出现了什么变化？

    先来说说一个事实。我再也不会上电视说：“你一定会喜欢你自己的样子，我保证。”几百位顾客在街上拦住我，问我究竟发生了什么事。对我来说，这是一种非常尴尬的境地，因为他们感受到了一种联系。在惠普尔先生或其他广告人物身上，许多人感受不到这种联系。所以，简单来说，这家公司现在面临一个品牌问题。这个问题只会进一步恶化，而不是好转。

    此外，在我看来，公司文化也跟过去不一样了。但事实是，好几年来，这家公司一直在随波逐流。

    你被解雇后，外界有传言称，你想回购这家公司。你有没有进行过相关的磋商？

    早在6月份，就有不少大型私募股权公司主动联系我，希望探讨这种可能性。我的回答是，我当然会考虑。但随着时间的推移，尤其是Jos. A. Bank在几个月前参与进来之后——收购价并没有高估，但的确估足了——我开始打退堂鼓。

    设想一下，你联系一家公司的创始人，要求他支付一大笔钱以重返以前的工作岗位。而在此前的6到12个月中，这家公司一直在走向他不认同的方向。所以，我最终根本无法说服自己做出肯定的回复。尽管我与私募股权基金讨论过其他商业机会，但我真的不想再次卷入The Men's Wearhouse的事务了。

    10月份，Jos. A. Bank对The Men's Wearhouse提出收购要约。The Men's Wearhouse不止是拒绝了这项提议，还转过身来对Jos. A Bank展开收购。当这场收购大战开始时，你作何反应？

    我最初感到惊讶，但随后开始认为，这样做有很充足的理由。早在10年前，The Men's Wearhouse就讨论过要不要收购Jos. A. Bank，几年前又产生了这个想法。出于很多原因，对于Jos. A. Bank来说，收购The Men's Wearhouse很有意义，但The Men's Wearhouse收购Jos. A. Bank也同样如此。两家公司都没有任何债务，而且鉴于目前的利率，再也没有比现在更好的时机了。

    我目前所持立场的美妙之处在于，除了我拥有的大约100万股The Men's Wearhouse股票之外，我真的不关心这档事。如果一定要我下注的话，我觉得这笔交易顺利完成的可能性还是挺大的，2比1吧。

    What's different?

    Let's start with the fact that I'm not on TV saying "You're going to like the way you look. I guarantee it." Hundreds of people, customers, have stopped me on the street to ask what happened. It's a very awkward situation for me, because they felt a connection. Maybe it's not unlike how many of us felt a connection to Mr. Whipple or other advertising figureheads. So the simple answer is that the company has a brand problem that will get worse, not better.

    It also seems to me that the company's culture is different, but the truth is that it's been drifting for several years.

    After your termination, there was speculation that you wanted to buy the company back. Did you have those conversations?

    Back in June there were a number of large private equity companies that approached me about exactly that. My answer was that I'd certainly consider it. As time went on, though -- and particularly since Jos. A. Bank got involved a couple of months ago -- the price got ... not overpriced, but fully valued.

    So to come to the founder of a business and ask him to pay up for having your old job back after six to 12 months of the company going in a direction I don't agree with, in the end I just couldn't bring myself to say yes. Even though I've talked to private equity people about other business opportunities, I'm not really thinking about being involved in The Men's Wearhouse anymore.

    Jos. A. Bank offered to buy The Men's Wearhouse in October. The Men's Wearhouse said no and then turned around to offered to buy Jos. A Bank. What was your reaction when all of this began?

    I was initially surprised, but then I began to think it made a lot of sense. The Men's Wearhouse had talked about buying Jos. A. Bank 10 years ago and then again a couple of years ago. For many reasons it makes a lot of sense for Jos. A. Bank to buy The Men's Wearhouse, but also for The Men's Wearhouse to buy Jos. A. Bank. Neither company has any debt, and it's never been a better time in terms of interest rates.

    The beauty of my current position is that I don't really care, except that I have around 1 million shares of The Men's Wearhouse stock. If forced to make a bet, I'd say 2-to-1 that a deal is going to get done.