Retail Memo: 'God And Man at Yale' - The FTC-Whole Foods Settlement Talks: Whole Foods CEO John Mackey Speaks Out at Yale University

FTC. v. Whole Foods Market, Inc. - Settlement Talks

In a series of recent stories on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) v. Whole Foods Market, Inc. case, in which the FTC is attempting to break-up Whole Foods' 2007 friendly acquisition of then rival Wild Oats Market, Inc., we reported that based on our sources the current negotiations between Whole Foods and the FTC are proceeding well, and that the probability of the two parties reaching a settlement are looking good.

You can read those stories here: [Thursday, February 5, 2009: Retail Memo - Breaking: FTC Delays Whole Foods Merger Opposition Case Another 30-Days For Settlement Talks; Progress Towards A Deal Remains Positive.] [Tuesday, February 3, 2009: Retail Memo - Breaking Developments: FTC, Whole Foods Market, Inc. Progressing in Settlement Talks; Could the Negotiated End-Game Be Near?] [January 29, 2009: Retail Memo - Breaking: Whole Foods Makes Settlement Offer to FTC; FTC Halts Action For 5 Days; Natural~Specialty Foods Memo Calls For A Settlement.] Note in the January 29 piece, before full settlement talks began, Natural~Specialty Foods Memo (NSFM) called for both sides to work out a deal.

As we've reported, the FTC has halted all of its legal activity designed to overturn the Whole Foods-Wild oats merger until March 6, 2009, so that the two sides can continue their settlement talks and resolve the deal outside of court. The FTC has an Administrative trial set for April 6 which will result in a ruling by the federal regulator on the merger. Whole Foods is hoping to work out a deal with the FTC before the April 6 trial date.

John Mackey Speaks at Yale

Natural~Specialty Foods Memo (NSFM) recently found out from a reader that Whole Foods Market, Inc. co-founder and CEO John Mackey was giving two speeches or lectures at Yale University yesterday, Tuesday, February 10.

The topics of the lectures, which Mr. Mackey did give at Yale yesterday, were "Conscious Capitalism," in which he talks about the philosophy the principles of Whole Foods Market's business philosophy which he has gleaned from various thinkers, and "A Vision of Sustainable Agriculture and Healthy Eating in the 21st Century." Mr. Mackey has given speeches and lectures on the two topics at a number of other U.S. Universities, as well as to various groups.

Because we've been covering, reporting on, writing about and offering analysis on the FTC v. Whole Foods Market merger case and issue, and because Whole Foods' CEO John Mackey seldom ever disappoints when it comes to talking about hot button issues (like FTC v. Whole Foods) regarding Whole Foods Market when he does speak publicly, Natural~Specialty Foods Memo (NSFM) had a correspondent attend the two lectures and provide notes on what if anything CEO Mackey said about Whole Foods' current settlement negotiations with the FTC over the 2007 merger.

And John Mackey didn't disappoint.

At Yale University yesterday, Whole Foods' CEO Mackey told the lecture crowd that he is anticipating that there will be a settlement reached between the natural foods grocery chain and the FTC soon.

"Hopefully, there will be an announcement in the next couple of weeks," Mr. Mackey said. That's just about how long is left in the FTC's legal halt order, which expires on March 6.

Beyond that John Mackey didn't offer any details of the current settlement negotiations. He did say during a lecture that Whole Foods brought an initial offer to the FTC to get the ball rolling, which is something we've previously reported.

However, the fact that Mr. Mackey would offer such optimism about a settlement likely being reached in the next couple weeks suggests strongly to us he is rather confident that will be the case. If not, he wouldn't likely have even brought it up considering how serious and important the current negotiations are for the natural foods grocery chain. Would he?

In fact, John Mackey has taken a back seat in the entire FTC v. Whole Foods case since it began heating up again in late November of last year -- to the present. Instead he has let his top executives, Jim Sud and Walter Robb, be the Whole Foods' corporate faces and voices on the issue and legal case. Yesterday, during the Yale University lectures, was one of the few times the Whole Foods Market, Inc. CEO has said anything publicly about the issue in many months.

One of the reasons this is the case is because there is bad blood between a couple of the FTC Commissioners and Mackey over public statements he's made over the years about wanting to dominate U.S. natural foods retailing, as well as over the highly publicized news that came to light in 2007 that for at least a couple years prior as CEO of Whole Foods Market John Mackey had used the pseudonym "rahodeb" to post negative comments about Wild Oats Market, Inc. and its then CEO on Yahoo Finance message boards and other finance-related Internet chat boards. Mr. Mackey has explained that "rahodeb" was a variation of his wife's first name -- Deborah.

The nature of the posts "talked down" Wild Oats as a natural products retailer and included posts suggesting the company needed to be acquired by a superior natural foods retailer, that its stock was overvalued, and that it was headed for bankruptcy, among other things.

Mr. Mackey made such posts right up to the 2007 merger deal between Whole Foods and Wild Oats. After it was discovered that John Mackey was "rahodeb," the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched an investigation of the CEO's postings on the finance-related message board. The SEC found he had broken no laws and ended the investigation.

Below (in italics) are a couple of the "rahodeb" post he made on Yahoo Finance:

March 26, 2006: "OATS has lost their way and no longer has a sense of mission or even a well-thought-out theory of the business. They lack a viable business model that they can replicate. They are floundering around hoping to find a viable strategy that may stop their erosion. Problem is that they lack the time and the capital now.”

Another post John Mackey made on Yahoo Finance as "rahodeb": "Would Whole Foods buy OATS? Almost surely not at current prices…What would they gain? OATS locations are too small. Wild Oats’ management clearly doesn’t know what it is doing." The company, he wrote:, "Has no value and no future."

At least one of the FTC Commissioners appears to believe that Mr. Mackey skated on the "rahodeb" postings in which he "talked down" Wild Oats, which was being operated in a less than stellar manner and doing poorly. But since nobody reading the "rahodeb" posts knew at the time they were being made by the Whole Foods' CEO, it's hard to believe, despite the fact we think his doing so was a bit foolish, that the negative comments about Wild Oats had any material effect on the company. After all, for the comments to have any influence, investors and others would have to take seriously the postings of "rahodeb" on Yahoo Finance.

Its our analysis though that this incident, along with public comments John Mackey had made for many years about wanting to dominate natural foods retailing with Whole Foods, has influenced the hard line against the merger the FTC has taken. We have no proof of that but believe it to be the case based on our extensive reporting, research and analysis of the issue. Such comments though aren't legal grounds to influence the FTC, and we have no evidence that they have. It's our observation and analysis only.

