Whole Foods closes the barn door after the cow has escaped

But it was a free range organic cow, so don't worry, everything will be alright.

Houston Chronicle business beat reporter Loren Steffy reports on his blog that organic supermarket Whole Foods has created a company policy forbidding it's managers from goofing off on the internet.

Loren Steffy: Whole Foods bans organic blogging

Whole Foods has prohibited executives, including founder John Mackey, from making posts on non-company blogs, message boardsand other online forums.
The move is in response to Mackey's anonymous blog posts as "rahodeb," which turned up in the company's battle to acquire rival Wild Oats.

As Loren points out, this policy came out in response to a media furor that broke over three months ago. But hey, they've got a policy in place now. That's proactive management for you.

Oh, and president John "Rahodeb" Mackey? Still employed, oddly enough.

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Sirius XM Radio sidle ever so closer to making a deal, Financial Times goes for broke on headline

FT.com: XM/SIRIUS regulatory approvals said to be in final phase; lawyers skeptical about positive implications from Whole Foods/Wild Oats approval

The two main regulatory approvals needed to clear the XM Satellite Radio Holdings and SIRIUS Satellite Radio merger are believed to be in their final phase, it is understood. It is also understood, however, that the process could still take several months.
Meanwhile, lawyers interviewed for this article are skeptical as to whether the recent green light given to Whole Foods and Wild Oats by anti-trust regulators has any positive implications for this transaction.
The Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, must approve the transfer to SIRIUS of control of XM and the subsidiaries of XM holding FCC licenses and authorizations, as well as the deemed transfer of FCC licenses and authorizations held by SIRIUS and its subsidiary to the combined company. In addition, XM and SIRIUS each filed notification and report forms with the Department of Justice (DoJ) in March.

FT writers Nadia Damouni and Bhavna Kaul appear to have been getting paid by the word, but the short form is this: the Sirius/XM merger seems to be in a patch of smooth sailing towards becoming a realized deal, but there's still more work ahead. Also, Whole Foods hasn't gotten enough good press out of their successful outmaneuvering of the FTC with regard to buying competitor Wild Oats.

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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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Whole Foods Feeding Frenzy: Vegan Vigilante is back, and he's brought some friends!

Seriously, just how weird can the various schmozzles surrounding organic retailer Whole Foods get?

Dealbreaker's Joe Wiesenthal said it best this morning:
FTC filing tells of 30 Wild Oats closings (Rockey Mountain News)
The Whole Foods/Wild Oats deal has proven itself to be a fiasco shrouded in disaster wrapped in an absurdist farce. First, there was the nonsensical FTC intervention, followed up by word that CEO John Mackey bragged about how the deal would make the market less competitive. Then there was the whole message board affair, which needs no reminder. And now the FTC has "accidentally" (we have our doubts) let slip information on how many Wild Oats stores Whole Foods plans to close should the deal go through. Apparently that part of the document with this information was supposed to be blacked out, but as numerous companies have learned, it's really easy to mess up blacking out part of a document.

In addition, there's the nascent scandal brewing around allegations made by the Vegan Vigilante* that Whole Foods knowingly dodged British Immigration Law while setting up their Kensington flagship store. The whole sordid mess can be read in the comments sections of the relevant posts here.

How much would you pay for all of this? Don't answer yet, because there's more! This morning persons unknown, maybe the Vegan Vigilante, maybe someone else deluged my inbox with more corroboration and invective.

Check this out:

Natural Choices UK: Is Whole Foods Market’s John Mackey up to his old tricks?
naturalchoices.co.uk and newconsumer.com both had comments posted on them by a poster identified as rohadeb, the same alias used by John Mackey on Yahoo Finance to denigrate his competitors and boost his own company.
The comment posted on both sites under the alias rohadeb made allegations that senior management in the US with responsibility for the UK Whole Foods Market roll out have instructed US employees to lie to the UK immigration service and thus avoid unnecessary expense for the company. In the comment posted to naturalchoices the manager was actually names as one David Lannon, identified on the Whole Foods Market site as Vice President with responsibilities for the North Atlantic region. The message on newconsumer did not name an individual, saying rather “region president overseeing the London Whole Foods Market”.


