work itself and to better answer the call to service that I feel so clearly in my own heart." He has instituted caps on executive pay at the company. Yahoo! Finance postings On July 20, 2007, The Wall Street Journal revealed that Mackey was, for at least seven years, using the pseudonym "Rahodeb" (an anagram of his wife's name, Deborah) to post to Yahoo Finance forums. He referred to himself in the third person and criticized rival supermarket chain Wild Oats Markets. The Federal Trade Commission approved a complaint challenging Whole Foods Market's approximately $670 million acquisition of its chief rival, Wild Oats Markets, Inc. It authorized the FTC staff to seek a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in federal district court to halt the deal, pending an administrative trial on the merits. After an extensive regulatory battle with the FTC, a federal appeals court consented to the deal. Whole Foods officially completed its buyout of Wild Oats on August 27, 2007. In May 2008, after an SEC investigation cleared him, Mackey started blogging again. In a 2,037 word post, he wrote about why he began blogging in the first place and how his upbringing drove him to defend himself and Whole Foods. He admitted he made a mistake in judgment, but not in ethics. Resignation as chairman On December 24, 2009, Mackey resigned from the position of chairman of the board of Whole Foods Market, a position he held since 1978. On his blog, he said, "John Elstrott will now take the title of Chairman of the Board, which will accurately reflect the authority and the responsibilities that he has had for many years." Mackey remains a member of the board of directors. Retirement from Whole Foods Market On September 1, 2022, Mackey stepped down from his position as CEO of the company, one he held since its inception in 1980. He was succeeded by Jason Buechel. Buechel previously served as executive vice president and chief information officer (CIO) between 2013 and 2019, followed by a tenure as chief operating officer (COO) from 2019 until his promotion in 2022. Political views Libertarianism In a debate in the October 2005 issue of Reason magazine among Mackey, economist Milton Friedman, and entrepreneur T. J. Rodgers, Mackey said that he is a free-market libertarian. He said that he used to be a democratic socialist in college. As a beginning businessman, he