Posted on July 12th, 2007 by Chris Abraham
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Loading ...In this morning’s Wall Street Journal there is an article, Whole Foods Is Hot, Wild Oats a Dud — So Said ‘Rahodeb,’ about how John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, allegedly manipulated stock prices by doing stealth marketing as Rabodeb in the Yahoo! stock market group forums. If this is true, John Mackey coerced and manipulated perception in a big way in order to potentially harm Wild Oats Markets and make it easier for Whole Foods to eventually acquire OATS at a reduced rate. This is not conversation marketing, this is market manipulation.
Filed under: Conversation Marketing, Stealth Marketing
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Glad I don’t own stock in whole foods or even shop there. If this is found to be true, somebodies going to jail!!!
Mackey’s had great press the past couple of years…as has Whole Foods. The PR folks probably don’t know how to handle it because he’s set a precedent of running a clean and ethical company. Now it isn’t just crisis communications, but image renewal.
Mr. Mackey’s conduct may have been stupid and boorish but can hardly be illegal. It is hard to imagine any reasonable investor would rely to his/her detriment on the comments of an obviously anonymous blogger in an on-line forum. The nature of the comments contains no great analysis or insight, much less insider information. Any diminution in the value of Whole Foods Market’s stock could only be caused by a momentary loss of confidence in its CEO; the fundamentals of the company and its universally recognized reformation of the grocery business remain unchanged and will sustain the company in the short and long run. Although I live in Austin, I have never met Mr. Mackey and don’t have investments in his or any related business. I am a shopper at the store with the top products, beyond any reasonable argument.
It is funny, at the end of the day, what the SEC considers to be “market manipulation,” mate. We’ll see what happens. I just think what he did just wasn’t cricket.