Note that Whole Foods has already issued a press release to the UK website Natural Choices spinning the story out:

Official Statement sent to Natural Choices by Whole Foods Market
“Whole Foods Market is a well respected employer throughout the US and now in the UK. It fully complies with all UK and US immigration laws regarding the employment of its Team Members.
We have invited several Team Members to travel to the United Kingdom for varying periods of time to assist us with post-opening activities such as instilling our company culture and sharing best practices and knowledge. These Team Members will assist with the promotion of our quality and merchandising standards in accordance with our brand image. This assistance may consist of demonstrating business practices, techniques and strategies for excellence in retailing the Whole Foods Market way.
The training and support that these Team Members provide will ensure that the new store complies with the Whole Foods Market brand and standards in relation to their relevant department procedures. This training, which is specific to our organisation and to our operations in the US, is not readily available in the UK, as we have no current operations running of a similar scale in the UK.
All expenses related to the trip are fully covered by Whole Foods Market/Fresh & Wild including airfare, lodging and per diem expenses as permitted under UK law. Visiting support Team Members continue to be paid from the United States and they are not in the UK to undertake any productive work. “

You know that once a besieged company starts issuing denials that there does seem to be a there, there.

In the words of the late, great Hunter S Thompson, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." Where will this end? Damned if I know, but it looks like Whole Foods is determined to present us with dinner and a show.

*as an aside, I have been in private correspondence with the original Vegan Vigilante, who has put me in touch with the US journalists who are working on the story. Ironically enough, he has chosen "John Mackey" as his pseudonym and freemail email address. Cute.

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Some people feel sorry for Whole Foods CEO John Mackey

This weekend in the New York Times, Christopher Caldwell felt bad for embattled Internet superstar CEO John Mackey.

NYT: Not Being There

“Granola-eating street fighter” is the unimprovable description that BusinessWeek.com recently bestowed on John P. Mackey, the chief executive of Whole Foods Market. There certainly aren’t many people like Mackey, a vegan who has ruthlessly built Whole Foods into a $6 billion chain of organic groceries. But there are a lot of people who, one way or another, share his recent predicament.

Caldwell's position is that sure, Mackey should have known better, but shooting your mouth off on the Internet happens to the best of us, so how bad can it be?

We’re not too good at making these decisions online. We feel as if we’re chatting in a barroom or a dining room, but we may be held accountable as if we were in a courtroom or a newsroom. Without a physically present audience that we can see or hear, we are left free to imagine our audience however we wish. When we do so, it’s easy to delude ourselves that what we’re talking about determines whom we’re talking to.

That's true, as far as it goes. But there's a huge obstacle called Fiduciary Duty that makes all the difference between someone like myself making fun of Blu-ray, or arguing about Tabata Intervals on a bulletin board devoted to fitness and weightlifting, and someone like Mackey engaging in conversation that cheer leads his company's stock, and belittles his competitors.

He really would have been better off arguing about the intricacies of veganism.

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Whole Foods John Mackey may or may not be in Big Trouble

An update: I've been contacted via email by the putative Vegan Vigilante who has been sharing a potentially embarrassing tale of organic, touchy-feely grocery retailer Whole Foods and some poor decision making they exhibited when moving into the United Kingdom.

I've been put in touch with a journalist for the WSJ who is apparently working on the story. Since the Journal has a lot more lawyers than Lee Distad's Professional Opinion, our plan is to bide our time, and totally ride the WSJ's coat-tails once the story breaks.

In the meantime, you can catch up here, with the story so far.

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Whole Foods UK Whistleblower, redux

The Vegan Vigilante* who's been dishing here on embarrassing details of an alleged labor foofrah in Whole Foods' UK operation left another note in the comments section last night.

