Cerberus has been in the lead in other supermarket sector bidding and has sometimes faded fast in the home stretch.
There is a high hurdle for Macy's to clear.
Kroger is making a superb strategic decision to move to the Everyday Living category because the brand has much more cachet. The path to higher consumer satisfaction and profitability is through a bigger and better portfolio of private brands.
Marshall is a brilliant financial strategist. When it comes to working with Wall Street, he is a star in the food industry. Marshall closely cultivated relationships with analysts and institutional investors.
I think Goldman Sachs, which was one of the strategic advisers, thought it was easier selling the whole company on a bundled basis.
Johnston came in with a lot of problems that were passed along by the prior regime that would take four to five years to dig out from.
Whole Foods is looked at as one of the finest retailers worldwide.
While the top line has had some increases, the bottom line is a real cause for concern. The company continues to lose massive amounts of money with no signs of stopping the bleeding on the operating loss.
The private equity option is certainly the best of all available options. It gives the company time without the shareholder and profit pressure to reorganize the business.
Total is a terrific brand, but it's been starved for marketing support. It's not what it was in the 20th century when it was a strong power brand for Big G. It doesn't go head to head with any competition, but it was one of the pillars of the adult-cereal portfolio.
A Marketplace store's overall sales volume is typically double to triple what an average Kroger food and drug combo store would do.