Walmart Wars

A Walmart in P&G's clothing? (@PGmobile/Twitter)

Walmart on Wheels: Big Box Bogeyman Sneaks Into New York in a Procter & Gamble Food Truck

‘Tis the season for food trucks, with the warm weather meaning comfortable lines and more customers. For Walmart, this is more the season of discontent, with opposition to the store in New York growing on the heels of the big box retailer’s Mexican corruption scandal. Even long-time allies like the Related Companies have apparently given up on the southern-fried discounters.

But Walmart has hit upon a novel way to work its way into the city, on board a modified food truck run by partner company Procter & Gamble.

For the next month, @PGmobile will, in the tradition of the great food trucks to come before it, set up shops on street corners across the five boroughs, tweeting out its location and asking for suggestions on where to go next. Eight different products will be on offer—at Walmart’s everyday low prices, of course—from Iams dog food to Gillette razers and Pampers diapers.

The Walmart name appears but once, tucked away on the bottom of the truck, and it is nowhere to be found on the associated Twitter feed. Read More

Good for the Gupta

Completing the Malaria Mission

Galleon Traders Cheated Investors, Companies With Inside Trades, Drew the Line at Lying

To the list of difficulties in prosecuting securities fraud, let’s just say people who’ve pleaded guilty to insider trading do not make the most credible witnesses.

Exhibit A: Michael Cardillo, a former-Galleon Group trader who is cooperating with the government’s case against Rajat Gupta, the one-time McKinsey & Co. CEO charged with feeding tips Read More

Bad Apples

Judge Jed Rakoff. (The Washington Post)

Judge Jed Rakoff Says U.S. vs. Gupta Reveals Business Ethics Rotten to the Core

After 16 years presiding over white collar cases in the U.S. District Court’s Southern District, you’d think Judge Jed Rakoff would be hard to disallusion. Not so. It only took six days for the insider trading trial of Rajat Gupta—the former McKinsey & Co. CEO accused of tipping Galleon Group hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam to sensitive corporate secrets—to cause Mr. Rakoff to hang his head in dismay. Read More

Electus Prospectus

Ben Silverman Teaming up With America Ferrera, MTV, and Procter & Gamble to Produce Interactive Telenovela

Ben Silverman’s newfangled “next generation studio” Electus announced today that it is teaming up with MTV, America Ferrera, and Procter & Gamble to create a interactive telenovella, titled Pedro & Maria. According to the release, Ms. Ferrera will executive-produce the series.

From today’s release:

The show is a bilingual, modern day Romeo & Juliet that Read More