John Mackey takes ownership of 'rahodeb' at Yale

During on of his Yale lectures yesterday, a audience member asked John Mackey if he thought his Internet posting as "rahodeb" has played any part in the FTC's aggressive, and expensive to Whole Foods Market, Inc., challenge of the Wild Oats' acquisition.

His answer: "No. Well, I don't know. You'd have to ask the FTC."

Sounds like he at least agrees with 50% of our analysis on the issue.

The Whole Foods' CEO then went on to further answer the question, telling the Yale graduate students, professors and others attending the lecture that he feels he didn't do anything wrong in making the Internet postings about Wild Oats. He commented that it was sort of like a "Warren Buffett opportunity" for him, likening the postings to the witty and insightful comments the billionaire investor and chairman of the Berkshire Hathaway holding company is famous for making each year in the company's annual report to stockholders. [You can read a selection of Warren Buffett's letters to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders at this link: Warren Buffett's Letters to Berkshire Shareholders.]

He then finished up discussing the topic by saying: "I'm actually proud of my postings on Yahoo."

However, he added, the episode taught him a lesson that as the CEO of a major, public company his doing such things could land him on the front page of newspapers. (He really didn't know this simple fact before the postings incident, we wonder?) "I suppose I've kind of grown up. I'm a man now," Mr. Mackey concluded.

Natural~Specialty Foods Memo NSFM) is on the record in the Blog as agreeing with the SEC's decision that John Mackey broke no laws regarding the "rahodeb" posts, as well as writing in a post in May 2008 that we believed the incident should be considered "water under the bridge" post the SEC's decision. A few readers, including a columnist for Conde Naste Portfolio (Felix) took us on a bit on that one. We stick to our original position on the issue and Mr. Mackey. [That post is at this link: Retail Memo: Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey is 'Back to Blogging'; As Well as Being 'Back in Town.']

But -- did CEO John Mackey, who's been called "Wacky Mackey" at times in the press and elsewhere (a nickname we've always refrained from using and continue to do so accept in pointing out that others have used it), really need to share with the crowd at Yale that he is "proud" of the "rahodeb" Wild Oats' postings at the exact same time Whole Foods' legal counsel is engaged in settlement talks with the FTC. That same outside legal counsel (high-paid lawyers from three different top Washington, D.C. law firms) that, along with the high-priced Washington, D.C. lobbying firm, The Glover Park Group, retained by the company to defend it to Congress and the public against the FTC, is costing Whole Foods' stockholders tons of money at a time when the company's stock share value is at a 52-week low, having dropped in value by about 70% in the last year?

Or as another example, Whole Foods Market, Inc. acquired Wild Oats for $18.50 a share in the summer of 2007 (the $565 million acquisition). At the close of the market today, Whole Foods' stock was trading at $10.36 a share. You can view the details at Yahoo Finance here. We intend no "rahodeb" karma in suggesting readers view the Whole Foods Market, Inc. stock details at Yahoo Finance.

Speaking about interesting karma, in a few of his about 1,400 "rahodeb" Internet postings about Wild Oats Market, Inc. from 1999 -to- 2006, John Mackey wrote about how much Wild Oats' stock was dropping, saying it would fall below $5 a share at one point, as well as suggesting the stock could sink so low the company would have to file for bankruptcy.

We say this without any hubris or glee, but Whole Foods' stock share price only needs to drop by a little over half its current share price to hit that magic under $5 a share value.

And now that 24% of Whole Foods is owned by two investment groups, the private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners (17% stake), and Yuciapia Companies (7% stake), owned by longtime supermarket industry investor Ron Burkle, it's our analysis that if Whole Foods' share price starts dropping much more, it's likely that some type of merger or other similar move led by these two investor groups just might materialize.

Or perhaps Ron Burkle, who owned 18% of Wild Oats and helped engineer the 2007 deal with Whole Foods Market, Inc., might buy up another seven or so percent of Whole Foods, since the current share price is even less than it was when he bought his 7% stake not so many weeks ago.[Suggested reading: Retail Memo: Whole Foods Market, Inc. Closes $425 Sale of Stock to Private Equity Firm; Adds Members of the Firm to its Board of Directors.] [January 16, 2009: Retail Memo - Exclusive: Supermarket Industry Investor Ron Burkle Looking For A Seat On Whole Foods Market's Board of Directors.]

God and Man, and John Mackey, at Yale

The famous Conservative thinker and writer, novelist, host for many years of the PBS public affairs program "Firing Line," master sailor and all around raconteur William F. Buckley Jr., who passed away last year, was a proud graduate of Yale College at Yale University back in the days when a guy could become successful with a mere bachelors degree. While at Yale, Buckley wrote his first book, "God and Man at Yale," (published in 1951), in which he chronicled his undergraduate years at the Ivy League institution of higher learning and set the tone for his long career as a conservative thinker and writer, as well as a polymath.

We wonder, if Whole Foods Market and the FTC fail to reach a settlement before the April 6 start of the FTC Administrative Trial on the merger, and if the conclusion of that trial results in the break-up of the combined Whole Foods-Wild Oats, if John Mackey's first book, published in his 55th (current age) or 56th year of life, might be titled: "God, Did I Have to Say Everything That Came to My Mind at Yale."? But then, there also is a certain charm about Mr. Mackey being himself, even in such times for the company.

Of course, time will tell. And the clock is ticking rather fast until the FTC legal halt ends on March 6. According to our sources, as of Monday afternoon (February 10), the Whole Foods-FTC merger case settlement talks were progressing well. But as always -- stay tuned.

Retail Memo: Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey and Team Launch First Aggressive Attack Against the FTC's Legal Case at Press Conference This Morning

Whole Foods Market, Inc. v. U.S. Federal Trade Commission

Whole Foods Market, Inc. CEO John Mackey lashed out sharply against the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and its legal case against the Whole Foods-Wild Oats merger at a press conference in Washington, D.C. this morning, saying the FTC's pursuit of antitrust claims in the natural foods grocery chain's acquisition of Wild Oats Market, Inc. last year is "almost a vendetta" and is wasting time and money.

As we reported here, Whole Foods Market Inc. filed a lawsuit on Monday, December 8 against the FTC, claiming it has violated Whole Foods' due process rights in continuing its ongoing (since the summer of 2007) proceedings about the friendly deal.

