Continuing our coverage of the search to fill the Worst Job on Wall Street, we have some bad news for the Charlotte tourist bureau.
Bank of America has decided not to force its next CEO to live and work in North Carolina, according to Bloomberg News, in a bid to attract better candidates.
The board, led by Chairman Walter Massey, is also concerned there may not be a deep enough pool of qualified candidates willing to move to Charlotte, 330 miles south of Washington, the people said, speaking anonymously because the search is private. CEO Kenneth Lewis, who is stepping down at year’s end, has said Charlotte will remain headquarters as long as he’s in charge.“It does reflect well on the board that they’re not going to let the headquarters location limit their selection in terms of CEOs,” said Thomas Brown, CEO of New York-based hedge fund Second Curve Capital. “There aren’t too many people around the world who think that Charlotte is a major financial center.”
New York is the likely new home of BofA’s CEO, a move made all-the-more probable by the firm’s hugely successful acquisition of Merrill Lynch and the fact that it makes half its money in the city. Just one of the two internal candidates being considered lives in the Queen City—Brian Moynihan, who leads its consumer banking business, lives in Boston—but who cares? Nobody seems to want to hand them the reins, anyway.
Perhaps, however, Charlotte isn’t the problem. It hardly speaks well of BofA that no one worth hiring would be willing to move to the Confederacy for the opportunity to run the biggest bank in the U.S. It might have more to do with having to take your marching orders from the Treasury Dept.
Bank of America’s Next Chief May Be Based in New York [Bloomberg]
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 2:03PM
Greg
I'm going to notify the post office to forward all your mail to a PO Box in Charlotte, NC.
Not Jeff Macke but a fan of his work
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 2:09PM
SHAZANUS, strikes again!
Posted by Perkins Maxwell , Nov 03, 2009 2:15PM
Light years better than Greg. This guy knows how to use tags for one thing. Welcome to modern-day blogging!
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 2:18PM
I think I'm going to invest in the Charlotte Realty Acquisition Portfolio. Prices, especially in the CBD, can only go up!
Posted by Dan , Nov 03, 2009 2:20PM
You're doing great Jon. Ignore the B-School readers who think they are cute by knocking you. There are plenty of serious wall street readers that will enjoy your commentary but don't have time to comment.
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 2:24PM
I like Charlotte, actually. It's nice and there are plenty of young people. New York's better, but Charlotte isn't that bad.
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 2:26PM
Charlotte isn't a major financial center? And here I thought I was a BSD.
-Teller at B of A's flagship branch location
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 2:29PM
@6 Where are you from, Des Moines?
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 2:34PM
@3, agreed. Shazam is filling a position comprable to CEO of BofA (in terms of constant berating and general hate, probably attributable to serious sexual frustration and inferiority complexes) and doing a fine job... thus far.
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 2:37PM
Jon
Nobody can replace Mama Michael's little blanus. You douche bag
greg's mom
Posted by CoveredLong , Nov 03, 2009 2:38PM
You are too much for me Charlotte, you sonofawhoreson bitch! I wish I knew how to quit you
-KL
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 2:42PM
Whatever.
-Greg
Posted by CoveredLong , Nov 03, 2009 2:44PM
So...is it 'Shazar' like 'Greg's writing wanted to make me run for the nearest razor' or is it like 'Greg's writing was so bizarre'?
We still heart you Greg!
Posted by shitting on tryon st. , Nov 03, 2009 2:46PM
THIS IS BULLSHIT!!! I'M NOT SOME WANNABE CANAL ST BUM. I SHIT ON TRYON ST! WHO WANTS TO JUMP OFF THE EPICENTER TONIGHT? I NEED ANOTHER LAWSUIT TO PAY FOR MY METH ADDICTION!
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 2:51PM
"Confederacy"? Give me a fucking break.
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 2:52PM
The Zany antics of the SHAZANUS!
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 2:53PM
^Also, "Cities that Suck".
Don't hold back DB.
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 2:58PM
Jon,
@5 clearly isn't one of those serious readers without time to comment. This comment probably implies I am not either, but that's not here nor there.
Posted by american bandersnatch , Nov 03, 2009 3:00PM
I wish I was more serious and did not have time to comment.
Posted by Anal_yst , Nov 03, 2009 3:05PM
agreed with Perkins, good use of tags. Just shows that you've learned from Greg's (many) missteps.
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:05PM
wait, what happened to greg? when did he get dropped?
