Continue reading Closing Bell: When green shoots turn to blooms (AAPL, BAC, COST, GS, VLO)

Closing Bell: When green shoots turn to blooms (AAPL, BAC, COST, GS, VLO) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Florida pursues former Countrywide CEO originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 01 May 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There have been numerous stories about the plight of the newly unemployed former Wall Street hotshot and it really is quite sad. Hard-working paper pushers have gone from seven-figure bonuses to the unemployment office. and in particularly dire cases, they've had to transfer kids to less elite private schools or perhaps even sell an Aspen ski lodge.

All of this could make for a fascinating CNBC reality show styled after hits like The Surreal Life and The Simple Life. Call it The Severed Life. The show would feature recently laid-off high level corporate executives, including former CEOs who left with massive severance packages, there to serve as punching bags: Richard Fuld, Angelo Mozilo, and Ken Lewis -- Oh wait, he somehow still has a job. Lesser-known cast members might include investment bankers and hedge fund managers.

Continue reading Time for an ex-Wall Streeter reality show

Time for an ex-Wall Streeter reality show originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 07 Feb 2009 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Countrywide lent money to Fannie, Freddie executives originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo gets emotional -- the male Tammy Faye? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Angelo Mozilo, CEO of Countrywide (NYSE: CFC) may be a thug and he may get in trouble with federal authorities due to the way he ran his company. But at least he was generous.

According to The Wall Street Journal, everyone from casino employees to retired pro athletes got sweet deals. The paper writes that, Mr. Mozilo regularly lined up loans for people he met, according to several current and former Countrywide executives. Said one: "Angelo would call in and say, literally, 'My maid needs a loan.'"

Mozilo even gave a loan to the buyer of hockey player Wayne Gretsky's home.

The big open question about these mortgages is whether the people could have gotten them in the normal course of business, or was Mozilo's help necessary. He also may have made certain that his pals got below market rates.

Based on most of what has come out about Mozilo's behavior, he should probably give back those tens of millions of dollars in cash he got from stock options.

And perhaps, spend a few years in the pen.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Countrywide's (CFC) Mozilo passed out loans like candy originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Angelo Mozilo's nine lives may be about to run out. So far the CEO of Countrywide (NYSE:CFC) has avoided the most severe taint from the collapse of his mortgage company and its questionable practices.

The State of Illinois, the land of Lincoln, will bring civil charges against Mozilo and the firm he started. According to The Wall Street Journal, In a draft of the complaint, Illinois alleges that the company engaged in "unfair and deceptive practices" in the sale of mortgage loans.

One of the main pieces of the complaint is that mortgage brokers pushed loans on people, even it they could not afford them.

Of course, as is always true with charges bought by attorneys general, there is some politics behind the claim. There have been a number of Countrywide foreclosures in the Illinois.

To some extent the politics do not matter. Based on other investigations of Countrywide, it appears that management did quietly push its people to move loans out like cars off an assembly line.

What is most troubling is that no one in government anywhere caught onto the practice earlier.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Illinois goes after Countrywide (CFC) and CEO Angelo Mozilo originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Almost everyone believes that Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) CEO Angelo Mozilo is a thug. But, it turns out he is a smart one. Some fairly powerful people got special loans from his company. They were often people Mozilo needed as pals.

According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), "These borrowers, known internally as 'friends of Angelo' or FoA, include two former CEOs of Fannie Mae, the biggest buyer of Countrywide's mortgages."

Two of the people involved were James Johnson, who does some work for Barack Obama, and Franklin Raines, who had some scandal problems before he left Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM).

Since Countrywide had business dealings with Fannie Mae, the whole deal looks a bit tawdry.

No one knows whether these loans will cause legal problems for any of the parties involved. But, it does, once again, raise the question of the wisdom of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) buying a company with such an ugly past and so many chapters of less-than-ethical behavior.

Perhaps no one cares about the ethics part if there is money to be made.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Countrywide chief gave out special mortages originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 07 Jun 2008 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Not only is Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) CEO Angelo Mozilo horrifically bad at creating (or even retaining) value for shareholders, but he's also not so good at managing email.

A Countrywide customer emailed Mozilo asking the company to modify the terms on his adjustable rate mortgage. The email was sent to 16 Countrywide employees, a common practice in the current market environment.

Annoyed by the email, Mozilo did his best Marie Antoinette impersonation:

"This is unbelievable. Most of these letters now have the same wording. Obviously they are being counseled by some other person or by the Internet. Disgusting."

Continue reading Countrywide's Mozlio is as bad with email as he is with shareholder value

Countrywide's Mozlio is as bad with email as he is with shareholder value originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 21 May 2008 14:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Alan C. Greenberg, the 80-year old Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) director who joined the company in 1949, is giving $360 thousand to some of the bank's lower-level employees who may lose their jobs in the company's collapse.

According to the New York Times, "As a result of his gift, 25 longtime workers will receive $200 a month over six years. The recipients include mailroom and clerical employees, several of whom have physical or mental handicaps."