In its lawsuit filed on Monday, Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods wants the federal court in Washington, D.C. to terminate an administrative case the FTC has begun, in which the agency is examining the grocer's $565 million purchase of rival Wild Oats Markets Inc. The regulator has scheduled an administrative trial for February 16, 2009, in which an administrative law judge will hear arguments from the FTC and Whole Foods regarding the merger, and make a ruling on the case. If it loses on February 16, Whole Foods Market, Inc. can appeal the ruling to a federal appeals court.

As we've previously reported, The FTC sought to temporarily block the acquisition in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia last year, arguing that it would limit competition and could lead to higher prices. The court ruled against the FTC, and the two companies closed the deal in August 2007.

Since then, the FTC reopened its administrative case on the merger. Recently a federal appeals court gave the FTC the green light to go forward with its adminstrative case, which resulted in the agency setting the February 16, 2009 administrative trial.

At today's press conference, Whole Foods' CEO Mackey, who was joined by the retailer's co-president Walter Robb, outside legal council Lanny Davis and others, reiterated what we reported Whole Foods Market, Inc. is arguing in its lawsuit filed on Monday's with that same U.S. federal district court — that the FTC has prejudged the case and can't be expected to oversee an impartial proceeding. Mackey also reiterated the lawsuit argument that the FTC has violated Whole Foods' due process rights by setting a rapid schedule for the administrative trial that won't allow the company adequate time to prepare its defense.

The FTC's position

Natural~Specialty Foods Memo contacted the FTC today for its comments on the Whole Foods' lawsuit. However, a spokesperson for the agency told us it can't comment on the issue because it's engaged in a legal proceeding with Whole Foods Market, Inc.

However, the FTC spokesperson directed us to some written statements (which we've already reported on) on the case by acting director of the FTC's bureau of competition, David Wales.

Below is Wales', and the FTC's official statement on why it is pursuing its case against the Whole Foods' merger:

"We protect consumers, and if we feel a merger is going to hurt consumers and will be anti-competitive, we will pursue it aggressively and that is the case with Whole Foods," said David Wales, acting director of the bureau of competition at the FTC."

Wales also says the FTC stands by its antitrust claims vis-a-vis the Whole Foods-Wild Oats merger and says the system will determine the best result, meaning at the February 16, 2009 administrative trial.

In a statement, Whales said: "The FTC's system of review has been in place for nearly 100 years. And other business deals that were already complete have been undone. In the case of Chicago Bridge & Iron Co.'s purchase of Pitt-Des Moines Inc. in 2001, the FTC issued an order to split the business seven years after the two companies finished merging.

In its lawsuit Whole Foods Market, Inc. argues that since the merger is essentially completed, overturning it would do serious harm to the retailer, costing it millions of dollars to unwind the merger. Whole Foods says it has already spend about $16.5 million defending itself against the FTC.

At today's press conference, Whole Foods' CEO Mackey attacked the entire FTC case against the merger, saying: "The whole thing is ridiculous." We cannot get a fair trial in their (the FTC's administrative) court system."

In its lawsuit, Whole Foods is asking that the case be returned to the federal court for trial and resolution.

As we described in previous stories in the Blog, in the U.S. mergers, acquisitions and antitrust issues fall under the oversight of either the FTC or the Justice Department depending on various criteria. But each body follows slightly different processes.

The key difference is that the Justice Department simply asks for a permanent injunction, a one-step effort to stop the deal, in the cases where it determines laws or rules have been violated.

On the other hand, The FTC can seek a preliminary injunction, then an administrative proceeding that can be appealed to a circuit court if necessary, a process Whole Foods' attorneys and company leaders argue is unfair.

This is the processes the FTC has followed in its continued pursuit of its case against the Whole Foods-Wild Oats Merger.

In its lawsuit Whole Foods also is challenging this process, as well as challenging a proposed new FTC rule.

The FTC recently proposed a broad new rule with a short-circuited hearing schedule that would bypass federal courts.

"That proposal was strongly objected to by a former Chair and General Counsel of the FTC, as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and it is inconsistent with the recommendations of the Congressionally-mandated Antitrust Modernization Commission and an American Bar Association report that was recently submitted to the transition team of President-elect Barack Obama," Lanny Davis, the politically-connected Democrat and Washington, D.C. lawyer retained by Whole Foods as an outside counsel on the case, said today.

"The FTC is using Whole Foods Market as a 'crash-test dummy' and it is practicing a double standard. It is able to block mergers of companies under its jurisdiction, using a lower standard without going to federal court, when the Justice Department must go to federal court under a higher standard for companies under its jurisdiction," Whole Foods' legal counsel Lanny Davis said today. "That is inconsistent and unfair," Davis, who was a legal counsel to former President Bill Clinton and is a key advisor to Senator and soon to be Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, says. Senator Clinton and Lanny Davis attended law school together and have been close friends and political allies for decades.

Mr. Mackey (and team) hit 'The Hill'

As we write this story, Whole Foods' CEO John Mackey, co-president Walter Robb, legal counsel Lanny Davis and numerous Whole Foods Market store team members (employees) the retailer brought to Washington, D.C. from throughout the U.S. are finishing up a day of making the rounds of Congressional and Senate representatives' offices on Capital Hill, arguing for what the company is calling "Fair Play For Whole Foods by the FTC."

Of course those Senators and Members of Congress are rather busy on 'The Hill' at present. There's the financial crisis, the impending bailout of Detroit's 'Big Three' automakers and a few other legislative issues to tackle before both bodies recess for the Christmas holiday.

Whole Foods not alone on Capital Hill this week

And there also are numerous others making the rounds of Congress today.

They include organized labor, who in addition to lobbying heavily for the automakers bailout, also are lobbying aggressively for "The Employee Free Choice Act," which would change the way unions and workers can organize, and how workers can join unions.

The "card check" provision of the act, which is supported by a majority of Democrats in Congress and President-Elect Barack Obama, would allow workers to merely check "yes" on a card if they want to join a union at their non-union place of employment. This process would eliminate the current secret ballot process, which unions argue makes it difficult for workers to join unions.

One of the unions visiting Capital Hill this week has been the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) union, the trade union for 1.3 million unionized supermarket and grocery store retail clerks in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.

The UFCW, like all of organized labor, helped get President-elect Obama and numerous Democrats elected in November, and they are pushing hard for passage of "The Employee Free Choice Act" and its "card check" provision for next year.

One of the retail chains the UFCW wants to unionize is Whole Foods Market, Inc., which is one ofthe the largest non-union food retailing chains in the U.S. For example, Kroger Co, Safeway Stores, Inc. and Supervalu, the top three supermarket chains in the U.S., are union, as are most of the other leading big chains. Wal-Mart, Costco, Whole Foods, target, Trader Joe's and a few other national food retailers aren't.