Whole Foods UK whisleblower STRIKES AGAIN!
The transition from the US market to the UK market has not been the seamless operation one would expect from the darling of the natural food industry in the United States. First Tesco accomplished a minor coup by trade marking the Whole Foods label, even though Whole Foods Market had had a presence in the UK for 3 years with the Fresh and Wild stores. Then the new 80,000 square foot Kensington was months late opening and is bleeding red ink. Although the nearly 200 store chain purports to be the organic alternative, only 10 percent of its product mix in the UK is certified as such. Recently it was reported that local sourcing regulations were ignored by Whole Foods when calling certain produce local. Now Whole Foods is in an immigration row. It seems that a scheme was cooked up in the North Atlantic Regional Office of Whole Foods Market Boston office to make the Kensington store look more profitable than it really was. The plan started by having company Team Members from the States come to the UK to prepare for the opening of the huge Kensington store. The Team Member's home store in the States would pay the salary and expenses of the visiting employee while they were in the UK. Visiting workers in the UK are also required to get a work permit through immigration before entering the country. Whole Foods at first complied with the work permit law but then decided the 1400 pound per employee fee was too steep for the chain that has been dubbed "Whole Paycheck" by value shoppers in the U.S.. North Atlantic region president David Lannon cooked up the scheme whereby Whole Foods employees from the states entered the UK on tourist visas to avoid the work permit fees. Although the employees salary, transportation, lodging and food costs were paid while they were in the UK and employees were required to put in a regular 8 hour day while at the Kensington store they skirted the fee by claiming they were not doing any productive work. The problem is that the properly permitted predecessors from the States and the un-permitted reinforcements did the same kind of work in the UK. When word of this scheme was revealed to the press the usually sanguine Whole Foods staff became tight lipped in a hurry. Kensington Store Team Leader Rick Bonin refused to comment on the scheme. Laura Derba, the North Atlantic region vice president instructed all Whole Foods staff to not speak about the issue to the press. The public relations office of Whole Foods is claiming that the scheme is valid because Whole Foods employees in the states were engaged only in training programs while in the UK and did no productive work in the Kensington store. Visiting employees from the States offered no training seminars or workshops to the UK Whole Foods workers at the Kensington store however. There are currently workers from the States at the Kensington store who have reportedly been engaged in productive work during their stay in the UK. This type of story can not bode well for the company. Saving a few quid at immigration in a country where there is a strong trade union presence who will turn this into a political football is truly being penny wise and pound foolish. It does not help that Whole Foods has imposed a news blackout on employees who had been in the UK as it begs the question "What do they have to hide?" woodwork

This account is long on detail, including naming names, and still short on corroboration (not to mention line breaks). I still haven't seen this story break in the Old Media, as VV promised.

My grandpa used to say "Never let the truth spoil a good story." Unfortunately that doesn't hold true for corporate scandal. If this story is on the level, someone here needs to throw us a bone here at Lee Distad's Professional Opinion: a bone with some corroborative meat on it.

Vegan Vigilante needs to drop me a line at leeUNDERSCOREdistadATyahooDOTcom and let me know, confidentially, obviously, how they know what they know. You know, like journalists do. I may be New Media (Meta New Media, technically, but now is not the time to get into that), but we at Lee Distad's Professional Opinion have standards.

*I'm not 100% crazy about the name Vegan Vigilante either, but vis a vis the Name That Whistleblower Contest, none of you are exactly setting the world on fire, either.

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Whole Foods UK whisleblower STRIKES AGAIN!

Last weekend, an anonymous commenter dropped a tip into our laps at the Global Headquarters of Lee Distad's Professional Opinion about another storm brewing at beleaguered new age grocery chain Whole Foods.

Anonymous said...

More bad news for Mr. Mackey. It seems that Whole Foods employees from the states who were sent to the new Kennsington store in London on assignment were instructed to misrepresent their status as visiting workers and instead claim observer status in order to avoid the hefty work permit required by UK immigration. The problem is not all workers claimed the same status, yet all filled the same niche as temporary workers. I don't know who is in charge of the London stores but it can't look good for corporate headquarters in Austin.12:53 PM

Despite being a fan of scandal and turpitude, I called the allegation into question, based on a complete and total lack of corroboration from other sources. I even went so far as to publicly question whose sockpuppet this might be.

Well, in the wee hours (22:10:18 PDT, specifically) last night, the anonymous tipster struck again:

Anonymous said...
Lee

Your confirmation should hit cyber space before Friday. The North Atlantic Region office of Whole Foods was in damage control mode Wednesday, all staff who had been to the UK were instructed to not speak to the press. There is real fear and trepidation amongst the Whole Foods Staff because Whole Foods is claiming they send staff, but not to do productive work. Staff claim they are going to the UK as tourists but put in a regular 8 hour day. That begs the question of why they are sending so many employees to the UK if they are not doing productive work.
11:10 PM

Wow. Just, wow.

Whoever the whistleblower is, they seem determined to kick over this particular anthill. So, is Lee Distad's Professional Opinion special, or is this story being salted all over the blogosphere? As of yet, I haven't seen corresponded anonymous commentary elsewhere, which makes me feel like I'm being wound up.

While we wait to see if their tip plays out in the media, we've got two tasks ahead of us:

1) Speculation on who the anonymous whistleblower is. My guess is that John "Rahodeb" Mackey is trying to atone for past sins of disclosure by demonstrating self-sabotaging behaviour. Pretty far-fetched, but it makes a good story, no?

2) Coming up with a catchy nickname for this anonymous whistleblower. The first ones that have popped into my head were total crap. Feel free to make suggestions in the comment section below.

