Whole Foods John Mackey may yet prevail

According to people who spoke to the Denver Post's Kelly Yamanouchi, it seems probable that Mackey won't be deep sixed for his seven-year Internet addiction.

The Denver Post: Grocer's CEO not yet out of the woods

Wild Oats Markets Inc., Whole Foods chief executive
John Mackey has emerged from the process with a tarnished reputation and a
securities investigation hanging over him.
Mackey can celebrate that his
deal is clear of an antitrust injunction, but still unresolved are any effects
of his anonymous Internet postings, which have prompted an inquiry by the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission and an internal investigation by the Whole
Foods board.
...
Some believe, however, that Mackey's broader business
background will prevail over his postings.
Mackey is "pretty highly regarded
in the industry," said Stan Slater, a professor of business administration at
Colorado State University.
...
The antitrust ruling is separate and distinct from the
SEC inquiry, said Brad Lam, a former SEC attorney in private practice in Denver.
"I think what he was doing with the Internet postings was maybe careless and
a little silly, but I don't think it's going to be actionable" by the SEC, he
said.
"If anything, this is going to be an impetus for the SEC to drop the
investigation and let him get on with running now this bigger combined
operation," Lam said.

Those are fair points, although it still remains to be seen what actually shakes out from both the SEC's and Whole Foods' own internal investigations.

Also unresolved is whether or not the allegations made by the Vegan Vigilante over misconduct in the way Whole Foods management violated British immigration law bear fruit in the mainstream media or not. Scandal, or tempest in a tea pot? That remains to be seen.

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