The UFCW, which has been unsuccessful in organizing Whole Foods store employees for years, hopes the "card check" provision will make it much easier to do so, along with making it easier to unionize Wal-Mart and the other non-union chains.

We wonder if in making the rounds of Capital Hill today Whole Foods' CEO Mackey happened to cross paths with representatives of the UFCW, who are visiting most of the very same Senators and Members of Congress Whole Foods is attempting to rally the support of in its battle with the FTC, which argues, despite all empirical evidence to the contrary, that Whole Foods market, Inc. holds a monopoly position in 18-29 U.S. markets in what the regulator calls the "premium organic retailing segment.?"

We ask this question about running into the UFCW folks because we see unionization, which CEO Mackey is strongly against, as the next potential challenge for Whole Foods.

With a strong majority of Democrats in control in both the House and the Senate in January (the measure passed the House last year and was only a couple votes shy of passing the Senate, which now has the votes to pass the legislation), along with a Democratic President, all of which support "The Employee Free Choice Act" and "card check," the probability of the legislation passing next year is high. The question is, along with the FTC issue, how might Whole Foods handle an aggressive UFCW campaign to unionize its store employees in this new political climate?

But first, Mackey and company must deal with the FTC. The company is now doing so with all cylinders firing.

Reader Resources

Recent, related posts from Natural~Specialty Foods Memo:

>December 8, 2008: Retail Memo: Mr. Mackey (and the Whole Foods Market Troops) Goes to Washington

>December 8, 2008: Retail Memo: Breaking News - Whole Foods Market, Inc. Files Lawsuit Against the FTC; Argues the Regulator Violated the Company's Due Process Rights

>December 7, 2008: Retail Memo: New Seasons Market CEO Brian Rohter and Whole Foods Market Co-President Walter Robb Discuss and Debate the Subpoena Issue Online

>December 7, 2008: Retail Memo: New Seasons Market CEO Brian Rohter Speaks Out Again Today on the Whole Foods Market, Inc. Subpoena of His Company's Data

>December 7, 2008: Retail Memo: Whole Foods Market Retains Top Washington D.C. lawyers and Politically-Connected Lobbyists to Plead its Case Against the FTC

>December 6, 2008: Retail Memo: Fast-Growing and Scrappy Sunflower Farmers Market Ventures Deep in the Heart of (Whole Foods Country) Texas

>December 6, 2008: Retail Memo: Fast-Growing NF Chain Sunflower Farmers Market Responds to Whole Foods Market, Inc. Subpoena For Sales, Financial and Related Information

>December 3, 2008: Retail Memo: More on the Whole Foods Market-New Seasons Market Subpoena Issue; FTC Holding Firm For February, 2009 Hearing

>December 2, 2008: Retail Memo: Whole Foods Market, Inc. Closes $425 Sale of Stock to Private Equity Firm; Adds Members of the Firm to its Board of Directors

>December 2, 2008: Retail Memo: Portland, Oregon-Based New Seasons Market CEO Brian Rohter Responds to Whole Foods Market's Paige Brady

>December 2, 2008: Retail Memo: Whole Foods' Paige Brady Responds to Yesterday's New Seasons Market Piece; Lots of E-Mails; Issue Heats Up On the New Seasons Market Blog

>December 1, 2008: Retail Memo: Whole Foods Wants A Court-Mandated Financial Records Dump from Portland-based New Seasons Market; it Says For its Battle Against the FTC

Additionally, we've been writing about the FTC-Whole Foods Market, Inc. issue since last year. You can read a selection of those stories here and here.

Retail Memo: Mr. Mackey (and the Whole Foods Market Troops) Goes to Washington

Whole Foods Market, Inc. v. U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Whole Foods Market, Inc. CEO John Mackey (and team) is headed to Washington.

Mackey, along with Whole Foods' Co-president Walter Robb and others, will be holding a press conference tomorrow (Thursday, December 9) morning to announce the company's lawsuit and legal challenge against the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which we reported on and wrote about in this piece, "Retail Memo: Breaking News - Whole Foods Market, Inc. Files Lawsuit Against the FTC; Argues the Regulator Violated the Company's Due Process Rights ," earlier today.

The press conference tomorrow morning is at 10am eastern time (7am pacific time) and will be held in room 210 of the Cannon Office Building, First Street and Independence Avenue SE, on Capital Hill in Washington, D.C.

In addition to the press conference -- where Mackey and Robb will be joined by legal counsel and politically-connected Washington lawyer (Democrat) Lanny Davis, as well as antitrust lawyer Steve Cannon, who also is part of the retailer's legal team, and Marc Mastropaolo, a Whole Foods Market store team leader from the Tenley Circle Washington, D.C. location -- Whole Foods' leadership team, along with store employees the retailer is bringing in from throughout the U.S., will meet with members of Congress to describe why the company believes the FTC is violating its due process rights by holding a hearing on the Wild Oats merger on February 16 of next years.

The theme of the discussion/lobbying effort with members of Congress is: "Fair Play for Whole Foods Market by FTC."

The "Mr. Mackey (and team) goes to Washington" (our usage not Whole Foods') public relations and lobbying event was orchestrated by Lanny Davis, the former legal counsel to President Bill Clinton and current advisor to Senator and soon to be Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as by Whole Foods' new Washington public affairs firm The Grover Park Group.

The Glover Park Group is one of Washington, D.C.'s top public affairs/lobbying firms. It partners and staffers are heavy hitters of both Democrat and Republican political affiliations but the firm is particularly heavy-on Democrats and influential among the Democratic members of Congress, which now hold a strong majority in both the House and Senate, with an incoming Democrat President as well.

Read this piece, " Retail Memo: Whole Foods Market Retains Top Washington D.C. lawyers and Politically-Connected Lobbyists to Plead its Case Against the FTC," we wrote and published yesterday about The Grover Park Group and Whole Foods' Washington legal counsel.

The Glover Park Group was named the top Washington, D.C. public affairs/lobbying firm last year by its peers in the nation's capital. The firm's partners in many ways can be described as the Clinton-Gore Administration's policy, political and communications team in exile. They include: CEO Chip Smith, who among other things was the chief of staff for Al Gore's 2000 Presidential campaign; Susan Brophy, who served in a number of positions in the Bill Clinton Administration; Carter Eskew, among other things the former chief strategist for former Vice President Al Gore's 2000 Presidential campaign; former Clinton White House-staffer and advisor to Al Gore, Michael Feldman; former Clinton White House chief spokesman for the President, Joe Lockhart; Howard Wolfsen, who most recently was the director of communications for Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign for the Presidency; and numerous other Democrat Party insiders.

