Author Steve Krol explains the Rite Aid $RAD investment:I really did not want to respond to all this, because I just like to keep my head down, do what I believe is in the interest of shareholders, and leave it at that. However.... Giofls, like a few others here, arrived on the Rite Aid scene late, after the $9. Walgreens offer was made in 2015. In Giofls' own words, just to make a few crumbs from his high entry point in the $7's if I recall and make his spread to $9. WHICH MEANS HE ALSO BELIEVED THAT THE MERGER WOULD HAPPEN. In fact, he indicated then when the stock was higher than his entry point, that if he saw Standley in a restaurant he would send him over a bottle of wine, meaning he had zero idea just how bad the company was actually operating. Remember, my favorite saying, "I watch the performance of a company first and then the price will follow; apparently giofls believes the opposite. That offer at the restaurant no longer holds? Then, when the stock was down some, he indicated that Walgreens found accounting irregularities on Rite Aid's books, and when he was challenged on this head scratching false statement, initially he claimed he was in China on business and he would get back to us; he never did. Again, I asked him, and only then did he admit he had no such evidence. Since then, I am to blame for his bad investment, when the real culprit is the person he sees in the mirror. Indeed, he has called me "dangerous" to the other readers here. I wish I had that kind of power to move stocks, and the ability to make The FTC act competently, and perhaps without interference. Some feel a psychological need to be the "expert" here, to be the center of attention. But that is not enough; they feel the need to minimize someone else, in the hopes that they get elevated. And despite numerous readers trying to reason with them "to cut it out", they continue the same remarks. Now I have them blocked, a merciful addition to the SA tools, and I could care less what they say; I never did like backseat drivers and that is what they are. My best investments have been the ones I hold a long time; 5-10 years is not unusual. Rite Aid has been quite a problem, because of the make-up of the board/senior management. In 2014, I sent Standley a letter indicating that I would no longer play babysitter, going around the country visiting stores unannounced and attempting to coerce them into running stores properly. They had one year to get their act together, or I would seek activists to break up the board and send Standley packing. The walls were starting to close in on Standley when deal #1 was announced, Walgreens. Prior to this, I met Standley in 2008 at Corporate and CLEARLY advised him where the issues were. Since he is not a "roll up your sleeves" CEO executive; there was limited if any improvement from that meeting. My discoveries out in the field were simply shocking, and clearly as clear as it was in 2002 when I first reviewed these same issues with Sammons, and he was Exec. V.P. Administration. He thinks he is a dealmaker because he found A & P (or maybe it was the other way around) to buy his Pathmark stores, also horribly run , according to Consumer Reports. Maybe he was just lucky then, today he has been a disaster for shareholders. And he wants to report to Miller at Albertsons even worse, at least in his performance at Rite Aid before. That purchase by A & P hastened A & P's quick bankruptcy, which is just a little too close to home in our current situation. $RAD, Rite Aid Corporation / H1 Standley knows he can make much quicker money doing deals than being a lousy corporate executive pulling in a miniscule million or two! So, ever since he became Chairman/CEO in 2012 against my better judgement when I wrote the board knowing it was about to happen saying "don't do it" he has been trying to sell the company. When you want to sell what you are the leader of, as soon as you become that leader rather than make the company better, is that not the truest form of greed, I ask you? Now many of you have woken up from your deep sleep, if you are a longer time shareholder. Let's hope it is not too late to stop this deal, bring in better management and run these stores the right way. Can I convince ISS/Glass Lewis that if money matters, independence is the way to get there? Well, it will not be for a lack of trying. At least I will be able to look in the mirror, unlike some here, and say I did whatever I could. There is a difference between Facts and Opinion. The facts are this is a mismanaged company; I did the work for you and this is simply so. My opinion that the original merger would close and that of many smarter hedge funds, Walgreens Pessina, etc. was also wrong on the merger. To this day, we do not know what happened over at The FTC. And Standley, Cerberus, Miller and Pessina do not want any of us to find out. So, I will just keep my head down and continue doing what I am doing, but for those of you perplexed why some here have a need to be nasty on a somewhat regular basis, maybe it is just in their DNA, so get used to it. Just pay closer attention to how much they really know about Rite Aid. If they arrived on the scene since 2015, they are likely as clueless as the passive institutions. My job is to clue them in, and I can guarantee you they will not be happy with Standley, Miller, the board, Cerberus and others. An independent Rite Aid will make you money, if Standley is replaced. It does not matter what Standley wants when you read the amended 10K showing retention monies for him, except to make the institutions even angrier at the board and him. He will go if this merger does not happen; unfortunately sometimes you have to pay out lots of monies to get them packing. However, if you read the Xerox fiasco, that CEO was happy to not get his golden parachute to avoid a civil action against him, which bod insurance would not cover.Related Walgreens $WBA, $CVS.