More Confessions—A Q&A
Please address any questions to stuart@stuartskorman.com.
- What happened at Elephant Pharmacy after October 31st, 2003? You said that a legal document you signed prevented you from telling the full story in the book.
- I signed a legal document that restricts my ability to speak about my experiences at Elephant that occurred after October 31st, 2003. I also signed another agreement imposing similar restrictions. I signed these agreements as part of my sale of my Elephant stock.
- Are you happy with your work at Elephant Pharmacy?
- I believe all of us Elephant employees and our customers have a lot to be proud of. We have invented a new pharmacy business model that emphasizes wellness and customer education. Pharmacies from all over the world are following Elephant’s lead. I didn’t start Elephant to make more money for myself, so I am very happy with Elephant, now that I have finally recovered my family’s retirement money. The huge financial risk I took by investing our retirement money in Elephant was my only problem with my job there (besides my wife’s illness). Any good poker player will tell you their most important guiding principle is to never play with money you can’t afford to lose. Yet I did that at Elephant by risking nearly all of my family’s retirement money, and for three years I suffered the consequence of making such a big mistake.
- Why did you sell your stock in Elephant?
- To refund my family’s retirement account. A better question is why did I invest my savings in a start-up in the first place! That investment represented almost all of my family’s retirement money. My wife, my mother, and I were all very worried about recovering at least some of our investment in Elephant. We are all happy now that we have sold our stock because we have enough money in the bank for our future.
- Who owns a controlling interest in Elephant now?
- Tudor Investments, a large hedge fund; CVS, the nation’s largest pharmacy chain; and the Bay Area Equity Fund, which is affiliated with J.P. Morgan, are now Elephant’s largest stockholders. I believe all three companies should be commended for their investments in Elephant.
- Did you make a profit on your investment in Elephant?
- No, in fact I lost a sizeable portion of my life savings.
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