Walmart not interested in video

In what could end up being the corporate blunder of the year, Walmart has blown off the video company that has been taping it’s corporate meetings for the last 30 years.

Flagler Productions Inc., a small video production company, had been taping all of the goings on at Walmart for 30 years based on a verbal contract. In 2006 Walmart decided to dump Flagler for a newer, glitzier production company. There was no written contract concerning the content that had been recorded, so Flagler offered to sell it back to Walmart for $145 million. Walmart countered with an offer of $500,000 because they didn’t think anyone else would be interested in the footage… appearantly they were wrong. Since Walmart wasn’t interested, Flagler is now allowing public access to the archive, for a price.

Now there are videos of Walmart execs in drag on youtube and who knows how much more shennaniganary. Lawyers are climbing all over themselves looking for evidence to use in court cases involving the retail behemoth. This is not only an embarrassment for Walmart, it’s a potentially costly blunder. How could they possibly let someone have this content without making a reasonable attempt at negotiating a purchase?

In a way I feel bad for Walmart, the silly things that went on in their corporate meetings and picnics shouldn’t really qualify as evidence for lawsuits, or be a basis for criticizing a corporate mentality. If they want to have some fun and do something crazy behind closed doors – who cares? Guess they should have ponied up and bought the footage – might have saved them money and headaches in the long run.