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:06PM
Charlotte. Please it's like that hipster Lesbian chick, Getrude Stein, said, "There's no there there". They got a Hockey team though.
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:07PM
Only a matter of time before BofA's corporate HQ moves to NYC.
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:12PM
@23
Doubtful. I think it would be politically and PR wise a bad move, and ML has lost every major internal battle there. Besides the tax strcuture in Charlotte is better for them anyways. BofA will always be mostly retail and commercial banking, neither of which really needs to be centered in NYC. Their CEO may end up there, but HQ won't be moving.
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:13PM
21 We killed Greg. *sniff*
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:33PM
I can't quit you, Charlotte!
KL
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:33PM
Nice place to visit, no need to live there.
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:35PM
Thanks cunts. No he's moping around the apartment all day. Ugh.
Love,
Greg's Mom
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:42PM
Keep up the good work, Shazanus!
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:45PM
Isn't the big deal about Charlotte just slang fot, "There are no high class call girls in this town. How are we supposed to entertain politicians and the Chinese?"
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:45PM
Isn't the big deal about Charlotte just slang fot, "There are no high class call girls in this town. How are we supposed to entertain politicians and the Chinese?"
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:46PM
shazmore, shazmore, i want more shazmore
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:47PM
@21 et al why does everyone assume Greg was fired?
@5 some of us are done for the year.
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:50PM
@15
Yes, the Confederacy.
http://www.ncscv.net/
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 4:11PM
ALL HAIL KING SHAZAR
PRAISE BE TO SHAZAR - HE WHO HAS VANQUISHED THESE LANDS OF THOSE WHO STOOD FOR MEDIOCRITY AND IDIOCY, THOSE OF CLIP ART AND RUN-ON SENTENCES, THOSE OF THE NAME 'ANUS'
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 4:57PM
@5: Shamwow's mother
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 6:39PM
You know, Charlotte's -- like, what? 20-year? -- reign as a major financial center is just another example of the staying power of bubbles. The one thing we've learned is that they always last a lot longer than you think they will, way past the point where you stop saying, 'nah, this makes no sense, can't last.'
Charlotte's bubble is over. Like an invisible city that only materializes once every 100 years. It really has been, like, 20 years that I was saying to myself, "Charlotte. Charlotte? CHARLOTTE??!!!?? AYFKM????"
And it's been like 10 years since I sat across the table from someone at an interview desk and had him tell me -- straight-faced and all -- that he was based out of Charlotte.
And still it went on. And then NationsBank bought first BofA, and yanked its HQ out of San Fran to Charlotte. And still it went on. And then BofA bought Fleet and shut down Boston to move a ton of people to -- you guessed it -- Charlotte.
And now BofA has had a near-death experience, then bought Merrill, leading to another near-death experience, and finally -- finally -- it's over?
Can you picture the meeting? "Hey, guys! I've got an idea! Why don't we look for someone to work out of New York?"
"Naw, that'll never work."
And so, it ends.
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 6:43PM
Continuing @37
... And you know, it's not like I have no love for your garden-variety smaller (big) city. Been to lots of 'em, lived in 'em, love 'em.
I just never could figure out why somebody had to take like a city that wasn't even one of the 100 largest in the country and try to turn it into, what? like a top-30 city? And then layer onto it the pretense of some sort of inevitable realignment of the planets to make it the center of the universe?
I just never got it.
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 6:57PM
Whaddaya mean there are no hookers in Charlotte. My ex-wife lives there and after all, it is the Queen City.
Posted by shitting on tryon st. , Nov 03, 2009 8:49PM
NONE OF THEM FAGGOTS LIVE DOWN SOUTH. ALL THOSE BANKERS NEED TO STAY IN NYC SO THEY CAN BUTT FUCK EACH OTHER!
KEEP QUEERS OUT OF THE QUEEN CITY!
Posted by guest , Nov 04, 2009 2:01AM
You can live in a regal castle in Charlotte for cheap whereas in NYC you are stuck in some loft or some one story "estate" an hour out of the city.
Posted by guest , Nov 04, 2009 8:49AM
@41
umm...there's no denying cheap plentiful housing, but that's cold comfort if there's no jobs - just never seemed to me that Charlotte had any differentiating advantages as a city - - except for enjoying the luxury of a couple of big boosters (NationsBank, First Union) who were passionate about it, for whatever reason, some years ago.
failing that, what is there?