Re: Whole Foods/Wild Oats merger
 

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So, in conclusion, I think there's definitely a real market of people who will shop at Whole Foods and not at regular grocery stores, and that's true even if specific items of organic food are purchased by regular grocery customers.


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Maybe. There are a lot of easy things normal grocery stores could do to keep some of the customers they are losing to the speciality organic stores though. For instance the main reason I keep going back to whole foods is the quality of the produce. If safeway's produce didn't suck ass I wouldn't ever go to whole foods.

Re: Whole Foods/Wild Oats merger
 

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So, in conclusion, I think there's definitely a real market of people who will shop at Whole Foods and not at regular grocery stores, and that's true even if specific items of organic food are purchased by regular grocery customers.


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Maybe. There are a lot of easy things normal grocery stores could do to keep some of the customers they are losing to the speciality organic stores though. For instance the main reason I keep going back to whole foods is the quality of the produce. If safeway's produce didn't suck ass I wouldn't ever go to whole foods.

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perishables (fruit, vegetables, meat, seafood, etc) constitute a much higher % of sales for Whole Foods than they do for traditional grocers. it's not so much something that Safeway does poorly, it's that Whole Foods has chosen to make it a key thing they focus on. it's relatively much easier for traditional grocers to improve their center store packaged natural/organic selection.

Re: Whole Foods/Wild Oats merger
 

link

Update: FTC says that the WF CEO posted negative predictions about WO stock back in early 2005. Pretty sketchy. Also maybe illegal, particularly if WF started buying up WO stock back in 2005 (when they were apparently already interested in a merger.)

Re: Whole Foods/Wild Oats merger
 

Bobman - thanks, nice link.

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DALLAS (AP) -- The chief executive of Whole Foods Market Inc. wrote anonymous online attacks against a smaller rival and questioned why anyone would buy its stock, before Whole Foods announced an offer to buy the other company this year.

The postings on Internet financial forums, made under the name "rahodeb," said Wild Oats Markets Inc. stock was overpriced. The statements predicted the company would fall into bankruptcy and then be sold after its stock fell below $5 per share.

In February, Whole Foods announced it would buy Wild Oats for about $565 million, or $18.50 per share.

The company acknowledged that the postings by "rahodeb" were written by CEO John Mackey.

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Note to self: stop posting on 2p2.

-Al

Re: Whole Foods/Wild Oats merger
 

Different link from USA Today - a little more detail

USA Today article

Re: Whole Foods/Wild Oats merger
 

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Different link from USA Today - a little more detail

USA Today article

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I hadn't realized exactly how extensive this was. Pretty crazy. A guy actually went to prison a few years back for a similar scam in which he made up fake press releases about Lucent and posted them on finance message boards. Those postings were a lot falser than these, but the fact that these were posted by the CEO of Whole Foods under an anonymous handle would render them pretty misleading. With all the press this is getting, it wouldn't surprise me to see an SEC civil action, or possibly even criminal charges.

Re: Whole Foods/Wild Oats merger
 

Hi readers,

There are a lot of CEOs who have lots of strange actions and beliefs. They are usually only called on it when their companies underperform. For example, Patrick Byrne of overstock.com fame has been ridiculed for his obsession over naked shorting, while Mike Jefferies has received nothing but praise for his management of A&F. No one picks up on things like this:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine...2/b3935105.htm

Employees are reminded of that at the start of each day. Jeffries leaves his black Porsche -- doors unlocked, with the keys between the seats -- at the same odd angle at the edge of the parking lot. Everyone knows why: Jeffries is superstitious about success. That's why he always goes through revolving doors twice. Associates have learned not to pass him in stairwells; he returns the courtesy. Then there are Jeffries' lucky shoes, a worn pair of Italian loafers that a secretary keeps in her desk. "I put them on every single morning when I look at the numbers," he says. Several years ago, a piece of one sole fell off, sparking a headquarters-wide search.

Re: Whole Foods/Wild Oats merger
 

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wouldn't surprise me to see an SEC civil action, or possibly even criminal charges.

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what would these charges be?

Re: Whole Foods/Wild Oats merger
 

[ QUOTE ]
Different link from USA Today - a little more detail

USA Today article

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Note to self: stop posting on 2p2.

-Al

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-Al

Re: Whole Foods/Wild Oats merger
 

Just occurred to me - this is basically the biggest trainwrecking in Internet message board history. Brandi's got nothing on this one.

-Al