Overglazing Krispy Kreme's News

How did The Associated Press do? They worked a bit harder I guess, since it took them until after the close ... to come out with almost precisely the same thing.

Headline: the exact same! "Krispy Kreme Realigns Operations. Worse, again, that throwaway claim about increased sales goes from the bottom of the press release to the top of the article:

"Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. shuffled executive slots and said Friday it would realign its franchise and company store operations, a move that should help the embattled doughnut maker improve sales and cut costs."

From a business perspective, I don't even see why media outlets, troubled to begin with, waste time and manpower rewriting press releases. But when they rewrite them with a more promotional flair than even the companies' media relations flaks?!

Where is that glazed cruller? Forget my exalted status in life. I can't take it anymore.

Home Depot's Shrinkage Problem

I want to go from doughnuts, which fall right to The Business Press Maven's hips, to the subject of shrinkage. Not the kind that stands as a synonym for in-store theft and not the sort made famous on Seinfeld. I'm talking about what happened to the price of Home Depot's (HD) supply unit. The company was forced to lower the sale price of its troubled commercial supply business by some $2 billion. (I hate when that happens.)

There are two ways this is being reported -- the wrong way and mine.

In some quarters, it is framed as a perfect metaphor for how limits on credit have wreaked havoc on pending buyout deals. Only half right. Look at how The New York Times puts this in deeper perspective way up high in its take on the issue, by pointing out, as some others did not, that this deal was doubly cursed. It was a buyout deal amid a credit crunch, but it was also a housing-based deal:

"Still, this deal is different in that the fortunes of Home Depot Supply, as the division is called, are tied closely to the housing market, which has also been weakening."

By the way, even if your kids like the taste of drywall, don't be tempted to buy Home Depot stock.

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