The best-price rule (also known by the far more boring designation of "rule 14D-10") is an SEC regulation that requires someone conducting a tender offer to give the same price for all the stock being bought.
A tender offer represents an attempt to purchase a lot of stock at once. Basically, the entity running the tender announces they are open to buying whatever stock they can get (up to whatever limit they impose). In the bad-old days before the best-price rule (it first appeared in 1968), buyers could offer sweetheart deals to certain sellers, buying certain shares for one price, while offering a lower price to the general public.
The best-price rule makes sure everyone gets the same amount for their stock.
Related or Semi-related Video
Finance: What is a Comfort Letter?6 Views
Finance a la shmoop what is a comfort letter? S....See the smooth curves there is [An S letter appears]
that comforting okay okay comfort letter is a letter
this kind of letter written by an expert usually someone like an auditor or a tax [Expert appears with comfort letter]
attorney in one form or another who has done deep due diligence into a company
looked at myriad details and data and volume counts of plastic cubes in their
inventory and then they've looked at their distribution contracts
you know with truckers and retail stores and drone deliverers and then they've [Drone flying in the air]
looked at their bank accounts both the onshore ones and the offshore ones that
you know they don't really like to talk about and then about 87 ish other things
that all those people look at and then they write a letter like an actual
letter which is usually given to the Board of Directors or an acquirer or
the investigating party whoever that is and that letter states that what the
company says it has or does is in fact what it has or does which is a good [Man discussing comfort letters]
thing to know so this letter well it just gives comfort to everyone
the only challenge can be you know trying not to become too comfortable [Man working near a waterfall]
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