CEO Questionably Used Pseudonym to Post Online

jpallas writes "The Wall Street Journal reports that court filings by the FTC about Whole Foods' plan to acquire Wild Oats reveal an unusual detail: The CEO of Whole Foods regularly posted to a Yahoo! stock bulletin board under a pseudonym. His alter ego was feisty, to say the least, and regularly disparaged the company that he later decided to acquire. A former SEC chairman called the behavior 'bizarre and ill-advised, even if it isn't illegal.' This certainly raises questions about online rights to free speech and anonymity, especially when the line between free speech and regulated speech depends on who is speaking as much as what they are saying."

Comments

This just goes to show

[Anonymous Coward]

They should ban pseudonyms and anonymous posting to forums

Re:So what?

[Cedric Tsui]

I don't think you understand the big deal here.

This is a CEO who is paid by his company to acquire other businesses. Instead, he is wasting time on Yahoo message boards.
I think all slashdotters will agree that browsing online forums while at work is unethical.

Am I the only one who approves?

[jesdynf]

I mean... that's pretty cool. He didn't hire PIs to stalk his foes, "pretext" their private records, bribe our elected leaders, or even bully his interns into doing it and cutting them and their "independent actions" loose when the investigation came. No. That man sat himself down, got on the internet, and told some lies.

Hands-on kind of approach. I like it. I don't think even the SEC can really complain about people believing anonymous internet posts.

(I also propose Slashdot rename "Anonymous Coward" to "John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, Inc." for the week, but that's because I don't believe in letting him off scot-free either.)