Biz media let Gap CEO get away with script

by · June 12, 2008

TheStreet.com media critic Marek Fuchs writes that the business media has let Gap CEO Glenn Murphy get away with telling investors that the company’s stores have become too big “all of a sudden” when they have been that way for a decade.

Fuchs writes, “Now let’s be fair. Even scripted to the nines as modern-day CEOs are at such investor gatherings, anyone can speak a bit out of turn, glossing over the darker reaches of reality and framing long-term trouble as near-term slip-ups.

“But then Murphy made his more substantive mistake. And the business media, once more, let it pass.

“After suddenly noticing that Gap stores were too big, Murphy apparently formulated a plan. He’ll simply shrink and consolidate stores. The Wall Street Journal passed along Murphy’s terms like ‘right size,’ ‘sweet spot’ and ‘halo effect’ and even made mention of this strategy’s financial impact in 2009.”