Does Martha Stewarts name still have cachet, even after she served jail time for a felony conviction?
Just look at MSO’s share price. At $31.79, it has more than tripled since her sentencing last year and reflects the confidence investors have in her ability to reshape the company’s destiny. She’s back — and she may have more cachet than ever. Celebrity is funny like that sometimes (see BW Online, 8/9/05, “Betting on the Buzz”). What happened since Stewart went to jail to increase her cachet? Stewart’s stock-in-trade — do-it-yourself advice on home decorating, cooking, and gardening — is hotter than ever. With Cable TV channels like HGTV and the Food Channel and shows like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Trading Spaces, entertainment formats that Stewart pioneered became wildly popular, even as she battled a criminal investigation and charges, and then served time. Now she’s free to retake the stage — and many people believe the time is more than right for more Martha Stewart. “She’s the queen of home improvement — in fact she helped launch this segment,” says Nicki Gondell, pr
