Beware the hot mic: Sainsbury CEO apologizes after being caught on TV singing ‘We’re in the Money’ after $10 billion takeover
Beware the hot microphone.
That’s the lesson for Mike Coupe after the chief executive officer of U.K. grocer J Sainsbury Plc was caught singing “We’re in the Money” on camera as he prepared for a television interview.
The gaffe, covered widely in the British media, came after the news that Sainsbury will acquire Walmart Inc.’s Asda in a US$10 billion deal. Sainsbury shares rose 1.6 per cent early Tuesday in London after a nearly 15 per cent jump Monday. The two-day gain has lifted the company’s market value by about 1 billion pounds (US$1.37 billion).
Coupe apologized and said it was an “unguarded moment trying to compose myself before a TV interview,” according to U.K. press reports.
“It was an unfortunate choice of song, from the musical ‘42nd Street’ which I saw last year and I apologize if I have offended anyone,” Coupe said in the statement.