Today's front page of the Wall Street Journal featured this story about Flagler, a production company that has been video taping Wal-Mart's events and executives since the 70s. Wal-Mart, without any warning or reason, dumped the company leaving them reeling since Wal-Mart the vast majority of their business. Now, the company is selling the footage, all 15,000 tapes of it. This prompted some good commentary on the Wall Street Journal Blog.

Never forget the little guys who help along you the way. That old adage is likely ringing in the ears of Wal-Mart execs this morning following Gary McWilliams’ story about how a tiny video-production company is giving the world’s biggest retailer a massive headache.

It’s the story of Flagler Productions Inc., a small firm who for 30 years was employed as to capture footage of its top execs, sometimes in unguarded moments. Its relationship was sealed with a handshake, not a long-winded contract. Two years ago, Wal-Mart dumped Flagler and nearly caused the shop to fold because it accounted for such a large portion of its business.

...The biggest players in the world can’t function without smaller ones to keep them supplied, technologically-sound, and otherwise ticking. To stay afloat, Flagler offered to sell Wal-Mart the whole video archive for several million dollars. Wal-Mart, whose revenue is now over $375 billion, countered with an offer of $500,000.

And the little guy hasn’t forgotten.