Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (WBA)

[big-yank]

This is Walgreens first step in attempting to become a true multi-national and be traded on multiple exchanges, a veritable first for the domestic retail industry. I actually think that it makes a lot of sense, not only to generate a more global ownership of shares but, also, to open up new capital markets to help finance the second tranch of the A-B acquisition, or to take the whole venture private at some point in the future.

Magnacca's "Flagship Store" concept is an anomoly that at most will eventually apply to <5% of the retail store enterprise. Can you imagine the brand degradation if there truly were 8,000 Louis Vuitton retail stores? How gauche! So his deparure is not meaningful and may actually help in the sense that it places Pessina, alone, in the European spotlight where he enjoys much credibility, already.

It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall at this conference. I would really like to know who the Walgreens Alpha Male is, especially noting that Kim Feil won't be there to broaden the question to who the Walgreens Alpha Player is. I wonder if Bloomberg or the BBC will have coverage of this event. If I find out, I'll be sure to share it.

GLTA,

Yank