John Mackey, the chief executive officer of Whole Foods, called investors in his company “greedy bastards” in a June interview with Texas Monthly.
The CEO of the organic grocery store chain told Texas Monthly that Whole Foods investors wanted to sell the company just so they “can make forty or fifty percent in a short period of time.” Seeking a return on investment made them “greedy bastards” who were trying to destroy, in Mackey’s eyes, his “reputation and the reputation of Whole Foods.”
Amazon announced its offer to purchase Whole Foods Friday for $13.7 billion in cash.
Mackey is touching on a common narrative pushed by anti-corporatists that the management principal of large corporations to “maximize shareholder equity” is responsible for the ills facing the American economy, consumers and businesses alike. Despite evidence from Harvard Business Review to the contrary, which reports that “the shareholder value principle has not failed management; rather, it is management that has betrayed the principle,” it does not stop CEOs or others in executive leadership from blaming the failures of their businesses on outside pressure to return profits to investors.
Mackey’s comments regarding his investors are interesting, considering that a 2015 Business Insider investigation found that Whole Foods was charging 45 percent more than Kroger for identical products. Reporters purchased 31 items from Whole Foods and 31 identical products from Kroger. At the checkout counter, the bill at Whole Foods was 45 percent higher than the bill at Kroger.
The man whose company touts the finest locally grown, organic and highest quality foods is reportedly selling identical products other national grocery store chains at a steep markup.
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