On the Internet, No One Knows You're a C.E.O.

Sometimes, big news comes in tiny font.

Case in point is a little bit of corner office ridiculousness picked up in a footnote of a court filing from the Federal Trade Commission to block the merger of Whole Foods and Wild Oats. It turns out that John Mackey, Whole Foods C.E.O., posted messages under a pseudonym on Yahoo stock message boards about Whole Foods stock.

The filing only included one reference to one of his postings under the moniker "Rahodeb" (an anagram of his wife's name). But the internet being what it is, it took no time to unearth the "voluminous" postings over EIGHT years from one of Whole Foods' biggest cheerleaders, as the Wall Street Journal discovered.

Writing as Rahodeb, Mackey sparred with other posters, complimented his own haircut, admired his own accomplishments and speculated as to whether Whole Foods would ever buy Wild Oats ("almost surely not at current prices").

His final posting came in August, many months before Whole Foods surprised Rahodeb by announcing that it did indeed plan to buy the competing grocer.

"Whole Foods itself has a very bright future, and I will continue to hold my stock for a very long time," he wrote. "I've enjoyed my 8 years on this Board, but all things must come to an end. I wish everyone the very best. Hog152-keep the faith. Liberfar-good luck with your market-timing game. Hubris12000-take your profits while you can."

He couldn't have said it any better in an annual report.

by Megan Barnett