March Of The Sockpuppets
The New York Times notices the ruckus created by the exposure of John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, as a sockpuppet. It is pretty hard on Mackey.
For executives like Mr. Mackey, sock-puppeting is probably more gratifying than effective in swaying opinion or stock prices — until they get caught. Then it is embarrassing, and for chief executives, at least, potentially illegal. Laws carefully prescribe what executives of public companies can say. The Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site Friday night that the Securities and Exchange Commission had begun a formal inquiry into whether Mr. Mackey violated security laws with the posts. (Ed Note: The NYT has corrected that last bit. The SEC inquiry is informal.)
Whole Foods maintains that Mr. Mackey did not break the law because he did not disclose any confidential company information.
But the consequences could be damaging to the company, if not to Mr. Mackey. Securities lawyers say the Federal Trade Commission might use the comments to scuttle Whole Foods’ proposed acquisition of a competitor, Wild Oats, a company Mr. Mackey derided in his posts. Wild Oats may also use the comments as the basis of a lawsuit against Whole Foods.
The most interesting ting in the article comes at the very end, however. At least one industry insider is convinced that Mackey is only the tip of the iceberg.
Paul Kedrosky, a venture capitalist in San Diego and author of the blog Infectious Greed, said he thinks that business people are increasingly resorting to sock-puppetry. “I’m convinced it’s broader than anybody knows,” he said, “I’m convinced this is the tip of the iceberg.”
Mr. Kedrosky said that one chief executive recently told him that he almost had to “chew off my right arm to keep from participating” in an online forum. He declined to name the company but said, “It’s a hard temptation to walk away from.”
Oh, well. It could be open season on sockpuppets soon. We were lucky enough to get a candid picture of Mackey so folks will know what he looks like.
Whole Foods CEO John Mackey strikes an impromptu Pose
By Dan Collins, Tuesday, 17 July , 2007 @ 9:29 am
I’m not sure I like the haircut. Meh. I guess it’s okay. Freakin’ tubesock.
By Quilly Mammoth, Tuesday, 17 July , 2007 @ 12:10 pm
Of course, if you’re Glenn Greenwald you get a Salon column out of sock-puppetry.