Uh..note to the author:

READ THE ARTICLE.

Burt WANTS to live in his coop. He's got 4 MILLION DOLLARS and a yearly payment for the use of his likeness. Definitely gets to be counted in the top .001% of the world's population. (Top 10th of 1 percent)

The fairness of this settlement in regards to the larger deals is not in question unless he was somehow duped. From the gist of this article, he was not. Guess what? If you sell something fairly, and the buyer then reaps a windfall for whatever reason, YOU ARE NOT DUE AN EXTRA RED CENT. If you think you are, you are a child and need a spanking.

As for Clorox, get the hell over it. Unless they suddenly turn BB into an industrial polluter, the whining babies who cry "sell out" are also in need of a good spanking.

God, this country is populated with the perpetually adolescent.

B's Bees moved to one of the Carolinas (don't remember which one) years ago in search of cheap labor, leaving behind here in Maine a loyal and marginally-better-paid workforce. Same as the textile and shoe mills did 50 years ago — before they moved overseas in search of still-cheaper labor. If the global economy lasts long enough, BB will do the same in time.

So why the angst about this particular company? Have BB been due special dispensation in the years since because of their attractive marketing? They have offered little more than effective palliatives for guilty shoppers — new age-y cosmetics, in other words — for years and years.

He had a house and $4 million dollars and we should feel sympathy because he blew it all and had to move back into a turkey coup? If he's that irresponsible financially then it's a good thing his company got sold so someone could run it better.

Willy Bio

What you don't seem to understand is that if a company makes a profit, it is undeserved gains at the expense of the common man.

I agree with Doug, above. (from Doug, the original typekey Doug around here)

Robert Hansen,

How so?

"What you don't seem to understand is that if a company makes a profit, it is undeserved gains at the expense of the common man."

Robert, there are countries where the government controls everything and really doesn't make profits, so why don't you take a vacation there and report back?

Heck, you may fall in love and decide to stay*

* If you happen to like tiny depressing state apartments and fine vehicles similar to the Trabant

Capitalism does have it's flaws, but there is much good to it as well.

I can save up and start a company to do pretty much anything, whether that may be selling 20" rims to SUV drivers or installing solar panels, and when my business thrives I can expand to build passive solar houses, or add turbochargers to Hummers to make them more powerful.

Without profits, Burt's Bees would never have gotten large enough to expand beyond a small store in one city.

"CEO John Replogle is maintaining "the founder's green philosophies. Employees’ bonuses are based in part on how well the company meets energy conservation goals, and there are prime parking spaces for staff members who drive hybrid cars or carpool. It buys offsets for 100 percent of its carbon emissions and is working toward a goal of sending no trash to landfills by 2020. Mr. Replogle calls his current job a “mission” and says he is trying to reinvent business with an idea he calls “the Greater Good,” based on the founders’ ideals. The premise is that if companies are socially responsible, profit will follow. Burt’s Bees not only prioritizes the natural origin of its ingredients but also emphasizes animal rights, responsible trade, employee benefits and the environment."

I still don't understand why we're suddenly supposed to hate this company just because it "sold out". Sure, the company it sold out to is one of the biggest polluters out there, but if we did not purchase these products, then wouldn't Clorox (and other big bad companies) think, 'Well, people aren't willing to buy greener products, so no use trying to become greener'? (Lets acknowledge that Burt's Bees products ARE greener than, say, any product from Clorox.)

Yes, it is bad that profit is their only motivation to become "greener", and these "efforts" many times lead to greenwashing. Bad, I know. But as stated before, Burt's Bees is not exactly the WORST on the list of corporate sinners. Wouldn't continuing to purchase their products show Clorox that being green pays, and thus motivate them to continue down that road?

And given the information quoted, the company seems to be acting greener than most of them out there - shouldn't we be encouraging that behavior instead of just shutting them out?

"What you don't seem to understand is that if a company makes a profit, it is undeserved gains at the expense of the common man."

Utter BS. I'm sure we are all suffering great amounts because companies like Google made a profit, or Planned Parenthood for providing low cost health care, or the dentist who opened up his own clinic. Try thinking before typing.

I'm thinking Robert Hansen was being facetious.

Burt wasn't actually involved in starting, owning or running the business - he inspired it (or at least I met Ms Quimby a few years ago and that's what she said). I assume he's still being paid for the use of his image, so I'm not sure what he was "cut out" of? Also, since it was his lifestyle and personality that inspired the company, is it bad that he's still living the same way? I was sort of sad when Clorox bought Burt's Bees too, but we can't have our environmental cake go mainstream and keep it for ourselves too.

Does Clorox still do the whole animal testing thing? If so, the buy-out might really make a difference to some folks, I imagine.

What I find troubling is that this article as well as the NY Times piece seemd rather quick to present the intercine warfare between Burt Shavitz and Roxanne Quimby along with the "David & Goliath" mentality of smal eco- company vs. evil chemical polluter corporation.

What about the fact stated in the NY Times article that Burt's Bees obtains all its beeswax from Ethiopia? The carbon cost of your cherished lipbalm just skyrocketed. I suppose there are no apiaries struggling to make ends meet in the US, right? I don't think it matters how much more an ecologically-friendly alternative costs as opposed to the conventional stuff (The NY Times article even illustrated this between Burt's Bees products as opposed to Chapstick). I would rather spend extra knowing it's having less of an impact overall and benefiting local communities as opposed to going for something comprised of lowest-bid contractors. I'm not going to buy Burt's Bees products for any number of reasons, the least of which is their source of beeswax and the TRUE cost of picking up what I though was lip balm with good karma.

And it would certainly help if people read the New York Times article, and used a modicum of reasoning and logic before commenting. Burt Shavitz' living accomodations are described as a turkey coop. This does NOT mean he's sharing his accomodations with a bunch of turkeys. The article said that he expanded his turkey coop home, but it still does not have running water or electricity. There's an interesting quote from Mr. Shavitz: “The magic of living life for me is, and always has been, the magic of living on the land, not in the magic of money.”

I just wanted to note a few things about the "new" Burts Bees. I have studying them a bit for a paper I am writing and have come across a few interesting facts. I must say that I have used Burt's Bees for several years before they were initially sold, and I too was first put off by that fact that Clorox bought them recently, but from what I can see Burt's Bees has not dropped its core philosophies. They continue to do good and possibly even more because of the benefit of corporate power, their products have not changed, if anything they have become more empowered with their mission and strive to make all their products and packaging 100% natural, including the process of making them. It would be difficult for any small company to have the capital to have such prospects but it was only with the sale that they are able to improve.