Who controls what information is put out to the public about a given stock? Who gets the earliest release of?

Question

this information and delivers it to the stock buying public?

Answer 1

Corporate finance departments. SEC gets reports first.
Everything is available to the public (that corporate accountants want you to see!).

Some links you might find useful:

Answer 2

Depends on the company. For spam "newsletters" about penny stocks that are "almost guaranteed" to rise 3,874% in the next 5 minutes or so, in the very tiny print it is written that "Joe Blow's Great Next Find Newsletter (or whatever)" is really paid advertising by the penny stock company itself. For "real" large cap companies, the information is usually issued by a brokerage house, an independent analysis company, investment bank, or a previously widely announced public webcast/conference call or regular quarterly update by the company itself. Who gets the earliest release? Hopefully nobody. Years ago a few favorite investors got it, but the SEC cracked down on such happenings and said it was a definate No No. Hopefully the companies are a bit more lawbiding nowadays.

Answer 3

1) Nobody.
2) Editors.