Rod Kramer thought it was going to be just another dinner at the Stanford Executive Program last summer.
Marie Antoinette was no mistress of the high seas, but she'd probably feel quite welcome this weekend in the blue waters of the eastern Caribbean.
I've made my career whacking big business. Magazine covers with titles like "Corporate Killers" and "How Wall Street Sold Out America" hang in my office, and my files are filled with pieces I've written about corporate tax dodging, questionable accounting and toxic waste being peddled as spring water to unsuspecting investors. Since joining FORTUNE in mid-2007, I've been complaining about the price we prudent people are paying to bail out the imprudent.
Wall Street bashing is all the rage in Washington these days. That's understandable, given that financial excesses played a serious role in starting the recession and that some of the firms that have gotten billions of taxpayer dollars are also paying out billions in compensation.
On Sept. 15 last year, Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis triumphantly unveiled his $50 billion deal to buy Merrill Lynch, an American icon. Lewis, 61, had coveted Merrill for years, and he planned nothing less than a cultural revolution. The steady, watch-the- nickels branch banker from Charlotte would impose commonsense discipline on the wounded bull, banishing the profligate practices he'd long reviled, especially inflated pay and the high-risk trading that had landed Merrill in so much trouble.
Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis is quickly learning just how lonely life at the top can really be.
Even before the revelations of the undisclosed massive losses, the early payment of billions of dollars in bonuses, and the delicious $87,000 rug, John Thain's days at Bank of America working for Ken Lewis were clearly numbered.
John Thain, the former CEO of Merrill Lynch, resigned Thursday from the company that bought Merrill out, Bank of America. As far as we can tell, his departure couldn't come soon enough.
Former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain will leave Bank of America, the company said Thursday, just months after he shepherded a deal between the two firms during the height of the financial crisis.
On Sunday morning, the executive group re-assembled at the Fed at nine o'clock. "Everything was ready to go on Sunday morning," one participant said. "People were happy with the term sheet, so there was a doable deal on the table." Steve Shafran, a senior advisor to Paulson and an ex-Goldman Sachs partner, told a group of Lehman Brothers executives at the Fed that morning, "It looks like we may have the outlines of a deal around the financing." After which, the Lehman bankers thought they had saved their firm.
Rod Kramer thought it was going to be just another dinner at the Stanford Executive Program last summer.
Marie Antoinette was no mistress of the high seas, but she'd probably feel quite welcome this weekend in the blue waters of the eastern Caribbean.
I've made my career whacking big business. Magazine covers with titles like "Corporate Killers" and "How Wall Street Sold Out America" hang in my office, and my files are filled with pieces I've written about corporate tax dodging, questionable accounting and toxic waste being peddled as spring water to unsuspecting investors. Since joining FORTUNE in mid-2007, I've been complaining about the price we prudent people are paying to bail out the imprudent.
Wall Street bashing is all the rage in Washington these days. That's understandable, given that financial excesses played a serious role in starting the recession and that some of the firms that have gotten billions of taxpayer dollars are also paying out billions in compensation.
On Sept. 15 last year, Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis triumphantly unveiled his $50 billion deal to buy Merrill Lynch, an American icon. Lewis, 61, had coveted Merrill for years, and he planned nothing less than a cultural revolution. The steady, watch-the- nickels branch banker from Charlotte would impose commonsense discipline on the wounded bull, banishing the profligate practices he'd long reviled, especially inflated pay and the high-risk trading that had landed Merrill in so much trouble.
Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis is quickly learning just how lonely life at the top can really be.
Even before the revelations of the undisclosed massive losses, the early payment of billions of dollars in bonuses, and the delicious $87,000 rug, John Thain's days at Bank of America working for Ken Lewis were clearly numbered.
John Thain, the former CEO of Merrill Lynch, resigned Thursday from the company that bought Merrill out, Bank of America. As far as we can tell, his departure couldn't come soon enough.
Former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain will leave Bank of America, the company said Thursday, just months after he shepherded a deal between the two firms during the height of the financial crisis.
