Hot Microphone Nabs Sainsbury CEO Singing ‘In the Money’

(Bloomberg) -- Beware the hot microphone.

That’s the lesson for Mike Coupe after the chief executive officer of U.K. grocer J Sainsbury Plc was caught singing “We’re in the Money” on camera as he prepared for a television interview.

The gaffe, covered widely in the British media, came after the news that Sainsbury will acquire Walmart Inc.’s Asda in a $10 billion deal. Sainsbury shares rose 1.6 percent early Tuesday in London after a nearly 15 percent jump Monday. The two-day gain has lifted the company’s market value by about 1 billion pounds ($1.37 billion).

Coupe apologized and said it was an “unguarded moment trying to compose myself before a TV interview,” according to U.K. press reports.

“It was an unfortunate choice of song, from the musical ‘42nd Street’ which I saw last year and I apologize if I have offended anyone,” Coupe said in the statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Craig Giammona in New York at cgiammona@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anne Riley Moffat at ariley17@bloomberg.net, Lisa Wolfson, Jonathan Roeder

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