Deal Journal Posts That Got Readers Commenting

It has been 10 months since Deal Journal first launched. In that time, we have written almost 1,500 posts, which have generated more than 11,000 comments. Some comments were insightful, some supportive and some took us to task. (See this post for an example.)

While the prior post highlighted Deal Journal’s most-popular posts, those posts didn’t necessarily draw the most comments. So here is a look at the posts that stirred the most reader responses.

1) “Paulsons SIV, Subprime Rescue: A Convoy to Disaster?“: Only peripherally concerning M&A, the post stirred a flurry of reader comments, many expressing distaste for Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s plan to rectify both the SIV and home mortgage crises. This comment from someone signed on as “Robbie” summed up the opinion of many readers: “Someone will pay for the freeze and most likely it will be the responsible borrowers that will face higher interest rates in the future to absorb the rates that are frozen. The government should stay out of the way, and let people that bit off more than they could chew take their medicine.”

2) “An Identity Crisis at Whole Foods Market“: News that Whole Foods’s CEO John Mackey had been posting on Yahoo Finance message boards under a pseudonym “Rahodeb” was one of the more entertaining deal-related stories of the year — Whole Foods was buying rival Wild Oats. Not surprisingly, it also drew a number of comments. Some questioned why the media (and Deal Journal specifically) would report the story, others criticized Mackey and some claimed to be “Rahodeb.”

3) “Who Should be Sprints Next CEO?“: After the WSJ reported that Sprint was seeking a successor for then-CEO Gary Forsee, Deal Journal asked the obvious question and posited five possibilities. Readers chimed in with plenty of their own choices as well as advice for Sprint during its hunt.

4) “Is Gannett Girding for a Sale?“: After the newspaper publisher amended several of its employee-compensation plans, Deal Journal wondered whether it could have been preparing for a sale. (The company responded to the post shortly afterward saying it wasn’t.) Readers weighed in on the pros and cons of a deal and Gannett’s strategic direction, among other things.

5) “E*Trades ‘Bankruptcy’ Risk: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?“: The first post to make both the most-popular list and the most-commented list.

A few points to leave our readers with:

First, though no single post on the XM/Sirius merger made the top five most-popular or most-commented Deal Journal posts, as a whole the topic was a comment bonanza, generating roughly 1,100 comments. (Click here to see our most recent post.)

Second, there is no award for most prolific commenter, and no easy way to scientifically determine said person. But we can tip our hat to the reader known as The Oz, whose aphorisms, couplets and sometimes cryptic pronouncements of doom punctuated many a post.

Third, the reader that pushes the number comments on “Paulsons SIV, Subprime Rescue: A Convoy to Disaster?” over to 300 will earn Deal Journal’s respect and gratitude. (Sorry, no prize.)