Gorman doesn’t fit the image of a Wall Street titan. Notwithstanding his $10.5 million pay package, he shows up at black-tie events in a rumpled tuxedo he bought as a business- school student in the 1980s. He keeps supplies of Vegemite — a favorite Australian food that’s made from yeast extract — in the executive kitchen and eats it on toast. He often walks home from his Times Square office to his Upper East Side townhouse and was spotted on one weekend in a track suit and sneakers waiting in line at the post office. The 6-foot-3-inch (1.9-meter), 195-pound (88-kilogram) Gorman’s favorite pastimes include reading John le Carre spy novels and taking boxing lessons weekly at his gym…Gorman is the sixth of 10 children born to Melbourne engineer Kevin Gorman. His father, now 90, was home-schooled until age 14 because he lived in the Australian outback, far from any town. Kevin Gorman once had each of his children take an IQ test, James says. He posted the results in the family’s living room, with each child’s score and expected occupation. James, whose sister is now a judge on the Supreme Court of Victoria, came in fifth — a result that relegated him to an expected job of “midlevel bureaucrat or manager,” he recalls. [Bloomberg, earlier]
James Gorman
One More Peep Out Of Morgan Stanley Employees And Next Year’s Bonuses Will Be Determined By IQ Test (Results Posted In Lobby)
By Bess LevinBrian Moynihan Has Already Spent A Year Apologizing To Shareholders, Please Don’t Make Him Handle Another Confrontation
By Bess Levin
Earlier this week, in an interview with Bloomberg TV, Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman was asked how he would respond to employees expressing disappointment with this year’s bonuses. Perhaps at his wits end with compensation complaining, perhaps to indicate there is a new James Gorman in town and he is not to be fucked with, perhaps to get it through his staff’s thick skulls that they ought to WAKE UP, perhaps because he thinks the building is getting overcrowded, Gorman said he’d tell them three things: “You’re naive, read the newspaper, No. 1. No. 2, if you put your compensation in a one-year context to define your overall level of happiness, you have a problem which is much bigger than the job. And No. 3, if you’re really unhappy, just leave. I mean, life’s too short.” When asked the same question by the same organization today, Brian Moynihan was slightly less aggressive in his answer. I mean, he’d like you to stay but he’s not going to force anyone to do anything they’re not comfortable with. Don’t get him wrong he wants you to be there but please can we not have any intense discussions about it? Stay/go just please keep him out of it. The idea of you yelling at him makes his stomach turn. He can’t do it. He won’t. Continue reading »
James Gorman: This Isn’t The End. No Way. We’re Gonna Show This Market A Thing Or Two.
By Bess Levin
“The stock price in no way reflects how well the firm is doing,” Gorman said last night at a private party for current and former Morgan Stanley executives. “We have a strategy in place, the market isn’t appreciating that yet.” [FBN]
Cuts occurring circa now, tomorrow. Continue reading »
In his tenure as CEO of Morgan Stanley, bonuses have been a bit of a sore spot for James Gorman. Last year he swore to god that he would “personally escort” anyone caught leaking numbers out of the building, earlier this month he was said to have suggested that things will be way, way down from last time around, and now? He can’t even look at you. Continue reading »
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Bonus Watch ’11: James Gorman Advises MD’s To Keep Their Expectation Low
By Bess Levin
Really low. Like lucky if you get a free cannoli low. Continue reading »
