After being savaged in The New York Times for dubious lending practices, announcing it will lay-off 12,000 people, and watching its stock price fall from over $45 to $20, Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) is hiring a PR firm.
PR operation Burson-Marsteller will market the company to its own employees with a new "Protect Our House" campaign to try to get moral back up. If the PR money was used to pay some of the employees who were fired, it might work better. According to The Wall Street Journal, Burson will also circulate a transcript with content to help pump CFC workers up. They are expected to sign a pledge to "demonstrate their commitment to our efforts."
The Journal adds that "to counter criticism that its lending practices are to blame for a surge in foreclosures, Countrywide plans to emphasize its "mission" of helping Americans become homeowners." And, all those homeowners were being helped by Countrywide whiles its CEO Angelo Mozilo was selling company stock like a house afire.
The new program is PR at its worst. It treats Countrywide employees like idiots. It asks them to forget that many of their co-workers are gone. It tries to get them to disregard the fact that the head of the company made tens of millions of dollars before the crisis in the sub-prime lending industry was beginning to come to public attention.
The people who work at Countrywide will see right through it.
Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-03-2007 @ 9:31AM
Tommy said...
The only person making any money at Countrywide is of course the CEO Angelo Mozilo. Employees and individual investors once again lost millions when the stock tanked, but good ole Angelo came out smelling like a rose. I will be greatly surprised if this doesn't play out in a manner similar to Enron.
A PR firm - give me a break! SEC - hope that you are taking a really good look at this one.
10-03-2007 @ 6:39PM
Seth said...
According to research by NewsVisual, it's possible that this deal was arranged through ties at Paccar and the Boy Scouts http://www.newsvisual.com/newsvisual/2007/10/connections-may.html . Whether or not this arrangement will pay off for Countrywide remains to be seen.
10-04-2007 @ 3:37AM
Glad to Be At CW said...
Doug - thousands of CW employees are signing the pledge and we're all glad to be working for the company. You make it sound like we're all sitting around stewing at our desks poking holes in Angelo voodoo dolls. Sure, some folks are going to lose their jobs - so will alot of folks at other mortgage companies. It's the reality of the situation. Those of us who are moving on are behind Angelo 100% - you say we'll see right through the pledges, but on the contrary, we see right through the ridiculous media coverage we've been hit with by your ilk.
Most of our co-workers are gone? How do you figure? 20% reduction in force is not "most of our co-workers". Tell me the last time you walked into a CW office and interviewed employees and perhaps you're words would have any weight. Instead, you're no better than every anonymous blogger out there with an opinion but no facts.
10-04-2007 @ 3:42AM
douglas mcintyre said...
The company spending money on PR instead of jobs is a fact.
On the morale side, have you read the two pieces in the NYTimes? Plenty of employee interviews there.
The CEO stock sales are documented as are the company business practices.
Douglas A. McIntyre