On Sunday morning, the executive group re-assembled at the Fed at nine o'clock. "Everything was ready to go on Sunday morning," one participant said. "People were happy with the term sheet, so there was a doable deal on the table." Steve Shafran, a senior advisor to Paulson and an ex-Goldman Sachs partner, told a group of Lehman Brothers executives at the Fed that morning, "It looks like we may have the outlines of a deal around the financing." After which, the Lehman bankers thought they had saved their firm.
While most of Wall Street was hunkered down at the New York Federal Reserve to review Lehman's books, Greg Fleming, the president of Merrill Lynch and a former financial institutions banker, had been urging his boss, John Thain, Merrill's CEO, to call Ken Lewis to talk about a deal between the two firms. Fleming had grown concerned during the week as Merrill's stock fell to $17.05 per share, from $28.50 per share. Fleming also knew that Lewis had long coveted Merrill Lynch and that Fleming's previous boss, Stan O'Neal, had no interest in such a deal.
Merrill Lynch's chief executive John Thain has reportedly dropped his request for a $10 million annual bonus after being blasted by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
You know, it may be we have been looking at the economic picture all wrong.
Bank of America shareholders approved the company's bold acquisition of Merrill Lynch on Friday, paving the way for one of the biggest mergers ever in banking.
Another quarter, another massive loss for Merrill Lynch.
To reach the new power center of Wall Street, hop a cab to La Guardia, board a flight for Charlotte, stride into a beige granite tower, go past the allegorical murals of the common man at work, then take the elevator to the 58th floor. You're at the headquarters of Bank of America, and you're about to enter the glass-framed suite of CEO Ken Lewis.
Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke have saved us, for now, from a market meltdown - but at the cost of allowing the folks who caused the current crisis to keep ducking reality.
Economists are gauging whether the current meltdown will have long-term ramifications beyond Wall Street
Bank of America on Monday began adding another slice to its growing financial services empire, buying Merrill Lynch in a $50 billion deal that would create a bank offering everything from fixed-income trading to credit card lending
Lehman Brothers continues to talk a good game, but the time for action is running short.
Storm-tossed financial firms are throwing their treasures overboard just to stay afloat.
If your bank contacts you about a bond-like investment you made some time ago, don't ignore it. You could benefit from an unusual settlement that will allow you to get back 100% of your investment's value.
When Merrill Lynch announced last month that it would sell back its long-held stake in financial data provider Bloomberg L.P., chief executive John Thain was praised for moving aggressively to restore the firm's capital position and slim its bloated balance sheet.
Merrill Lynch booked its fourth-straight quarterly loss Thursday, this time losing nearly $5 billion, as the nation's largest brokerage was forced to once again take massive writedowns.
Merrill Lynch & Co. on Thursday reported a $4.9 billion loss amid massive write-downs from soured mortgage positions and other risky investments
The market is eager to see Ben Bernanke heading for the sidelines. But with the U.S. economy softening, he may not stay there for long.
Private equity is getting a nice chunk of National City for a song. But if house prices keep falling and foreclosures continue to rise, even Monday's steeply discounted price tag may soon look dear.
Ouch! The pain isn't over for Merrill Lynch & Co.
Futures were down Tuesday morning, following dismal earnings from the aluminum giant Alcoa, and ahead of a report that's expected to show a decline in pending home sales.
Nothing has worked lately for Merrill Lynch and Citi - not even the time-honored Wall Street tradition of writing off everything but the kitchen sink.
Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. swung to its worst quarterly loss ever Thursday, as it reeled from a giant $14.6 billion hit stemming from the mortgage crisis and credit crunch.
Merrill Lynch took additional steps to shore up its depleted capital base today when it sold $6.6 billion in preferred stock to a group of investors including Mizuho Financial Group Inc., the Kuwait Investment Authority and the Korean Investment Corp.
Wall Street firm Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. said Tuesday that it had received investment totaling $6.6 billion primarily from three foreign investment funds.