Heading up the Whole Foods campaign are Joel Johnson, a partner at the firm, and Kim James, who is a vice president at The Glover Park Group.

Johnson has a long Washington resume. He is a former senior advisor to President Clinton for policy and communications and worked in the U.S. Senate for many years, including as a top aid to former Democratic Senate leader Tom Daschle, who President-elect Obama is naming as his Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare.

Kim James also has extensive experience and connections on Capital Hill in Washington.

The Glover Park Group also has a number of influential Republicans on staff. On of its most recent hires is Kevin Madden, who served as chief spokesman for Republican candidate for President Mitt Romney. Madden has become a familiar face on cable news as a Republican analyst since the 2008 campaign.

Click hear for a complete list of Glover park's partners and players, and their bios.

Whole Foods is clearly stepping-up its battle against the FTC's attempts to overturn the now basically completed friendly acquisition of Wild Oats' Market, Inc., something Natural~Specialty Foods Memo suggested the natural foods retailer start doing some months ago.

We will be covering the press conference and related activities on Capital Hill tomorrow. Stay tuned for our repotts and analysis.

Reader Resources

Recent, related posts from Natural~Specialty Foods Memo:

>December 8, 2008: Retail Memo: Breaking News - Whole Foods Market, Inc. Files Lawsuit Against the FTC; Argues the Regulator Violated the Company's Due Process Rights

>December 7, 2008: Retail Memo: New Seasons Market CEO Brian Rohter and Whole Foods Market Co-President Walter Robb Discuss and Debate the Subpoena Issue Online

>December 7, 2008: Retail Memo: New Seasons Market CEO Brian Rohter Speaks Out Again Today on the Whole Foods Market, Inc. Subpoena of His Company's Data

>December 7, 2008: Retail Memo: Whole Foods Market Retains Top Washington D.C. lawyers and Politically-Connected Lobbyists to Plead its Case Against the FTC

>December 6, 2008: Retail Memo: Fast-Growing and Scrappy Sunflower Farmers Market Ventures Deep in the Heart of (Whole Foods Country) Texas

>December 6, 2008: Retail Memo: Fast-Growing NF Chain Sunflower Farmers Market Responds to Whole Foods Market, Inc. Subpoena For Sales, Financial and Related Information

>December 3, 2008: Retail Memo: More on the Whole Foods Market-New Seasons Market Subpoena Issue; FTC Holding Firm For February, 2009 Hearing

>December 2, 2008: Retail Memo: Whole Foods Market, Inc. Closes $425 Sale of Stock to Private Equity Firm; Adds Members of the Firm to its Board of Directors

>December 2, 2008: Retail Memo: Portland, Oregon-Based New Seasons Market CEO Brian Rohter Responds to Whole Foods Market's Paige Brady

>December 2, 2008: Retail Memo: Whole Foods' Paige Brady Responds to Yesterday's New Seasons Market Piece; Lots of E-Mails; Issue Heats Up On the New Seasons Market Blog

>December 1, 2008: Retail Memo: Whole Foods Wants A Court-Mandated Financial Records Dump from Portland-based New Seasons Market; it Says For its Battle Against the FTC

Additionally, we've been writing about the FTC-Whole Foods Market, Inc. issue since last year. You can read a selection of those stories here.

Retail Memo: Whole Foods Market, Inc. CEO John Mackey Named One of the Global-75 Most Influential People For the 21st Century By Esquire Magazine

John Mackey, the 55-year old CEO of Whole Foods Market, Inc., has been named one of the 75 most influential people in the world for the 21st century by Esquire magazine.

Mackey is featured in Esquire's September issue, along with 74 others from throughout the globe, who Esquire says are the pick of the crop of individuals who have been, are, and will be the most influential people of the 21st century.

Here's what Esquire writes about Whole Foods' John Mackey in its entry about him as one of the most influential 75:

September 23, 2008,
John Mackey: Chairman and CEO, Whole Foods Market, 55 · Austin

"John Mackey didn't invent the organic-food movement. He didn't even invent the original Whole Foods Market, which started as a single store in New Orleans in 1974, four years before Mackey and a partner started their own natural-foods store in Austin. We're okay with that. Some people's importance comes from their innovations; others matter because they are popularizers--they take a small idea and make it big and mainstream. And in so doing, they change the world. That's John Mackey.

He took a cult concept embraced primarily by foodies and hippies--that fresh, local, organic food was better for you than the stuff you bought from the Safeway--and turned it into a national religion. Now, of course, the word organic is being stretched well beyond the original definition of pesticide-free produce, Wal-Mart (!) is diving into the business with both feet, and even the Chinese are growing food that is technically organic--which they then ship to the United States. In the coming century, it is not inconceivable that--due to John Mackey--most of the food we eat will be organic and fresh, if not necessarily always local."

[Here is a link to the entry on the Esquire magazine website.]

John Mackey is the only member of the retail food and grocery industry (in the whole world) named by Esquire to its 75 most influential people of the 21st century list. In fact, he's the only one we can find who represents the food and grocery industry in general -- which isn't so bad since after all we are talking a total of 75 "most influential" people from every field and walk out of all the extremely influential people on the planet.

Mackey is listed in Esquire on its first page of the top 75. He shares that first page with the American dynamic duo of politics, Bill and Hillary Clinton; Member of parliament David Cameron, the leader of Britain's Conservative Party and the man many are calling the next Prime Minister; the California-based novelist and writer Michael Chabon; and former Russian President and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

The others, in addition to John Mackey, rounding out the first ten listed are: Ratan Tata, the chairman of Tata group, India's largest corporation; theoretical physicist Lisa Randall; microbiologist and entrepreneur Greg Ventner; Tony Hayward, the CEO of British Petroleum Co.; and the collective "The Future of the World," which Esquire describes in that entry in this way: "Think we're all going to hell in a handbasket? Think things can't possibly get any better? The 43-year-old political economist and environmental activist begs to differ. You can find out who that 43-year old political economist and environmental activist is here. The one Esquire depicts as representing the future of the world.

[You can view the list of all 75 of Esquire's most influential people of the 21rst century here.]

[Additionally, you can view a slideshow of the 75 here.]

Below is what the editor's of Esquire say about there search and naming of the 75 most influential people of the 21st century:

The 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century

"We set out to find them across every field of endeavor, the people who are bending history right now. It was an impossible task, but the result is a determined, defiant, earnest, brilliant, philanthropic, space-going, smoking-hot group, and together they are writing the first chapter of the rest of our lives."

