Probably our favorite part of yesterday's final installment of the Wall Street Journal's three-part series on the destruction of Bear Stearns is an exchange that takes place between JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit.
As you probably know, Dimon was the heir apparent to ascend to the top of Citigroup after serving for years as the right-hand man of banking empire building Sandy Weil. At the last moment, however, he was forced out of the bank and the top spot was handed to Citigroup's lawyer. Fast forward a few years and Dimon gets to run Citigroup's rival, JP Morgan, and that uppity lawyer is forced to resign in disgrace. Pandit is summoned up to take over Citi.
And, after the jump, here's Dimon hazing the new kid on the Wall Street CEO block.
Messrs. Geithner and Dimon led off with some brief remarks, noting that J.P. Morgan would be guaranteeing Bear Stearns's debts and that if the pact hadn't come together, the market impact may have been catastrophic. During the question-and-answer session, Citigroup Inc.'s new CEO, Vikram Pandit, spoke up.Mr. Pandit -- who did not initially identify himself -- asked a shrewd but technical question: How would the deal affect the risk to Bear Stearns's trading partners on certain long-term contracts?
The query irked Mr. Dimon. "Who is this?" he snapped. Mr. Pandit identified himself as "Vikram." Offended that Mr. Pandit was taking up time with what he considered granular inquiries, Mr. Dimon shot back, "Stop being such a jerk." He added that Citigroup "should thank us" for staving off further mayhem on Wall Street.
Bear Stearns Neared Collapse Twice in Frenzied Last Days [Wall Street Journal]
Posted by HAM05 , May 30, 2008 9:27AM
thanks carnopod, pretty sure this is the 8th time weve seen this quote on the site.
Posted by guest , May 30, 2008 9:28AM
what gives posting before 11am on a summer friday.
Posted by guest , May 30, 2008 9:29AM
hamstring is right. at least make up a funny continuation of the quote. maybe get bess to help you out. or keith hahn.
Posted by guest , May 30, 2008 9:36AM
He should have said"Vikram, whos gonna bail you out? Toolbox"
Posted by guest , May 30, 2008 10:02AM
Someone at a bar in Mumbai is going gandhi, I knew gandhi. He was a prick.
Posted by guest , May 30, 2008 10:31AM
Hate that Vikram. Go get him Dimon
Posted by guest , May 30, 2008 11:10AM
Is there tape of this?
Posted by Riskybusiness , May 30, 2008 11:59AM
Doesn't this harken back to Jeff Skilling's "Thanks, Asshole" comment from the Q2 Enron Earnings call in 2001?
Posted by Riskybusiness , May 30, 2008 11:59AM
Doesn't this bring to ming Jeff Skilling's "Thanks, Asshole" comment from the Q2 Enron Earnings call in 2001?
Posted by guest , May 30, 2008 5:22PM
I like "bring to ming." It rhymes!
Posted by sigerson , May 30, 2008 8:52PM
Today on Park Avenue, I saw Vikram leaving 399 Park around 5:30 or so. Really hard to stifle the urge to shout "DON'T BE A JERK!" but I managed it somehow.
Posted by guest , Jun 01, 2008 4:21PM
Actually this whole episode does make Dimon sound like Jeff Skilling. What makes me worried is that JPMorgan was alright so far but taking up the sick Bear is going to pull them down for years and years. If I owned some JPMorgan stock, I would dump it right now and go with citi instead.
Posted by guest , Jun 02, 2008 7:58AM
It would be unfortunate if this remark by Dimon would stick to Vikram Pandit in a negative way. After all, it was Dimon who was rude. One should expect questions on conference calls, particularly on a conference call announcing that one bank would assume the liabilities of another bank. It would be entirely reasonable for people to want additional information as to how far the guarantees would go. I think Pandit asked a question that hit on a vulnerable area that had not been completely thought through by Dimon and Company. Dimon remained extremely touchy on the extent of the JP Morgan guarantee until the second agreement was negotiated, and the possibility of shareholders successfully resisting began to be systematically addressed by a variety of restrictive measures.