The board of Wachovia has ousted Kennedy Thompson as chief executive, blaming him for losses that have cut its market cap in half over the past year. Chairman Lanty Smith has been appointed interim CEO, effective immediately.
Although Wachovia is saying that "no single event" brought about the firing of Thompson, the purchase of Golden West Financial in 2006 is sure to be blamed by most. As you might guess by the name "Golden West" about half of the unit's lending is in California and Florida, two states that both might consider their motto to "the Foreclosure State."
Of course taking a $708 million loss for the first quarter probably didn't help things. Wachovia recently was forced to raise $8 billion in capital to help weather the mortgage slump. That's the kind of thing that keeps the institution alive but tends to piss off existing shareholders.
Next question: is Thompson's ouster the start of a second round of c-suite executions?
By the way, the announcement of the Golden West buy pushed Lehman Brothers, which advised Wachovia, from 15th to 2nd place among M&A advisors to financial companies on deals announced in 2006. Good work, Lehman.
Wachovia ousts CEO Thompson after losses mount [Reuters]
Posted by guest , Jun 02, 2008 9:41AM
totally related to the capital raise
Posted by guest , Jun 02, 2008 9:46AM
Weird things. I saw a bus in NYC yesterday the whole side of the bus was a painted ad that said "World Savings Bank is now Wachovia"
who the fuck on the east coast even knows what WSB is? There were no GDW branches within thousands of miles of here.
Posted by guest , Jun 02, 2008 10:03AM
There were World Savings Bank branches in New Jersey and Long Island.
Posted by guest , Jun 02, 2008 10:12AM
Oh, retracted!
Posted by guest , Jun 02, 2008 10:27AM
Looks as if Golden West gave Mr. Thompson a Golden Shower. Let's hope he had a nice Golden Parachute.
As hard as BAC and Wachovia strive to be big boy banks, you can't miss the training pants they both wear to prevent anal leakage.
The folks at CFC and Golden West thank the kind people from Charlotte for keeping their poopy banks solvent.
Posted by guest , Jun 02, 2008 10:27AM
Looks as if Golden West gave Mr. Thompson a Golden Shower. Let's hope he had a nice Golden Parachute.
As hard as BAC and Wachovia strive to be big boy banks, you can't miss the training pants they both wear to prevent anal leakage.
The folks at CFC and Golden West thank the kind people from Charlotte for keeping their poopy banks solvent.
Posted by Anal_yst , Jun 02, 2008 11:11AM
Next up: Ken lewis, anyone wanna take over/under, i'll set it at November, takers?
Posted by Investorcluzo , Jun 02, 2008 12:11PM
@anal_yst: agreed, kenny lew is the next to go. bofa's stock price says it all ($52 in oct, $33 today). shareholders are screaming for change. ironic that neither charlotte bank could break into the buldge no matter how hard it tried and both are headed by a guy named "ken"...
Posted by guest , Jun 02, 2008 12:42PM
I guess he wasn't Wachovia assets. I mean he wasn't Wachinovia assets
Posted by guest , Jun 02, 2008 1:05PM
"As hard as BAC and Wachovia strive to be big boy banks, you can't miss the training pants they both wear to prevent anal leakage."
Doesn't firing the CEO and writing off billions prove that they ARE big boy banks? Like Merrill, UBS, Bear, and others to come?
Posted by Brock N , Apr 01, 2009 4:13AM
The global economic stagnation and downturns have pushed other states (California and Florida) into foreclosure issues. Who’s to be blame? We, ourselves and us of course. Because the root cause of all these issues is our financial mismanagement skills. Loose lending, irresponsible borrowers, a flat real state market, and rising interest rates are just some of these factors. The foreclosure is just hard to accept because it affects every single person. As we can all observe, even popular and high profile people had filed their bankruptcy. One example is the actor Willie Aames. But he found a great solution to his financial troubles. He may have done well to look for a payday loan. Now he is holding a yard sale of his personal effects and memorabilia ha can stand to part with. It seems Charles should have stuck around a little longer to help out Willie Aames again.
http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/03/27/home-foreclosure-reduces-willie-aames-yard-sale/
Posted by Brock N , Apr 01, 2009 4:22AM
The global economic stagnation and downturns have pushed other states (California and Florida) into foreclosure issues. Who’s to be blame? We, ourselves and us of course. Because the root cause of all these issues is our financial mismanagement skills. Loose lending, irresponsible borrowers, a flat real state market, and rising interest rates are just some of these factors. The foreclosure is just hard to accept because it affects every single person. As we can all observe, even popular and high profile people had filed their bankruptcy. One example is the actor Willie Aames. But he found a great solution to his financial troubles. He may have done well to look for a payday loan. Now he is holding a yard sale of his personal effects and memorabilia ha can stand to part with. It seems Charles should have stuck around a little longer to help out Willie Aames again.
http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/03/27/home-foreclosure-reduces-willie-aames-yard-sale/