For Whole Foods' CEO John Mackey, at this point in time in the 21st century, he finds himself and his company recently experiencing (in its latest quarter) a 42% plunge in net income, the lowest stock share price in modern history for Whole Foods, having recently has to fire 40-plus headquarters employees, and with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission continuing to breath down the grocery chain's neck regarding its acquisition last year of rival Wild Oats Markets, a deal Mackey says he wouldn't do again if he had a chance to rewrite history.

Never before in his trail-blazing food retailing career does John Mackey need all that influence more than he does right now.

Retail Memo: Whole Foods' CEO John Mackey Speaks Out On 'Conscious Capitalism,' the Integration of Wild Oats, Competitors and Giving 'Appreciations'

As we've been writing about on Natural~Specialty Foods Memo for a few weeks now, Whole Foods Market, Inc. CEO John Mackey is back to his seemingly liberated self after recently receiving a clean bill of behavior from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the postings it was discovered last year he had been making on 'Yahoo Finance' financial message boards about Whole Foods (positive) and Wild Oats (negative), under the screename "Rahodeb" during the run up to Whole Foods' friendly acquisition-merger last year of Wild Oats Markets, Inc.

As we wrote about here, Mackey devoted the first post in nearly a year in his blog on the Whole Foods Market, Inc. website to the issue, offering an explanation and discussing how he was going forward.

We also recently wrote about the May commencement speech the not so public for the last year John Mackey made to the 2008 graduating class of Bentley College.

Last night, the increasingly public John Mackey stepped back on stage at St. David's Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas to give a speech and participate in an audience question and answer session for an event sponsored by FLOW, an organization co-founded by Mackey that "is dedicated to liberating the entrepreneurial spirit for good and directing it towards creating sustainable peace, prosperity, and happiness for all in our lifetime."

The focus of Mackey's talk at the Austin Episcopal church last night was "Conscious Capitalism." The Whole Foods' CEO also touched on a variety of other topics at the $30 per-person, sold-out fundraising event for FLOW, including: the integration of Wild Oats Markets, Inc. into Whole Foods' operations and culture; his experience with the SEC and Whole Foods' board of directors over the online message board affair; the grocer's competitors; and the little known Whole Foods Market company practice of asking team members to deliver "appreciations" to each other at the end of every team meeting, according to a Natural~Specialty Foods Memo correspondent (who we appreciate much) who attended the event.

"Corporations have become the most influential institutions in the world today," Mackey told his audience last night. "But they are widely perceived as greedy, selfish and exploitive."

He said unlike other professions like medicine, in which doctors take an oath to heal the sick, or education, where teachers make a commitment to help students to learn, businesses have for too long focused mostly on maximizing profits as their reason for being.

"The current business thinking lacks a new kind of awareness of a deeper business purpose," Mackey said in his speech last night. "They need to make a deeper responsibility to stakeholders, which include customers, employees, suppliers, the community and investors."

Mackey said when he founded Whole Foods, then called "Saferway," in 1978, he didn't have a clear vision or purpose beyond wanting to sell healthier food than most supermarkets did at the time.

However, Whole Foods' purpose and mission has evolved over time since those early beginnings, he told the audience. For example, Whole Foods just added a sixth "core value," which is to now include its suppliers at part of the supernatural foods retailer's mission statement because they wanted to know why they weren't previously included in the company's core values, Mackey said.

"Great companies have great purposes,” Mackey told the audience. "This includes, the good, the true, the beautiful and the heroic," he said by way of explaining "Conscious Capitalism."

The Whole Foods CEO even offered a brief list of company's he said have a larger purpose and that he admires. These include Apple Computer, Southwest Airlines, Google, Wikipedia and retailer the Container Store.

He also said he recently has lunch with Indra Nooyi, the first female CEO of food and beverage giant PepsiCo, and is adding the company to his admired list because he was impressed with her plans to create greater purpose for PepsiCo, including making a major effort in corporate philanthropy, a value and purpose Mackey told the crown is major to him and Whole Foods Market, Inc.

Mackey told the audience he isn't a hick in an organic oat field however when it comes to stockholder ownership of Whole Foods and making a profit. He said investors must ultimately control the business. "Customers are the most important stakeholders of Whole Foods, with employees coming second," he said. Investors are right up there, he added.

"The investors need to own and control the corporation, they get paid last," Mackey said. "If they don’t have the ultimate control they are going to be exploited by management and other stakeholder groups. I have never argued or never will argue for anything that weakens the property rights of investors."

Commenting briefly on the fact Whole Foods' stock share price is nearly 30% less than it was in June of 2007, Mackey attributed it to investors being cautious while the grocer completes its integration of Wild Oats into its operations and culture, and the resulting concerns over same-store sales because of this process.

Following his speech last night, which according to the Natural~Specialty Foods Memo correspondent attending the event was received warmly by the audience, Mackey then sat down for an audience question and answer session, which was moderated by a woman named Tami Simon, who runs a spiritual-based organization called Sounds True.

One audience member asked Mackey about the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) ongoing court challenge against the Whole Foods-Wild Oats merger/acquisition, in which the FTC continues to claim Whole Foods is a natural foods retailing monopoly, an issue we've written extensively about (we disagree with the FTC) regularly since last year.

Mackey's answer: "Although the FTC thinks we are a monopoly, everybody in Austin knows we’re not," he said. "If Whole Foods doesn't satisfy your needs, you are not going to shop there."

Another audience member's question was about Mackey's well-known competitive nature.

My competitiveness gets me in trouble now and then and got me in a lot of trouble in the last year,” Mackey said, referring to the 'Yahoo Finance' message board posting issue.

He elaborated though: "When you meet a really formidable competitor, you become afraid. This fear "can be harnessed to make your heart open wider," he said, adding that formidable retail competitors also serve to make Whole Foods Market better and stronger.

Another audience member asked Mackey how the integration of Wild Oats was going. "It has surprisingly been not that difficult," Mackey answered, going on to add that one problem has been making "that kind of culture switch" without a store team leader in place that comes from Whole Foods.

The Whole Foods' CEO then made a bit of news when he said Whole Foods is in the process of putting experienced Whole Foods Market store team leaders in each of the former Wild Oats stores, which means the existing Wild Oats, now Whole Foods, store managers will be losing their positions running those stores.

Towards the end of the question and answer session, Mackey also talked about a practice at Whole Foods which most non-insiders aren't aware of. That's the practice of encouraging Whole Foods' team members to give each other what Mackey calls "appreciations" at the end of every meeting. Team members will tell one another after a meeting why they appreciate another meeting attendee and so on. Some Whole Foods team members like to joke the "appreciations" come right out of Scientology.

