Too Late to Say I'm Sorry for Mackey

Whole Foods issued a press release yesterday with a two-sentence apology from CEO John Mackey for his anonymous message board posting. Until now, most of the company's 2007 releases have been upbeat news about store openings and programs. But on July 17, 2007, in addition to the apology, there were two equally terse statements announcing internal and external investigations into the message board posts.

This is a reversal on the company's part from their claim last week that the CEO hadn't violated any laws. Now it seems that they're not sure, so they're launching an independent investigation. The Securities and Exchange Commission is conducting the external investigation.

Bad news all around for the company, and a far cry from the first press release issued in 2007, which proudly proclaimed that, "Whole Foods Market Soars to Number 5 Spot on FORTUNE's '100 Best Companies to Work For' List." Whole Foods may find itself topping the list of the most embarrassing companies to work for if they can't get out in front of this downward-spiraling saga. As Andrew Hines wrote when the story broke last week, "Even if the posts are not in violation of any SEC regulation, they certainly don't bode well for Mackey's credibility or Whole Foods' integrity."