We were interested to read about the active and bellicose anonymous forum postings of Whole Foods CEO John Mackey in the WSJ today. According to documents filed by the FTC, Mackey "….posted to Internet sites pseudonymously, often using the name Rahodeb." (A cunning anagram of his wife's name – Deborah). The postings routinely rubbished the progress of Wild Oats, a Whole Foods competitor that Mackey wishes to acquire. The FTC views such activity as seriously below the belt for someone in Mackey's position. Not surprisingly the Whole Foods CEO views it differently, and posted a vigorous defense of his actions on his own blog.
We believe CEO's deserve the right to express their views - anonymously, and without legal recourse. We recently profiled a startup in India that may have a solution. ExecuPost Services provides a no-questions-asked posting service aimed at channeling CEO frustrations to the widest audience. From their non-descript warehouse in Bangalore teams of bloggers and forum-posters are standing by to translate CEO fears and ambitions into succinct postings under a wide variety of pseudonyms. "You shouldn't give up your rights as an individual just because you're famous, or stupendously wealthy", explains CEO Josh Ardkin, "We simply provide the tools and personas to give a voice back to the mega-rich". ExecuPost's clients include CEOs, pop-stars, politicians and heads of global-religious organizations. "We currently generate around 10% of all traffic to the most popular finance-based online forums", continues Ardkin, "We hope to get that up to around 50% by next year". When asked if he uses the service himself, Ardkin declined to comment.
Well done.
Posted by: Lee D | July 13, 2007 at 04:52 AM