Mackey said last night the "appreciations" help to dismantle preconceived notions and judgements team members might have about one another, along with dismantling any lingering hostility that might have been present at the meeting.

The Whole Foods chief also offered an interesting news tidbit about the company's board of directors and the giving of the "appreciations" practice, saying the board was the last holdout in the company in terms of giving the after meeting "appreciations" to one another. However, Mackey added the board members are now doing them after each meeting and all seems to be going well.

Winding up the question and answer session, Ms. Simon thanked the audience for its participation, turned to Mackey and said: "John, I appreciate you." Perhaps that giving of "appreciations" practice is contagious?

To paraphrase the line from that famous song 'Mack The Knife,' written by Bobby Darin, it appears (John) "Mackey's Back in Town." And, by all indications, he's back with a renewed vigor.

Retail Memo: More On John Mackey's Return to Blogging...United Kingdom's Waitrose Chief Exec Mark Price Goes His Own Way in His 'The Grocer's Blog'

On Thursday, May 22, we wrote this piece about Whole Foods Market, Inc. CEO John Mackey's return to corporate blogging in his Whole Foods Market blog on the retailer's website. Our piece has thus far received a number of comments on it, which you can read here, and we've received a few email notes about it as well here at Natural~Specialty Foods Memo.

The commentors and writers (via email) all thus far seem to be in agreement that Mackey's return to blogging under his own name is either a good thing or if not good is at least pretty much just fine with them, thank you.

However, the opinions regarding his past posting of comments about pre-merger Wild Oats Markets' management and operations and about Whole Foods' then impending acquisition of the rival grocery chain, are receiving mixed reviews--some think its no big thing, others say it might have been an ethical breach but certainly nothing illegal.

Others are expressing the view that perhaps the Whole Foods CEO got away with something because neither Whole Foods' board or the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) punished the CEO in any way for posting on the Yahoo Finance message boards under an assumed screename.

The fact is, the SEC cleared Mackey, so there no longer is an investigation. Further, the Whole Foods' board has cleared Mackey as well. The board did put a new policy in place which prohibits corporate executives from posting on message boards like Yahoo Finance using an assumed screename.

Other writers out in the blogosphere are posting about Mackey's return to blogging, as well the pieces and posts we've offered here at Natural~Specialty Foods Memo (NSFM).

Here's today's take on the issue from Peter Katfka, who writes the "Silicon Alley Insider" blog about all things digital, such as blogs and related technology. Click here to read the piece the "Silicon Alley Insider" posted today about John Mackey's return to blogging.

Additionally, Paul Glazowski who writes for the online publication Mashable, Inc., has a post in the blog about John Mackey's return to blogging today as well. You can read that piece here.

The United Kingdom's 'Lord of the Blog'

Lastly, as Natural~Specialty Foods Memo (NSFM) has written about before, John Mackey isn't the only food retailing chain CEO who publishes a blog on a company website. No sir indeed.

Mark Price, who is the Managing Director (British business speak essentially for CEO) of the upscale United Kingdom-based supermarket chain Waitrose, also has his own blog on the company website, called "The Grocer's Blog." (Mackey is the only food retailing chain CEO in the U.S. though we are aware of who writes a blog. And Price the only one we are aware of who does so in the UK.)

Waitrose Managing Director (MD) Price, who named himself the "Chubby Grocer" because of his ample girth, originally started "The Grocers Blog" as a way to communicate the daily ins-and-outs of a weight loss program he started last year. In the blog, Price has provided readers with the most personal details of his weight-loss regime; everything from how hard it is to avoid donuts, to his walking and swimming attempts, successes and failures.

Price couldn't be expected to merely limit himself on the blog to discussing his diet and exercise regimes however.

The Waitrose MD, who also goes by the nickname "The Golly Grocer" (part because of his girth, part because of his good sense of humor), is a man of many opinions, and jokes, both in general and about his rivals in the UK supermarket industry, such as Sir Terry Leahy, the CEO of Tesco PLC. and Sir Richard Rose, the Chairman and CEO of British food, hard and soft goods retailer Marks & Spencer, who Price calls the "King of Pants" in honor of M&S's private label slacks being named "the best" in the UK last year. Price loves offering his rivals a good dig in the blog.

In his "The Grocer's Blog," Price writes short posts about his weight loss efforts, trips to Waitrose stores, personal vacations, business conferences, and offers frequent friendly digs at UK supermarket leaders like Sir Terry of Tesco, Sir Richard Rose of M&S and others.

In fact, Price seems to be one of the few British food retail chain CEO's who has yet to be knighted by the Queen. After all, there's even a 'British Lord' in the bunch, Lord Sainsbury, scion of Sainsbury's, the UK's number three supermarket chain after Tesco (number one) and number two Asda, which is owned by Wal-Mart, Inc.

Asda's CEO isn't a Sir either...yet. We almost forgot, billionaire Sir Ken Morrison, the recently-retired former Chairman and CEO of the UK's fourth-largest supermarket chain, Morrisons, also was granted the title some years ago by order of the Queen.

You can read Waitrose chief Mark Price's latest 'The Grocer's Blog" blog post here, along with his past posts and comments on them from readers.

Since Whole Foods Market, Inc., which already has one store in London, UK and is making a major push to open more in the nation, and Waitrose are now rivals and will increasingly be so as Whole Foods opens more stores in the UK, perhaps we will eventually see a "blog off" between rival CEO's Price and Mackey?

Being the UK's most upscale, premium and natural foods' merchandising-oriented grocery chain, Waitrose is arguably the grocer which has the most to lose sales-wise from Whole Foods' expansion in the UK. Therefore, Will John Mackey soon or eventually join the cast of Price's rival CEO's, many of whom are the Waitrose chief's friends like Sir Richard of M&S, as good natured fodder for the "jolly grocer" on his "The Grocer's Blog?" Stay tuned. We will be.

NSFM Editor's Note: Read more about Waitrose Managing Director Mark Price's corporate blogging, including a report on his self-proclaimed Easter Sunday, 2008 weight loss goal challenge, here in two pieces we wrote on the topic in March, 2008. Also read this piece about Whole Foods Market, Inc.'s expansion plans in the United Kingdom.

Retail Memo: Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey is 'Back to Blogging'; As Well as Being 'Back in Town.'

Yesterday, we posted this interview with Whole Foods Market, Inc. CEO John Mackey conducted by a Boston Globe reporter and published in the Wednesday, May 21 edition of the newspaper, in a short piece with some commentary.