Let's make it a contest. If we have a clear winner for the whistleblower's nickname, I'll see about some sort of nominal prize, in addition to the fame that will accompany you (or your sockpuppet) if this thing blows up in the media like our new contact seems to think it will.

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Whole Foods fracas in the UK? Hot tip or anonymous muckracking?

Up until yesterday, it had been All Quiet on the Whole Foods Front. Then the following anonymous comment landed in my Inbox:

Anonymous said...
More bad news for Mr. Mackey. It seems that Whole Foods employees from the states who were sent to the new Kennsington store in London on assignment were instructed to misrepresent their status as visiting workers and instead claim observer status in order to avoid the hefty work permit required by UK immigration. The problem is not all workers claimed the same status, yet all filled the same niche as temporary workers. I don't know who is in charge of the London stores but it can't look good for corporate headquarters in Austin.
12:53 PM

The allegations made in that comment sound wonderfully scandalous. However, there's one small problem: I can't find any corroboration. A half hour searching the news feeds, plus Google and even (gasp) Yahoo! Search has turned up nothing.

Is it true, or is someone anonymously trolling blogs and internet message boards spreading misinformation about WFMI? If the latter, the irony is too obvious to need mentioning.

So, the two questions I've got are: is the story true, and whose sockpuppet is Anonymous 12:53?

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This just in: Whole Foods CEO John Mackey still employed

So far, anyway. But we'll see how much trouble his other indiscretions cause him at the current FTC hearings.

CNBC: Government Cites Mackey E-Mails

A government antitrust lawyer on Wednesday argued that comments made in e-mail and online by Whole Foods' chief executive _ including a reference to avoiding "nasty price wars" _ highlight the need to block the company's purchase of rival Wild Oats Markets.
Two days of hearings on the proposed deal ended Wednesday, with Whole Foods countering that the acquisition would help it compete with larger supermarket chains. Judge Paul L. Friedman of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is expected to rule by mid-August on whether to allow Whole Foods' $565 million purchase to proceed.
The Federal Trade Commission is trying to stop the deal out of concern that it would lead to higher prices for customers of the fancy and organic foods markets.
Michael Bloom, a lawyer for the FTC, quoted CEO John Mackey's comments in an e-mail to Whole Foods Market Inc.'s board that the purchase of Wild Oats Markets Inc. would allow the company to "avoid nasty price wars."

The award for "Best Backhanded Compliment/Cheap Shot Combo" goes to the judge overseeing the FTC's case:

"He's candid regardless of which name he uses," Judge Paul L. Friedman said, referring to Mackey's postings on online financial Web sites under the screen name "rahodeb," an anagram of his wife's name, Deborah.
Mackey's online postings have attracted the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has said it is informally investigating them.

OUCH!

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Investors look to send Whole Foods' John Mackey packing

It's old news, and if it was produce, it wouldn't be on the shelf anymore, but I've been busy and am playing catchup.

NY Post: FIRM ASKS MACKEY TO LOG OUT
In a letter sent to Whole Foods' lead independent director, CtW Investment Group urged the board to name an independent chairman immediately to rebuild trust with government regulators and shareholders in the wake of the scandal.
CtW, a branch of labor union coalition Change to Win, whose members own about 900,000 Whole Foods shares, applauded the board's decision to appoint a special committee to look into Mackey's shenanigans.
But the group urged the company to go further to see if he's fit to remain as CEO.

Needless to say, this topic has already been bludgeoned all over the Flogosphere in my absence, but let me just say that it's good to be right. I commented earlier (as a member in good standing of the Commentariat) that Mackey will likely get the sack, and it feels like events are moving in that direction.

Really, what else is there to say? He did it. He said that he did it. He's cast a serious cloud over the perception that he can make good decisions. We've already been through the pitiful attempt at spin control, followed by the equally pitiful insincere apology. We're all pretty much hanging around waiting for the Endgame at this point.

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The knives are coming out for Whole Foods' John Mackey

Between news of his forthright apology in the face of an SEC investigation:

Reuters: Whole Foods CEO sorry for anonymous Web posts
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The chief executive of Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFMI.O: Quote, Profile, Research) apologized to shareholders on Tuesday for anonymously posting comments about his company on the Internet as the organic and natural foods grocer said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had launched a probe into the matter.
News of the SEC probe comes a week after court documents filed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission revealed that Whole Foods Chief Executive John Mackey posted messages on a Yahoo! chat forum under an alias for years.
In the postings, Mackey talked up his company while predicting a bleak future for Wild Oats Markets Inc. (OATS.O: Quote, Profile, Research), the rival his firm is trying to acquire.
"I sincerely apologize to all Whole Foods Market stakeholders for my error in judgment in anonymously participating on online financial message boards," Mackey said in a statement on Tuesday. "I am very sorry and I ask our stakeholders to please forgive me."

