You never know what's going to come out in a deposition.
John Mackey, the famous Libertarian Vegan CEO of Whole Foods, just got out-ed. The FTC, fighting Whole Foods' acquisition of Wild Oats, found out he's been posting under the pseudonym "Rahodeb" on yahoo finance chat boards for 7 years!
As Rahodeb, he paid himself many fine compliments. He also dogged his competition and, as the Feds see it, might have pumped up the value of Whole Foods. Just imagine how much content 7 years of chatting can generate.
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So what did he say? Is he in trouble? Just ask the FTC (or F*CK the FTC if you are a Libertarian). And you can even read his own blog, posted under his real handle "handsome man w/ cute haircut".
Myself.... I kinda like the guy. He sets the bar for CEO's when it comes to being transparent, and then some. It could be that the FTC can't use pseudowords to stop the merger because he never said anything misleading. Only pompous. Can you be pompous? Why the hell not?? The only thing that bothers me is he calls himself vegan AND eats eggs, in which case, you can't be both.
But Rahodeb showed little respect for Wild Oats and its former chief executive, Perry Odak. In a Feb. 24, 2005, posting, he wrote, “Perhaps the OATS Board will wake up and dump Odak and bring in a visionary and highly competent C.E.O.”
At the same time, he wrote glowingly and anonymously of John Mackey.
“I like Mackey’s haircut. I think he looks cute!” Rahodeb wrote on April 28, 2000.
“You must not patronize any of WFMI’s stores,” the writer continued, using Whole Food’s stock symbol. “Tatoos, piercings, unusual dress and interesting haircuts are everywhere in the stores. In comparison, Mackey looks like a model for Brooks Brothers!”
Rahodeb’s final remarks were posted last August, after he lost a bet to another correspondent, Hubris12000, over Whole Food’s stock performance.
“Surgeon General and Boston Cowboy — you were both right about my true identity all along,” he concluded. “Congratulations on your cleverness.”





