How John Mackey almost gave himself away — and I missed it

After initially insisting he'd done nothing wrong, Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey has apologized for posting messages about his company and the competition under the pseudonym "Rahodeb." Most people are celebrating the reversal. But I'm kicking myself. I should have known. I, of all people, should have known. More »

When executives don fake identities

Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey is not the only person using a fictional identity online to fluff his ego and advance his business aims. The New York Times refers to the practice as sock-puppeting , "the act of creating a fake online identity to praise, defend or create the illusion of support for one's self, allies or company." It provides several examples of executives, writers, politicos, and bloggers whose alter egos ultimately caught up with them. Most notable is conspiracy theorist and CEO of Overstock.com, Patrick M. Byrne. More »

John Mackey's sordid e-commerce fling

The "Rahodeb" incident, in which Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey was caught touting his company's stock on Yahoo Finance message boards, is not the first time Mackey has shown extremely poor judgment when it comes to the Internet. Around the same time he started posting on Yahoo Finance as "Rahodeb," a handle taken from the name of his wife, Deborah Morin, he launched a dotcom called WholePeople, which turned out to be an out-and-out disaster, as I wrote back in 2000. But as I reported that story, I also heard persistent rumors that there was a lot of sleeping around going on at Whole Foods, starting at the top. Sounds like the kind of thing we approve of. In most cases. But not the way Mackey did it. Here's why: More »

Whole Foods CEO proud to be an Internet blowhard

John Mackey, the eccentric chief executive of flabbergastingly expensive grocery chain Whole Foods Market, has been exposed, the Wall Street Journal reports, for posting comments on Yahoo Finance message boards cheerleading himself and the company he co-founded, and bashing then-competitor Wild Oats. How long has this gone on? Eight years, which is plenty of time for him, in theory, to boost Whole Foods' stock price and dent Wild Oats' enough so that his company could take over its rival, in a deal that's now drawing scrutiny from the government. Illegal? Who knows. Arrogant, narcissistic, foolish, and compulsive? You bet, and that's why we love it. More »