Whole Foods vs. FTC Part II

It was pretty shocking when the FTC announced its decision to block the Whole Foods/Wild Oats merger.  Basically, the FTC's definition of the market seemed extremely narrow, and completely at odds with reality.

Today, the FTC unveiled its complaint, and the most damning bit seems to be some comments that Mackey made to his board:

The lawsuit quotes Mr. Mackey as saying that the company "isn't primarily about organic foods" but "only one part of its highly successful business model," citing as others "superior quality, superior service, superior perishable product, superior prepared foods, superior marketing, superior branding and superior store experience."

Pretty damning?  Maybe, but it seems slightly odd that the FTC seems to be basing its decision on what Mackey said to his board, rather than, oh I don't know... reality.  As Felix Salmon point out, Mackey's statements can totally be spun another way:

In what way, exactly, is this supposed to be damning? It seems to me that Mackey,   here, is essentially saying that any supermarket could become a direct   competitor of Whole Foods if it started concentrating less on prices and more   on things like store experience.

Well, this story will undoubtedly go several chapters, though the lesson here would seem to be pretty clear: If you're a CEO, try hard to keep the Gordon Gekko Dagny Taggart talk off the record.

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集英社（東京都千代田区）が隔週で発行する漫画雑誌「グランドジャンプ」に連載中の料理漫画「ダシマスター」に登場する背景や食材などの絵の中に、ウェブサイト上の写真画像に類似したものがあることが分かった。現在事実関係の確認を進めており、今月２１日発売の第３号から、当面の間、同作品を休載する。

　ティンバーランドグランドジャンプは「ビジネスジャンプ」と「スーパージャンプ」を統合し、１１月１６日に創刊されたばかり。ダシマスターは平成２１年９月にビジネスジャンプで連載を開始。６巻まで単行本が発売され、累計発行部数は１５万６千部。