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Non-Tech : Whole Foods Market (WFM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: organicgerry who wrote (201)	10/7/1998 3:14:00 PM
From: Alan Rosen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 438

Gerald, I presently have a small position in OATS at this time, still up 20%. Good time to flip these $$ to WFMI? archcc

To: organicgerry who wrote (201)	10/21/1998 12:23:00 PM
From: Beltropolis Boy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 438

This announcement doesn't really change anything, as far as company operations go. But, with this market correction, it may be an excuse to drive the stock price down. fwiw, local press via austin ... Whole Foods president resigns By R. Michelle Breyer American-Statesman Staff Posted: Oct. 8, 1998 Peter Roy, who has been instrumental in building Whole Foods Market Inc. into the nation's largest chain of natural foods supermarkets, has resigned as president of the Austin-based company. Roy said Wednesday his decision to step down was motivated by a desire to take a break from the day-to-day stress of running a billion-dollar company. "It's totally a personal choice," the 42-year-old executive said from his corner office atop the Whole Foods store at West Sixth Street and North Lamar Boulevard. "I'm very interested in restoring balance in my life. "This is an opportunity to repot my plant," said Roy, who will join the company's nine-member board of directors. Chris Hitt, president of Whole Foods' Mid-Atlantic region, will succeed Roy. Hitt came to Whole Foods in 1985 from the American Farm Foundation and has led five of the company's regions. He has been a key player in the company's mergers with Wellspring Grocery, Bread & Circus and Fresh Fields Markets. Board member Fred "Chico" Lager called Hitt the company's "Sir Lancelot" -- the person they have turned to whenever they made an acquisition or faced a challenge. "There isn't anybody in the company who doesn't admire and respect him," Lager said. On Wall Street, news of Roy's resignation helped push the company's stock down $3.50 Wednesday to close at $36.50 -- an 8.8 percent drop. "He's the $80-million man," said Matt Patsky, managing director of Adams Harkness & Hill, a Boston investment bank, adding that the company's market capitalization declined by more than $80 million with Wednesday's stock drop. When Roy became president of the company five years ago, Whole Foods had 30 stores. Today it has 87 stores in 19 states and the District of Columbia. Over the past decade, the company's stores have more than doubled in size, offering a wider range of products. Roy said he is proud that he has been able to help the natural foods industry improve its image on Wall Street, which once regarded it as a fad run by unsophisticated hippies. "Whole Foods would not be the company it is today without Peter Roy's leadership and contributions," said John Mackey, Whole Foods chairman and chief executive. The industry is dramatically different than it was when the 17-year-old Roy got a job bagging groceries at a small New Orleans health food store called the Whole Food Co. in 1975. In 1988, Whole Food Co. merged with Whole Foods Market and Roy headed the new California region of Whole Foods. In 1993, he became president of the company and moved to Austin. "It's been a wild ride," said Roy, who said he has flown more than 150,000 miles a year on American Airlines alone, visiting stores, meeting with analysts and performing the other duties of his job. Roy said he and his wife, Gillian, who celebrated their 20th anniversary this year, have bought land in Pawley's Island, S.C. and are building a house. He said he has no immediate plans to find another job when he quits Jan. 1. He said he may serve on a few company boards and do some teaching and consulting. Although South Carolina has yet to get a Whole Foods, Roy said he plans to buy his natural foods on Wholefoods.com, an online shopping service that will be launched in March. "I'll be lobbying for a store in Charleston," he said. austin360.com