And reports of Whole Foods conducting their own internal investigation:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a04wEySMHHFA&refer=home
Whole Foods Market Inc., the largest U.S. natural-foods grocer, said its board formed an independent committee to investigate postings made on financial message boards by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Mackey.

It looks more and more likely that Mr. Mackey will be required to fall on his sword for the good of the company. Bear in mind that I already called this. Not that I needed to be Faith Popcorn to see it coming.

I have no particular axe to grind, and bear John Mackey no ill will. However, the line is right there, spelled out for all to see. If you screw up, you have to accept the consequences. Like Kevin Spacey's grasshopper king said in the Pixar film A Bug's Life: "First rule of leadership is that everything is your fault!"

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Did Whole Foods CEO John Mackey troll my blog?

Damned if I know, but consider this: on Saturday, an anonymous poster left the following comment on this news post on the Rahodeb scandal:

Anonymous said...
Balderdash. So what. I like Whole Foods--the service, the quality of foods, and, yes, the atmosphere.I can buy fresh Whole Foods or Kroger "Old Foods." Example: gladiolus at $3.99 (fresh) at Whole Foods at $3.33 (on the verge of decay) at Kroger.Let me say: fresh is worth $.66.

Aside from the fact that it's a total non-sequitor to the issue at hand, it also doesn't match any of the style or syntax from the Usual Suspects around here who post comments anonymously.

That same day, Google Analytics tells me that I had a visitor from El Paso, Texas, down the road from Whole Foods' Austin head office, who was referred here by a link from Herb Greenberg's MarketWatch blog on the same subject.

Coincidence? I think not.

So, in good muckraking tabloid fashion, I'll put it this way: I don't know that John "Rahodeb" Mackey trolled Lee Distad's Professional Opinion, but I don't know that he didn't!

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More Whole Foods fracas in the Flogosphere

Last night, I made some caustic comments about Whole Foods CEO John Mackey and his alter-ego that hung out on the internet pretending to be a stock promoter (as opposed to pretending to be a 14 year-old bisexual girl, which would probably have gotten him a pass in the media).

I also called for his head, and postulated that pressure from regulators and the board of directors might actually send him packing.

Well, it's good to see that members of the Commentariat who are wiser than I are saying the same thing. The Epicurean Dealmaker just excorciated Mr Mackey over this:

Among other provocative adjectives, I variously called Mr. Mackey an idiot, a moron, a fool, and a doofus. Now, however, after reading the latest revelations of Mr. Mackey's extracurricular activities on the internet, I feel I owe you Dear Readers a clarification:John Mackey is a putz.
* * *
Note to Whole Foods' (absentee?) Board of Directors: As all sailors used to know, it is not wise to allow a loose cannon to carom about a ship in motion, as it tends to have rather destructive effects on those boat parts and human limbs with which it comes into contact. The best solution, if you cannot tie the cannon down, is to toss it overboard. Need I say more?

It's worth noting that TED took John Mackey out behind the woodshed nearly a month ago over a separate, equally misguided error in judgement. Oddly enough, I missed this the first time:

The Epicurean Dealmaker: Ay! Whataya? Stupid?
So we learned with interest this morning from The Wall Street Journal that the culprit in this surprising drama is none other than Whole Foods' CEO John Mackey. Apparently, this idiot had the temerity, the stupidity, or the sheer knuckleheadedness (all related ailments) to make the government's case against his proposed acquisition of Wild Oats for them.
...
*** We will now take a brief intermission to allow the corporate lawyers in the audience to wipe down their keyboards and go change their shirts, after they spit their morning coffee all over themselves in reaction to the preceding paragraph. Thanks to the rest of you for your patience.
***What a moron. (Perhaps Carl Icahn was right about corporate CEOs. This one certainly appears to be a prime specimen.)


Eddy Elfbein of Crossing Wall Street has even gone to the trouble of assembling Rahodeb's greatest hits into a single post, for your reading enjoyment:

Crossing Wall Street: July 12, 2007 Rahodeb Greatest Hits
#2:
I like Mackey's haircut. I think he looks cute! If his hair bothers you now you should have seen what it looked like 10 years ago! The guy was/is clearly into alternative lifestyles and is one of Paul Ray's Cultural Creatives I outlined in my 2 posts to Hedge. You must not patronize any of WFMI's stores. Tatoos, piercings, unusual dress, and interesting haircuts are everywhere in the stores. In comparison, Mackey looks like a model for Brooks Brothers!

