Ken Lewis just bought 200,000 shares of BAC, we understand. It’s up over 30% today already (but most financials are spiking today). Vote of confidence? Cheap way to telegraph a vote of confidence?
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- Use the Bloomberg command
NH BLG_DEALBREAKER <GO>
to access Dealbreaker
Maybe he just has some spare change laying around
or he knows that the govt will never let BAC fail
talk about an inhouse cross…lewis/thain.
He is just being the big douchebag he is and taking advantage of a bad situation in order to profit. Unless he decides to gift those shares to recently fired emplloyees he is still an assholed disguised as a CEO.
Remember when Fuld…agh, nevermind.
Yes, Ken Lewis has proven to be a great buyer of financial stocks.
not really. he’s been bying since Nov 14th and averaging down. so he’s lost a bit of money.
not really. he’s been bying since Nov 14th and averaging down. so he’s lost a bit of money.
not really. he’s been bying since Nov 14th and averaging down. so he’s lost a bit of money.
I like the subtle distinction between vote of confidence and cheap way of telegraphing a vote of confidence. I’d also add a cheap and useful addition to his defense in the inevitable shareholder lawsuits (contrasted against another Ken who pitched his stock while telling everyone that all was fine.)
This guy’s a piece of work.
I just ate lunch and now my stomach’s upset again … I think I’m gonna grab a newspaper, sit down and take a Lewis.
He bought the shares yesterday at $15/share. He spoke with JC Flowers beforehand who told him that was the right price, so he pulled the trigger.
Over the last three years he has sold $41M worth of shares.
@6 @7 @8
Idiot
Idiot
Idiot
covering his short
It’s @ 5.
Run-up shares = the new Ponzi
@11
Spot on about JC Flowers. The guy bought a huge % of Hypo Bank last year. Nice move. I know that some of his investments have paid off, but he has pooped the sheets several times in the past year. Remember Sallie Mae? Sure he got out of that one, but it still shows how he has no clue.
Of course he has no clue. He bought Merrill. Duh.
Steele came in and spent $16milli to buy Wacky at $15 bucks…these guys arent smarter than any of the rest of us, and its not a huge buy. if he wants to waste the coin on worthless, insolvent equity, so be it.
what bugs me – and this is nothing against #1, but what people keep calling “fail”. Letting equity go to zero is not a fail…the gov’t is ostensibly bailing out debt & preferred holders and allowing equity holders to be massively diluted, but not wiped out. All three layers of security holders should be wiped out before the gov’t gets involved to protect depositors and counterparties. the capital cushion is there for a reason…”failing” should be synonomous with being “Fannied” or “Freddied”….take that shit to the pennies, yo
@3 I totally agree, how dare these profiteering bastards drive up the price of financials.
HALT ALL THESE EVIL LONG BUYERS NOW!
@22 – isnt that what they tried to do to oil / natty traders over the summer?
@22 – New Legislation on the horizon:
You will not be able to create new, or add to existing, long positions until further notice. We must curb this return to irrational exuberance now.
Nip it in the Bud!
– Roscoe P. Coltrain
Some confidence Ken is showing to only spend $1.2mm on his douche-y shares when Jamie was willing to spend $11.5mm to buy some JPM…
@21
Oh, yes, such an optimal solution, maybe in a vacuum but nowhere else.
If you had your way, i.e. all security holders get wiped out before government intervention, what do you think would happen the instant this policy became apparent?
Massive selling, i.e. making the necessity for government intervention a self-fulfilling prophecy and concurrently wiping out most of the “wealth” left in this country.
Good idea jack. You must be a congressman with that ability to identify secondary and tertiary effects like that.
talk about a clash in cultures. Thains selling 200k BAC shares @13.5 on the day he receives them(jan 1) and then Kenny boy buys 200k @6.
surprising Gaspagarino isn’t investigating insider trading. I’m sure Thain new in DEC the NEW TARP funds were going to BAC.
This is like reverse insider double backflip trading. Make it seem like it seems like you are illegally trading on secret information, when you really aren’t. It’s just a BS headfake.
I want to see Ken Lewis on the Price is Right Showcase Showdown. Watch Ken as he places a wacky bid at multiples of the true value of the prizes!!!
