[elliekelly]

It is an inherent conflict of interest but the question is whether that conflict can be mitigated and, after mitigation, whether the potential risk/"cost" of that conflict to the shareholders outweighs the benefit to the shareholders. There would be at least a few downsides to prohibiting employee stock ownership: significantly higher salary expenses and (in theory) less employee motivation/incentive to stay at a company.

Historically we've said the pros outweigh the cons but I'm really not sure we can accurately assess the risk of insider trading anymore because the definition of it is constantly changing.