Should the buyout take place I trust that the autocrat would be replaced by a better person.
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OTOH as a small potato shareholder, I would like to see a change at the top if it stays public.

There is a strong rumor that VORNADO VNO is behind the scenes looking to buy Home Depot. The original owner of HD was Bernie Marcus, a former employee of Vornado, in their west coast operation, Handy Dan Stores. Vornado has a long and successful history of running retail operations, and possibly bring back their CEO and former President, Solomon Rogoff

Yep - But Vornado ran 2 Guys right into the ground in the late 70s. They wanted the real estate. HD is sitting on a heap of vendor dissatisfaction, which is raising their costs and if one looks, they are not getting the new merchandising. Lowes and Menards are.

Even before the private equity rumors surfaced, there was talk about Eddie Lampert's buying HD through his "SearsMart" company. It's anyone's guess what will happen. When rumors like this start, you can figure there is usually at least an ounce fo truth behind them. But investigating a buyout and actually going through with an offer are not close to the same thing. As for Nardelli's statement (and follow-on SEC filing) saying that there have been no discussions - I'm confident that is true. But if someone is looking to make a hostile bid, there would not have been any formal discussions. I think the value is there on this one, given asset values and cash flow. But it would be a huge fish for anyone to swallow. I'd expect it to get bid up to at least $47.00 to actually complete a deal.

As someone who was very very involved with VORNADO and TWO GUYS at that time, i can tell you clearly that VOrnado did NOT run TWO GUYS into the ground. IT was an extremely well run, well merchandised chain store. Vornado saw the prospect of the real estate being worth more than the retail operations, and justifiably closed the retail stores. , If you know anything about any of the locations of the TWO GUYS STORES < you can see that the rentals Vornado is getting from them, far surpasses the profit they would get from the stores. Route 46 in Totowa is a perfect example. There is now a Home Depot, A Staples, A Bed Bath and BEyond, a Marshalls, in addition to many other stores, ALL, in the one locations where there was ONE TWO GUYS STORE> .

Your right Mr. Rogoff Two Guys was never run into the ground in fact they where making money. But as you stated the real estate was worth 6 times more than the retail operation. If you also remember W.T. Grant was closed for the same reason, the real estate was prime, and guess who moved into a lot of the old W.T. Grant stores, that's right Two Guys.

As to the HD customer dissatisfaction, I have tried to get HD personnel to call me back for a month on a installed vinyl floor. I have contacted them 5 times before I went to Citibank and questioned the charges. I was to receive a call back-at least a week ago. You can't run a successful business that way. Buyout may be a result or reason.

You know, ALJ will go before Home Depot. The only problem is ALJ is so well run! Home Depot doesn't have that problem for private groups to worry about. Get rid of the Home Depot CEO, steal billions from the private home depot in fake fees, and then IPO the shattered remains. Sound like a winner to me. I think BMHC will merge with HD first.