To possess or use confidential information for trading.
  • The executive was convicted for trading on insider information.
• "A tip based on insider information": A piece of advice derived from confidential knowledge.
  • He claimed his successful trade was luck, not a tip based on insider information.

Variants and Related Words

• Insider trading (n): The illegal act of buying or selling securities based on material, non-public information.
  • The company is under investigation for possible insider trading.
• Material non-public information (n): The formal legal and financial term for insider information.

Synonyms

• Confidential information: Private or secret knowledge.
• Privileged information: Data available only to a specific, authorized group.
• Tip-off: A piece of confidential information or warning (can be informal).

Related Idioms/Phrases

• "To be in the know": To have access to information that most people do not. This is a more general idiom, not specific to illegal corporate secrets.
  • People in the know were buying the stock weeks before the public announcement.

Noun

1. important information about the plans or condition of a corporation that has not been released to the public; use for personal profit is illegal