Note to Whole Foods Market Inc.’s CEO: It’s rarely a winning strategy to insult your second-largest shareholder, even if they are activists trying to shake up your company.
Whole Foods Chief Executive John Mackey made headlines Wednesday for calling activist investor Jana Partners LLC “greedy bastards,” who only want to profit from a sale of the slumping grocery retailer.
…Comments like Mr. Mackey’s have not always turned out well for chief executives trying to keep an activist investor at bay. Executives at aerospace-parts maker Arconic, design-software company Autodesk and auction house Sotheby’s took a tact similar to Mackey’s and all soon found themselves on the outside looking in.