In an unshocking move, the SEC decided to delay its Open Meeting on the changes to Rule 506 of Regulation D and Rule 144A required under the JOBS Act (which will allow for general solicitation of securities sold pursuant to those rules) until next week. Notably, in the notice announcing next week’s meeting, they changed the wording of the agenda ever so slightly, from “The Commission will consider rules to eliminate the prohibition against general solicitation and general advertising…” to “The Commission will consider whether to propose rules to eliminate the prohibition against general solicitation and general advertising…”. So we can expect a rule proposal and comment period now, meaning even more delays. I imagine the advertising department at the WSJ is more infuriated about these delays than any CFOs. We can expect the SEC to take the slow, cautious route as it adopts the JOBS Act changes. The Crowdfunding rulemaking is crawling along at a pace that surely is driving tons of money-hungry (money-starving?) start-ups insane right now. And, unless I missed it somewhere, the SEC still hasn’t said a peep about when to expect the JOBS Act changes to Reg A.