MARKETS: Regarding Bank of America buying Countrywide, we are now starting to see some of the deal making/consolidation that I have been talking about recently. (Leaving aside the issue, as Roddy Boyd points out, that this may be bad money after bad!) I would expect more of these (WaMu/JP Morgan has been on the table) although instead of major deals so far, we are seeing something instead, which is the flurry of capital of infusions from overseas investors into Wall Street investment banks and broker dealers. To wit: Watch Merrill Lynch, where new CEO John Thain would like to match an announcement of a huge new multi-billion write-off with the announcement of more capital. I still think Bear Stearns may be dealt, although without question it could also scale back and live to see another day too. The other really big question on Wall Street is succession at Morgan Stanley, which also could end up happening in a deal. Really the best guy to take over from John Mack already has a job,
Merrill Lynch announced three deals Monday which will allow the beleaguered bank to raise much needed cash as its new CEO John Thain tries to save the company from the huge losses it incurred after the mortgage market meltdown.
ON CITI AND MERRILL: Take a step back and think about the removal of Chuck Prince and Stan O'Neal and the ascension of Vikram Pandit and John Thain at Citi and Merrill respectively. Talk about tradin' in and tradin' up! No question both institutions end up with much better CEOs.
Newly-installed NYSE Euronext chief Duncan Niederauer said Thursday he anticipated further consolidation among the world's financial exchanges with just a handful of key players emerging in the next five years.
Merrill Lynch & Co. said Wednesday that NYSE Euronext CEO John Thain will become the new chairman and chief executive at the nation's largest brokerage firm.
President Bush dropped by the New York Stock Exchange in Manhattan on Wednesday after he delivered his State of the Economy speech on Wall Street, marking only the second time a sitting U.S. president has visited the NYSE floor.
The NYSE Group and Tokyo Stock Exchange have formed a broad strategic alliance that could pave the way for a financial partnership between the two exchanges.
Photographs of powerful people usually include the trappings: Private jets. Wood-paneled boardrooms. Sky-high apartments. Chauffeur-driven limousines. But for the pictures of Fortune's most powerfu...
On March 7, the New York Stock Exchange merged with publicly traded Archipelago to become a for-profit corporation (ticker symbol: NYX).
The tired line about a chief executive is that so-and-so "is presiding over this institution during a period of unprecedented change." But in the case of John Thain, CEO of the New York Stock Excha...
ON THE FRENETIC FLOOR OF THE NEW York Stock Exchange in late April, the roisterous, jacket-clad brokers were buzzing about a dramatic deal that might hasten the end of their way of life but would a...
Facing increased competition in a high-speed, electronically connected world, the 212-year-old New York Stock Exchange announced plans Wednesday to merge with the electronic trading firm Archipelago.
A New York Stock Exchange official Wednesday said reports that the exchange is considering extending its trading hours were not new. The board's hours among other things, are under review, but no imminent change is expected.
Amy Butte, 36
With their black jackets whipping in the wind, bleary-eyed traders and brokers stamp out their cigarettes before lining up at the doors to the New York Stock Exchange. Eager to hit the floor before...
The New York Stock Exchange is on the verge of announcing a radical new plan to allow large investors to trade big blocks of shares electronically on the floor of the exchange, according to a published report.
Ex-New York Stock Exchange Chairman and CEO Richard Grasso is refusing to give back any of the $139.5 million paid to him last year by the exchange and may seek $50 million more, a published report said Friday.
John Thain, CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, announced major reform plans for the New York Stock Exchange Thursday and said the world's largest stock market will not sue former CEO Dick Grasso over his lavish pay package.
Two weeks into his tenure as chief executive of the New York Stock Exchange, John Thain is considering making a big leap into the realm of electronic trading, Friday's Wall Street Journal reported.
Okay, New York Stock Exchange interim chairman John Reed has the first-class CEO he wanted: Goldman Sachs's John Thain (above), 48, a man with knowledge of the markets, technical expertise, a squea...
| Most Viewed | Most Emailed | Top Searches |
© 2009 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