Oh dear. What are you supposed to do with someone as thoughtless as Mr Mackey? My vote is to make an example of him.

*Flogosphere is not a typo, by the way.

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Whole Foods CEO busted for trolling the internet

I was going to leave this story alone. I really was. I said to myself "Self," I said "You're better than this. You don't need to go there."

Of course, I rebutted myself with "Really? Then what about all that crap about Paris Hilton a couple of weeks ago?"

I had to admit, I had a point.

Anyway, this story has already been flogged all over the blogosphere, so I'll keep it short:

WSJ: Whole Foods Is Hot, Wild Oats a Dud -- So Said 'Rahodeb'
Rahodeb was an online pseudonym of John Mackey, co-founder and chief executive of Whole Foods Market Inc. Earlier this year, his company agreed to buy Wild Oats for $565 million, or $18.50 a share.
For about eight years until last August, the company confirms, Mr. Mackey posted numerous messages on Yahoo Finance stock forums as Rahodeb. It's an anagram of Deborah, Mr. Mackey's wife's name. Rahodeb cheered Whole Foods' financial results, trumpeted his gains on the stock and bashed Wild Oats.

Even if Mr Mackey did not issue material non-public information, or make statements that impacted Whole Foods' stock price, his behavior, while not necessarily illegal, is definetely unethical, and probably incredibly thoughtless. You might even call it stupid.

For starters: Yahoo! Finance? Good God, that's the lowest of the low. I used to think that bulletin boards devoted to bodybuilding, powerlifting and other iron sports were full of bizarre, damaged personalities, until I took my first forray into browsing the world of internet stock boards. "Bedlam" doesn't even begin to cover it. I've ranted about this before, so I'll leave it there.

Secondly, as the officer of a publically traded company, Mr Mackey has a duty to shareholders to disseminate information through appropriate channels. If nothing else, hiding behind a pseudonym and cheerleading your own company to investors is sleazy as hell. No amount of circumlocution or fuzzy logic on his part can rationalize his way out of this.

Needless to say, the usual suspects in the blogosphere have all drawn the same parallel, comparing Mackey's behavior to that of Overstock.com's perennially surreal CEO, Patrick Byrne.

Long or Short Capital: The Patrick Byrne Award for Operational Focus and Excellence: Whole Foods CEO Rahodeb
I’m undecided if it’s a better or worse call than being a bat-crazy Quixote in public like Byrne. This is less ethical but more competent as as opposed to more ethical and less competent. But this is decidedley worse than not wearing a condom in Haiti, which is our standard threshold for management competence.

Dealbreaker: Only You Can Stop CEO Internet Addiction!
It's happened before. As Gary Weiss has shown, some chief executives simply cannot be trusted with the internet. If you are working in the IT department at a public company now, you might want to look into disconnecting your boss's internet connection. It's for his own good.

Gary Weiss: John Mackey, Patrick Byrne, and a Snoozing SEC
Mackey, it seems, posted anonymously on message boards to bash a competitor and boost the company's share price -- amazing behavior that came to light not because of an SEC enforcement action, on any number of possible grounds ranging from securities fraud to Regulation FD, but in a lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission.

Gary Weiss seems especially indignant that the SEC seems to be uninterested in the unethical behavior of either Mackey or Weiss' favorite poster boy for bad governance, Patrick Byrne.

I will however go out on a limb and say that the Whole Foods story will diverge from the Overstock.com train wreck sooner rather than later. I forsee that John Mackey will be sent packing by his own board, under pressure from regulators and the media.

Why?

Because Whole Foods makes money. Because they're successful. Because there will be a lot of concerned parties on Wall Street with a vested interest in making sure that Whole Foods continues to succeed. Now that Mackey has shown what kind of thoughtless, half-cocked decision making he's capable of, he's a liability. Those concerned will want to have him ejected before he does something that scuttles the ship.

Compare that to OSTK, whose vested interests are limited solely to buy-and-hold investors who still believe in Santa Claus, and are still praying that one quarter, any quarter, their baby will show a profit. If your company was as beneath most people's radar as Overstock.com, you might resort to public temper tantrums to get attention too.

Anyway, Mackey will be crucified in the media, and will probably get the sack before the month is out. There, I said it.

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