Dive Summary:
- Martha Stewart, founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., testified for three hours and said she did nothing wrong when she signed an agreement with J.C. Penney to offer her products there.
- Stewart said that Macy's was never interested in her idea of opening shops inside of its stores, which is what made her consider a separate deal with J.C. Penney.
- Despite calling Macy's "a good partner," Stewart said the store hadn't upheld its end of an agreement to maximize her business potential and therefore hadn't done anything unethical when she brokered the deal with its rival.
From the article:
Macy's attorneys have portrayed Stewart as someone who turned her back on a good friend, Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren, to broker a deal with a rival company. During testimony earlier in the trial, Lundgren said that he hung up on Stewart after she told him about the deal she'd reached with Penney, and hasn't spoken to her since.
“I was quite taken back by his response and when he hung up on me I was quite flabbergasted,” Stewart said today. ...
