• 23 Nov 2009 at 12:03 PM

Being A Bank CEO Worked Out Pretty Well For Jim And Dick

By John Shazar

Jimmy Cayne Bear Stearns JP Morgan Collapse Buyout.JPGIt turns out that the next best thing to running a successful bank may well be running a catastrophically unsuccessful one.
At the very least, Dicky Fuld and Jimmy Cayne did very, very well for themselves according to a new report from a bunch of Harvard Law School eggheads. So did their buddies: Executives at the late Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers took home some $2.5 billion in cash over the last nine years of the banks’ all-too-short lives.
The report shows that the top five executives at each firm walked away with $250 million apiece on average from 2000 until last year when both firms ceased to be able to pay huge bonuses or to, you know, function. Everyone’s favorite pothead cashed out a comfortable $388 million, which should keep him well-supplied for some time. Wall Street’s cutest primate, for his part, banked $541 million.


What’s more, only Jimmy was too, uh, distracted to get the hell out while he still could. The other nine executives in the study had sold way more shares during the period covered than they held when it all fell apart. Not so James Cayne: Mr. Integrity actually owned a bigger chunk of Bear at the end of his tenure than he had sold during the rest of the decade.
Did we mention that one of the report’s authors, Lucian Bebchuk, is BFF with and an adviser to Pay Czar Ken Feinberg?
The Wages Of Failure [working draft from Harvard Law School]
Lehman, Bear Executives Cashed Out Big [WSJ]

Comments (15)

  1. 1
    Posted by guest | November 23, 2009 at 12:13 PM

    24D Commoner, for short (4)

  2. 2
    Posted by NakedShort | November 23, 2009 at 12:16 PM

    @1 pleb

  3. 3
    Posted by guest | November 23, 2009 at 12:18 PM

    @naked
    true on so many levels
    -not @1

  4. 4
    Posted by guest | November 23, 2009 at 12:21 PM

    @NS yep. you’re good at this.

  5. 5
    Posted by guest | November 23, 2009 at 12:22 PM

    yup yup

  6. 6
    Posted by guest | November 23, 2009 at 12:37 PM

    You are all idiots.

  7. 7
    Posted by guest | November 23, 2009 at 12:42 PM

    @ 6 = elitist. examine your motives

  8. 8
    Posted by guest | November 23, 2009 at 12:50 PM

    So they spent 31 pages explaining that neither bank had a cash-clawback clause regarding bonuses. Insightful.

  9. 9
    Posted by guest | November 23, 2009 at 12:50 PM

    But they can’t take it with them, a concept that some disgruntled layed off employee who lost everything when the stock tanked may introduce them to!

  10. 10
    Posted by Joe Mac | November 23, 2009 at 12:54 PM

    Ken Lewis must merge with UBS to maintain the continuum.

  11. 11
    Posted by guest | November 23, 2009 at 1:02 PM

    @9 not.cool.

  12. 12
    Posted by guest | November 23, 2009 at 1:20 PM

    @11 Actually it is the only thing to wake the idiots up! Revolution Baby!!!!

  13. 13
    Posted by pfluger | November 23, 2009 at 1:35 PM

    I can eat 25 eggs.
    -cg

  14. 14
    Posted by guest | November 23, 2009 at 1:45 PM

    I knew I should have stayed in highschool and gotten an MBA degree. Dammit!!
    ~Common Thief

  15. 15
    Posted by guest | November 23, 2009 at 2:39 PM

    Please let us know when you link to a PDF, Shasshole!!!

Leave a comment

You can log in with your account or comment as a guest below.

   or