Is this true? Is this the reason they're doing this "restructuring"?? If so, why can't they just be honest with us???
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and I am moving to Paris because I speak French and some other five languages ....
Hmmmm...of course this in response to a potential buyout.
There have been rumour buyouts over the past couple of years. The last time there were this many was right about the time of the Wild Oats acquisition/merger/takeover when the stock price was down around $8/share. I think that if the WFM stock price continues to fall, the chances of a buyout will increase. It will be really bad for the regional and distribution center team members -- as any chain that is larger than WFM will already have a distribution network in place, and probably a way more efficient one. Time will tell on these rumours.
The Publix rumor looked like a desperate move to try to get the share price up. It actually worked for a while because the takeover rumor spread. But Publix has never grown by buying other chains like Whole Foods did. Publix grows by developing sites or buying existing store locations and turning them into Publix. They run a flex format where as much or as little of the store is their Greenwise brand as is needed. Some stores are 100% natural and organic, others are mostly conventional. They don't need WFM's problems and don't need its brand either. I know someone who works at Publix and there is no way they want this nationwide hot mess. That company is growing state by state, carefully...thoughtfully. I think there may be a takeover but my guess is it would be taken private so the founders can cash out. They're in their sixties now, and it sure looks like they got in wayyyy over their heads ramping up the store count without properly integrating and centralizing operations or planning for growth and competition. What a case study in ineptitude. And the pièce de résistance was both the Conscious Capitalism and Values Matter bulls**t. Wow was that some deep corporate propaganda or what? Like when someone at a town hall just last year asked a member of the executive team why we had to grow the store count so darn fast and the individual justified it by saying "Hey we're changing the world here. Don't you want to change the world as quickly as possible?" They were so full of it, the BS was literally oozing out of their ears. Just a guess, but I bet they want out.
Publix