Martha Stewart -"The Goddess of Domesticity"

On December 27, 2001, Martha Stewart sold 3928 shares of Imclone, a biotechnology company. It would have been a routine transaction had it not been made a day before the US Food and Drug Administration rejected approval for Erbitux, a drug developed by the company to combat colorectal cancer.

Investigators found out that Martha Stewart's broker, Peter Bacanovic (Bacanovic; worked at Merrill Lynch and earlier at Imclone), who was also the broker for Imclone's CEO, Sam Waksal (Waksal), and his two daughters, called Martha Stewart on December 27 to tell her that he "thinks Imclone is going to start trading down."...

Analysts feel that Martha Stewart would do well to diversify MSO's intellectual capital and try to make the brand less dependent on her, so that Martha Stewart comes to represent a way of life, and not a living person.

Human capital must gradually be transformed into structural or customer assets. According to Brady, "MSO should build on its efforts to broaden the brand beyond Martha Stewart, the woman". MSO is already making efforts in this direction. The magazines are now being published without excessive emphasis on Martha Stewart's name. The TV shows have also begun to feature other experts in different fields, reducing their dependence on Martha Stewart...