Talk:David Glass (businessman)

Untitled
David Glass is a controversial figure, and while the original article gave mostly the negative side of his activities, the previous revision was nothing but a PR job straight from Wal-Mart, even heavier on the POV than the previous one. Both sides should be told. Couillaud 15:56, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

Fresh POV war brewing
Despite the fact that David Glass is rapidly becoming one of the most hated men in Kansas City (for the way he has run the Kansas City Royals), we should report facts instead of unsupported opinion, and try to sort out PR facts from real ones. Some of his "awards" were given him by groups that have agendas to support and not because he's a good person. OTOH, a lot of the anger directed at him comes without citation at all.

The truth is that the Royals' original owner, Ewing Kauffman, appointed Glass to sell the Royals after Kauffman's death; it has been argued that had he wanted David Glass to own the team himself, Kauffman would have sold it to him while alive to avoid all the issues that resulted. It is true that Glass put several restrictions on the original purchase offer for the team (from Miles Prentice) that included "more than 50% local ownership", while Glass still resides in Arkansas. When Prentice made a second bid that met all the requirements, would satisfy the new restrictions given him by Bud Selig, and made a bid nearly $30 million higher than Glass', Glass and the Royals' board (mostly cronies of Glass', mostly appointed by him) chose Glass over Prentice, denying local charities the extra money that Prentice's bid would have meant to them (purchase price went to charities, per Kauffman's original direction).

Despite all this, someone should produce sufficient documentation before putting it in the article itself.

No, it IS relevant
The following statements were recently deleted by user NewJustice:


 * "The Board, comprised of Glass and other individuals appointed by Glass, approved his bid of $96 million for the Royals despite the fact a competing bid by Miles Prentice was 25% higher, at $120 million. During the six years of Glass' ownership (2000-2005) the Royals have averaged 97 losses, posting one winning record and three seasons with 100 or more losses."


 * "In 1992, NBC news series Dateline interviewed Glass during an investigation into Wal-Mart's "Made in America" and "Bring It Home to the USA" marketing campaigns. The show aired footage of children working in factories in Bangladesh making clothes destined for Wal-Mart, as well as footage of Wal-Mart stores with "Made in America" signs hung over imported goods. When asked about children in Asia working in sweatshop conditions, Glass' reply was "You and I might, perhaps, define children differently," and then said that since Asians are quite short, one can't always tell how old they were. Glass was shown photographs of one factory that burned down with the children still locked inside. He responded, "Yeah...there are tragic things that happen all over the world." Glass stormed out of the interview, which was terminated immediately by Wal-Mart."

NewJustice removed these statements earlier (which comprises nearly all the material in this article critical of Glass), though this time doing so with the statement "Not relevant". Glass is a controversial figure, and the statements are both true and relevant to his tenure as Wal-Mart CEO and Royals owner. One of the first major revisions to this page was when someone virtually copied the Wal-Mart website bio into the article, which made it no better than a PR piece.

Glass is controversial as an owner, and one of the reasons is the way he bought the team by quashing all other attempts to buy the team. The Royals made a $20 million profit in 2005 despite losing 106 games, and both his manipulation of the bidding process and the fact that the franchise has had its three worst losing seasons during the last four years.

This article may need a POV note, except that the only disagreement is that NewJustice (who has edited nothing but this article) simply objects to any criticism of David Glass. There has to be a true reason to remove the information (such as not being true or documented, and both of these statements can be documented and confirmed), and I believe that NewJustice's belief that these statements are "not relevant" are themselves irrelevant.

Couillaud 04:22, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Dateline Information
The Dateline information seemed pretty outrageous, especially the quotes, so I went looking for verification. I found that yes, indeed there was an interview that explored the overseas manufacturing, and yes, Glass left the interview. However, I found none of those quotes except on pages that obviously harvested their info from Wiki (Answer.com).

I'd like to see some citation or some sort of verification that Glass said those horrible things.


 * Well, I will continue to look for something not "harvested" from Wiki, but I actually saw the broadcast, and I witnessed that he DID say those things, unless they used a very clever voice-over for him. He was caught offguard (and he was apparently unaccustomed to unscripted interviews), and mumbled his reply, but he definitely made the effort at re-defining "children", and the remark about "tragic things happen".  The phrase "deer caught in the headlights" truly described the interview.Couillaud 16:03, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

There is a bas-relief of a David Glass at the entrance of the Harrison, Arkansas, Wal-mart. I often wondered who he was and thought him dead to rate the tribute. I also thought him to appear a bit slimy in the depiction, but that could be just me. After reading a bit about this person, I cannot see much merit in him and will look upon that bas-relief with a different, jaundiced eye in the future. Sorry, but I also must shop there. Not that many other opportunities available in Harrison, AR. 207.69.139.137 (talk) 05:44, 1 February 2008 (UTC)Rush is Rot