Of course, don't be feeling too warm and fuzzy: since early 2007 alone, Greenberg has sold over $30 million in Bear Stearns stock.

But it's still a nice gesture given that the bank's collapse has left a substantial dent in his net worth too. It's hard to imagine Angelo Mozilo doing something like this. Greenberg may spend the next few years dealing with shareholder lawsuits. He hasn't offered to give any money back to them.

Bear Stearns director gives $250 thousand to low-level workers originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 27 Apr 2008 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Corporate Library reports that 20% of CEOs receive tax gross-ups -- reimbursement for most of the taxes due on their perks. Specifically, 650 CEOs received tax gross-ups for perquisites such as housing, gifts, security, country club fees, executive retreats, and even PS3s. While most of the tax gross-ups were related to perks, 30 CEOs had income tax grossed up on restricted stock awards and/or bonuses.

These tax gross-ups gross me out. Not only are CEOs among the highest paid and most pampered members of our society, but their employers are paying their taxes for them. I had more of a gut reaction to this report than Corporate Library's Paul Hodgson who said, "The sight of Angelo Mozilo [CEO of troubled Countrywide Financial (NYSE:CFC)] defending his request to the board to have the income tax due when his wife traveled for free on the corporate jet paid by the shareholders gave me pause for thought."

This thought led to Hodgson's more detailed study. One man's pause for thought is another man's puke. How do you feel about it?

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in Countrywide securities.

CEO perk tax gross-up gross-out originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Countrywide (NYSE: CFC) CEO Angelo Mozilo, perhaps the most reviled executive in corporate America, will get $10 million as part of a Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) takeover of the mortgage broker. Investors and members of Congress are incensed. The "bonus" is described in SEC filing as "performance based." Countrywide shares are down from $42.24 to $5.63 over the past year.

One powerful senator may go after the payment. "It's perverse for Bank of America to reward the principal architects of the bad business practices that caused this housing crisis,'' said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, said in a statement, according to the AP. Perhaps shareholders will get lucky and Schumer will fight the pay-out of the money.

It is a shame that Bank of America would hurt its own reputation by doing this. Countrywide was available for sale because it was in such deep trouble. BAC did not need to "pay off" Mozilo to get a deal done.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Countrywide CEO to get $10 milion on way out originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 30 Mar 2008 13:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Pity the hapless ex-CEO who has to explain to the U.S. Congress how he got millions for failing at his job. It's like the person in the horror movie who doesn't realize that a bad guy is lurking in the dark woods even though that's clearly indicated by the scary music. In this case, the knife-wielding psycho Jason Voorhees is being played by Rep. Henry "I haven't met a microphone I didn't like" Waxman (D-CA).

What did former Countywide Financial Corp. (NYSE: CFC) Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo, former Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) CEO Charles Prince and former Merrill Lynch & Co. (NYSE: MER) head Stan O'Neal expect to happen? That they would finally be able to tell their "side" of the story? That they would be able to counteract media perceptions that they are a bunch of greedy pigs who were rewarded for their incompetence? Apparently, these once mighty kings of the boardroom were that deluded.

Mozilo was the most outrageous, telling the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that, "In short, as our company did well, I did well." The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) noted that Waxman, who locked horns recently with baseball great Roger Clemens, wasn't buying it.

Continue reading Grandstanding aplenty at congressional hearing on executive pay

Grandstanding aplenty at congressional hearing on executive pay originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 08 Mar 2008 11:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• As chairman and CEO of Countrywide Financial Corporation (NYSE: CFC), Angelo Mozilo refused to take pay cuts, according to a report by a House committee, and reported by the Wall Street Journal. The focus of a meeting today with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on executive compensation at companies involved in the subprime fiasco will be on Mozilo, who was paid about $250M between 1998 and 2007, plus $406M from his sale of Countrywide shares.
• The Wall Street Journal also reported that Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW) is looking to sell crystal business Steuben Glass, a unit that has lost $30M over the last five years. If Corning cannot find a buyer for the unit, executives said they will consider other options, including closing Steuben.

• After failing to meet repayment requests, the UK Times reported that Carlyle Capital Corp Limited (OTC: CARYF), the Dutch-listed affiliate of U.S. private-equity firm Carlyle Group, held emergency restructuring talks with its banks Thursday evening. CCC disclosed that it had received one default notice after receiving margin calls for over $37M from banks since Wednesday but was "unable to meet the demands" of several. The firm expects "at least one" more default notice.

• Despite shedding several units, Vikram Pandit, Citigroup Incorporated's (NYSE: C) CEO, denied rumors that the bank could put its unit in South Korea up for sale. According to sources, Pandit, currently reviewing operations in an effort to boost earnings and cut costs, said "absolutely no" when directly asked about a divestiture, Reuters reported.

Newspaper wrap-up: Countrywide's Mozilo fought pay cuts originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 07 Mar 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Countrywide CEO to get $10 million -- for what exactly? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Angelo Mozilo, perhaps the most hated business executive in America, will give up $37.5 million that he earned as CEO of Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC). The move is probably related to pressure from politicians who feel that his pay was outrageous given the company's fortunes and those of many of its customers.

