Duffbert's Random Musings

Stephen Cooper succeeds Scott Livengood as chief executive officer of the Winston-Salem, North Carolina, doughnut chain.

Livengood is leaving the post as Krispy Kreme faces regulatory scrutiny and shareholder lawsuits. Livengood -- who'd been C-E-O since 1998 -- has been criticized for his handling of the company's recent financial problems.

Krispy Kreme also says Livengood retired from his positions as president, chairman of the board and as a director of the company. He'll become a consultant on an interim basis.

Krispy Kreme is under a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of its franchise buybacks and earnings outlooks and is facing shareholder lawsuits.

I remember when I was working for Enron during the dot.com days, when everyone in the company had a stock ticker/tracker program running during the day.  I was trying to cash in on some high-flying IPO, and I read the latest weekly list of companies going public.  The only one on the list I laughed at was Krispy Kreme.  "Why would a *doughnut company* go public?"  Of course, being on the west coast, I knew nothing of the KK mystique.

Fast forward, and now KK is reeling from a series of accounting scandals.  They bring in a CEO, a turn-around specialist, the same guy who took over Enron and brought it out of bankruptcy proceedings.  This should be a lesson to companies who don't take their reputation and marketplace image seriously.  KK had an excellent reputation, one that was worth as much as their stock price.  Now they're lacking both.