This thing is done. Make the equity zero, cram the bondholders and move on. Are we, the USD denominated wealth holders, going to allow Mr. Ken Lewis (and extended cronies) to extract another $25b out of this country’s currency value? When does it stop? I’m buying RMB.
Thoughts please…
Who gets ousted first…Lewis or Thain?
@31 Lewis is going to oust Thain and then the feds will oust Ken once they nationalize it.
@29 Best Episode Ever! Jamie Dimon can jump in with the $1 bid strategy.
Anal_yst, your post just made me jizz in agreement.
Forget these people with their notions of equity going to zero. The long term impact of letting this BAC go to zero are incomprehensible.
I don’t plan to be around to find out what it’s like to support the baby boomers when their being kept alive by machines and medicare in 2020. Fvck that.
Things could be much worse when you wipe out a generous portion of public retirement savings whether through direct investment in BAC or various mutual funds.
Oh, and props to Ken. When you are riding down Tryon in the the black Mercedes SL, don’t forget to say, “Hi Haters.”
Come on. BAC is already marked to near $0 in the portfolios already. It is old news. Stop wishing for the past and join the now. The banks are all broke. Time to start thinking about real solutions.
Does anyone remember when the news anchor asked Ken in October, “How does it feel to beat Wall Street?” Ken Lewis is the biggest disaster next to Madoff in the past 6 months. BAC is a complete mess and if the government was signing my checks twice a month then I would invest in the company at $5 a share, too. It’s the smartest thing he has done in months, well except acquiring Merrill essentially for free from the US Gov’t.
@ 36 – couldn’t agree more. this guy is a train wreck. And the blows keep coming – see FT article from yesterday evening. ML paid $3-$4B in bonuses in December, i.e. a few days before the deal close, versus the typical Jan. / Feb timeframe. Ken had no idea what he was getting into. Let’s see… Pay too much for ML, give ML the keys to the IB and cap mkts groups, fire legacy BAS associates, ML generates operating loss of $21B in Q4, top ML guys leave… Ken Lewis is a fucking idiot and it is time for him to go.
26, 34…yea, i suppose you’re right. i mean, it would be awful if we let companies fail…the BKX would probably fall something like 80%, consumer confidence would crater, credit spreads would blow out, and lending and liquidity would all dry up & grind to a halt. Yeah, that would be terrible if all that happened…
Equity = eviscerated
Preferreds = wipe them out
Senior Notes = becomes new equity
TARP $ = Becomes most senior secured capital obligations of the firm.
Seriously, you think losing that addt’l 10 cents on the dollar of investment will break the nation? Moreso than pumping tax money into private corporations to plug holes already sprung? Retard.
@36, @37 it is very clear Ken Lewis = Madoff, what is not clear yet is if he will ever end up in jail as he should.
Bank of America is operated by a bunch of inbreeding, mentally deficient North Carolinians. For the sake of the species and the purity of the gene pool, Ken Lewis and his incompetent minions should perform the one honorable act of their meaningless, worthless lives: seppuku. The purchase of Merill prior to bankruptcy and the assumption its daunting liabilities exemplifies their peerless idiocy. I hope they file for Chapter 7 promptly, and all the employees find themselves on the streets for supporting this repulsive cesspool of debauchery and ineptitude.
Bank of America is operated by a bunch of inbreeding, mentally deficient North Carolinians. For the sake of the species and the purity of the gene pool, Ken Lewis and his incompetent minions should perform the one honorable act of their meaningless, worthless lives: seppuku. The purchase of Merill prior to bankruptcy and the assumption its daunting liabilities exemplifies their peerless idiocy. I hope they file for Chapter 7 promptly, and all the employees find themselves on the streets for supporting this repulsive cesspool of debauchery and ineptitude.
Bank of America is operated by a bunch of inbreeding, mentally deficient North Carolinians. For the sake of the species and the purity of the gene pool, Ken Lewis and his incompetent minions should perform the one honorable act of their meaningless, worthless lives: seppuku. The purchase of Merill prior to bankruptcy and the assumption its daunting liabilities exemplifies their peerless idiocy. I hope they file for Chapter 7 promptly, and all the employees find themselves on the streets for supporting this repulsive cesspool of debauchery and ineptitude.