When
University of California at Santa Barbara professor Nelson Lichtenstein
came onto CNBC to discuss bribery allegations against Wal-Mart De
Mexico (a subsidiary of Wal-Mart), he got more than he bargained for.
Kenneth
Langone, an investor who helped found Home Depot, had joined Maria
Bartiromo for the full hour of “Closing Bell” on Dec. 18. Langone, who
is also the CEO of Geeknet [1]
and has a net worth of $1.6 billion, challenged Lichtenstein fiercely,
demanding to hear facts from him. When he found out the news source
Lichtenstein was citing as proof, Langone took a jab at The New York
Times as well.
Lichtenstein
argued that the accusations against Wal-Mart were just the “tip of the
iceberg” of a “larger pattern for the company” of the company moving
into an area of finding local ways of doing things and imposing “its own
business model, regardless, on these countries and on the communities
there.” (See CNBC video [2])
Langone
pressed saying, “Professor, Home Depot has a hundred stores in Mexico,
and they’re all doing very well with superb leadership. If we ever had
anyone in engage in anything like Wal-Mart is accused of, we’d be after
them with hard-nail boots. I have a question for you, sir. Do you have
any specific facts to substantiate the opinion that you just put on this
television show?”
Lichtenstein
replied,“Well, I am not an investigator of Wal-Mart, but I read The New
York Times article, and The New York Times article was pretty
devastating.”
“Oh, The New York Times! That Pillar of--of…” Langone responded skeptically.
“Journalism?” Bartiromo offered.
“Journalism,”
Langone continued, “That never has any opinions. Let me tell you what.
In a selection of who’s more likely to be telling the truth, Wal-Mart or
the Times, the Times doesn’t even get in the race ... you’re saying
your source is The New York Times? Shame on you as a professor.”