"I believe this decision is the right thing to do as Countrywide works toward the successful completion of the merger with Bank of America," Mr. Mozilo said, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Mozilo did earn the money. It was part of a compensation package put together by the compensation committee of his board. The fact that he is willing to pass on accepting the money does not mean much.

The concerns voiced by the media and government when they look at Mr. Mozilo's pay and sales of stock in Countrywide should focus on why the board of the company did not address these issues when they were happening. His gesture to give up part of his pay package when he gained hundreds of millions of dollars in earlier years means very little.

It will not get all of those people who lost their homes any comfort.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Countrywide (CFC) CEO gives up comp originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 28 Jan 2008 05:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

With Congress already planning hearings on the grotesquely excessive pay packages handed to executives who lost massive amounts of money on bad subprime loans, Senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has jumped on the Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) CEO Angelo Mozilo bashing bandwagon.

Senator Clinton called Mozilo's pay package "outrageous", adding that Mozilo is "one of the principal architects of this whole house of cards, with these exotic subprime mortgage vehicles ... Executives of a lot of these companies that participated in creating this very difficult set of problems we're trying to work our way out of should not be rewarded ... as they walk away,"

In addition, Congressman Barney Frank and other have called on Mr. Mozilo to donate a portion of his generous severance package to aid subprime borrowers facing foreclosure.

Continue reading Why Angelo Mozilo's grotesque pay package is more than just a populist issue

Why Angelo Mozilo's grotesque pay package is more than just a populist issue originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Yesterday, I wrote about the need for a Congressional inquiry into the pay package given to Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) CEO Angelo Mozilo:

The people getting royally screwed over by Mozilo's pay package are the company's shareholders. Compensation committee members Harley Snyder, Robert Donato, and Oscar Robertson should be hauled before Congressional hearings to explain this abject failure of corporate governance. It would be a much better use of taxpayer resources than holding hearings on what Roger Clemens did or didn't inject into his buttocks.

Well, now it looks like we're going to get those congressional hearings. A Congressional panel invited Angelo Mozilo, Charles Prince and Stan O'Neal in to answer question on February 7th. Congressman Henry Waxman said the inquiry was part of an "ongoing investigation into executive pay."

Unfortunately, these hearings don't go far enough. The people that need to be called in are the dormant compensation committee members who signed off on this garbage, and the institutional (especially pension fund) money managers who have allowed these clowns to remain on the company's board.

All Mozilo et al. need to say is "We were given these packages by our board" and that'll be that. This is a corporate governance, and the people responsible for the systematic breakdown of corporate governance in America need to be called to answer for this failures.

Congress to question big pay for subprime bosses originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It seems like everybody loves to whine about how much CEOs earn, especially when they bank after screwing up big time. Some recent examples include E*Trade (NASDAQ: ETFC)'s Mitchell Caplan securing $11 million, Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC)'s Angelo Mozilo corralling $110 million, Citigroup (NYSE: C)'s Chuck Prince snagging $140 million and Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER)'s Stanley O'Neal pocketing a cool $161 million. Boo hoo, what about the poor shareholders?

Forget the shareholders, I say more power to these CEOs! That's right, quit your whining and accept it -- Wall Street is all about taking as much as you can, there's no compassion involved and anybody who thinks differently is in for a big surprise.

Maybe you should be congratulating these executives on their ability to get to the top and get paid for their efforts. So what if their stocks drop and all their plans go up in flames -- why shouldn't they be compensated for all their hard work and the sacrifices they've made over the years? Over the past two decades, you lazy buy-and-hold shareholders have been spoiled with excess returns, and now that you're losing, you're angry that not everyone is down in the pits with you.

Continue reading Don't whine about CEO pay, learn from these Cynical Exaggerating Opportunists (CEOs)

Don't whine about CEO pay, learn from these Cynical Exaggerating Opportunists (CEOs) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 15 Jan 2008 12:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) may have scored a shot at big tax savings with its acquisition of Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC), but it may also have acquired a liability to go along with it.

Like a lot of other subprime lenders, Countrywide's business practices are under a lot of scrutiny of late. A piece (subscription required) in today's Wall Street Journal looks at details of some of Countrywide's practices that have emerged during the bankruptcy proceedings of debtors.

There could be some liability there. There's also an SEC investigation of the perennially uber-tan Angelo Mozilo's stock sales, and shareholder lawsuits accusing the company of violating securities laws. State attorneys general are also taking a look at the company.

Of course Bank of America made efforts to estimate the extent of the possible liability before doing the deal. And the hundreds of millions Bank of America will save on its taxes because of the deal should offset the cost of any settlements with those pesky regulators. Uncle Sam giveth, Uncle Sam taketh away, but if you're Angelo Mozilo, he mostly giveth.

Will Countrywide's legal snags sour Bank of America's buyout? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.