Mackey was recently cleared 100% of any wrongdoing by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for making comments and posts on 'Yahoo Finance' message boards about Wild Oats Markets, Inc. and Whole Foods Market, Inc. He used the screename "Rahodeb" when making the online posts.

One of the things Mackey stopped doing last year once it was discovered he was making these online comments using the screename "Rahodbed"--and the SEC decided to investigate the matter to determine if his doing so broke any laws since the online communications included posts about the at the time impending Whole Foods/Wild Oats acquisition-merger--was to stop publishing his "The CEO's Blog" on Whole Foods' website.

Well, heee's back. Now that the SEC has cleared Mackey of any wrongdoing regarding the online posts, the Whole Foods Market CEO has returned to writing his "The CEO's Blog."

John Mackey's very first post is appropriately titled, "Back to Blogging." In the posting, Mackey talks about his online posting, why he chose the screename "Rahodeb" and other topics surrounding the postings and the SEC investigation. You can almost feel the relief in his words that he's been cleared of any wrongdoing by the SEC.

Read John Mackey's, "Back to Blogging" piece in his "The CEO's Blog" here

Additionally, you can read Mackey's last blog post note, the day he stopped posting to his blog, here. There's also a couple links on this post (below it), which link to his apology statement, a report on Whole Foods' board of directors' investigation of the online posting issue, and the initial July 17, 2007 contacting of Whole Foods Market, Inc. by the SEC that the regulatory agency was launching its investigation.

Lastly, in our post yesterday of the Q&A interview with Mackey in the Boston Globe, we mentioned Globe reporter Jenn Abelson interviewed the Whole Foods' CEO shortly before he gave the commencement speech to the Bentley College 2008 graduating class on the school's campus in Waltham, Massachusetts. You can read the text of Mackey's commencement speech at Bentley College here.

Not All Welcome John Mackey Back to Blogging

John Mackey's return to blogging isn't being met in some media quarters with open arms.

For example, Felix Salmon, who writes the "Market Movers" finance blog for Conde Naste Portfolio online, has a piece today titled: "Annals of Hypocrisy, John Mackey Edition." The title to the posting pretty much says all that's needed in terms of an introduction to what the writer says. So rather than elaborating, you can read Felix Salmon's commentary here.

Others Welcome Mackey Back

On the other hand, there are already a few comments on Mackey's blog piece, welcoming him back to blogging and encouraging him on. We expect once news of his blog post, and more links to it get out there, there will be more comments on his post.

Natural~Specialty Foods Memo Analysis

Do we think John Mackey is going to suffer any long-term damage from the online posting incident. No we don't. We aren't offering a position that he was right or wrong about it. Merely providing our analysis.

There are six key reasons why he won't suffer any long-term damage from it, in our analysis:

1. He came out and admitted it as soon as he was caught. No spin, no B.S.
2. He posted it on his blog, and stopped writing his blog during the investigation. This showed respect for the process.
3. He didn't shoot off his mouth--although he probably wanted to--while the SEC was conducting the investigation. The SEC likes this kind of behavior from those it investigates. It also was good PR for Mackey and Whole Foods.
4. He isn't running off at the mouth about how the SEC is an instrument of the "police state" as many others under similar circumstances have when being investigated.
5. He's been cleared by the SEC, so there are no longer any clouds hanging over the issue from a legal standpoint. There are ethical clouds perhaps. But how many reading this haven't made ethical lapses in their lifetimes? The key is to recognize them and go forward as a better person.
6. Lastly, John Mackey is hanging a lantern on the issue instead of now once he's been cleared by the SEC, just saying its over. Agree or disagree with his blog piece, Mackey is opening himself up, offering his explanation and defense, and allowing readers to comment on his words.

There will be a few more pieces like Felix Salmon's posting today in Conde Naste in the next couple weeks. But beyond that, the issue will fade away.

That's do in part to the short shelf life of such issues in American life. It's also due to the fact the SEC has cleared Mackey 100%. Lastly, as we describe in our six points above, it's due to how Mackey and Whole Foods has handled the matter basically since the launch by the SEC of the investigation in July, 2007, to today. It appears, like in the phrase in the famous song 'Mack The Knife' by Bobbie Darin, that "Mackey's Back in Town."

Guest Retail Memo: Boston Globe: Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey Tells the 'Whole Story'

Natural~Specialty Foods Memo (NSFM) Editor's Note: As regular readers are aware, NSFM has covered, reported on, written about and offered much analysis on the Whole Foods Market, Inc. acquisition of Wild Oats Markets since last year, including the still ongoing efforts by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to appeal the decision by the U.S. Federal Court, upheld once already by a federal court of appeals, which gave Whole Foods the green light to go forward in integrating the former Wild Oats operations and retail stores into its corporate culture and retail format, including closing some stores and eventually changing the Wild Oats banner into the Whole Foods Market banner.

As part of the drama surrounding the acquisiton/merger last year, it was discovered by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the regulatory body in the country over such acquisitions, that Whole Foods Market, Inc. CEO John Mackey had for some time been posting negative comments about Wild Oats' senior management and the grocer's overall operations, and favorable ones regarding how it would generally be a good idea for Whole Foods Market, Inc. to acquire and merge with Wild Oats.

Upon discovering that Mackey had been posting these online comments on various financial and business-related message boards under the handle "Rahodeb," the SEC launched an investigation to determine if the posts violated any laws regarding such communications by a CEO during the time in which a company is in the process of attempting to acquire a competitor. Wild Oats shareholders voted to merge with Whole Foods Market, Inc. The deal wasn't a hostile takeover of any sort.

Two weeks ago the SEC announced it had cleared Mackey of any wrong doing after the long investigation. Previous to that, Whole Foods' board of directors had launched its own internal investigation, resulting in the board saying in their opinion they could find nothing illegal in Mackey's online postings on the message boards under the "Rahodeb" handle. Whole Foods' did create a policy restricting future online postings by senior executives though.

Last weekend, a relieved Mackey gave the commencement address to the graduates of Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts. Before giving his commencement address, Mackey sat down with Boston Globe reporter Jenn Abelson for a Q&A interview about the Wild Oats acquisition/merger, his online posting life, the SEC investigation, and his personal life and life heading up Whole Foods, which are closely intertwined.

The interview with Mackey is published in today's edition of the Boston Globe.

You can read Ms. Abelson's interview with Whole Foods Market, Inc. CEO John Mackey here.

This is the first interview Mackey has given since the SEC cleared him of any wrongdoing regarding the online postings. As a result, it's well worth reading the full interview.