Another one bites the dust
Posted
Jan 10 2008, 04:18 AM
by
Matt Koppenheffer
Rating:
The turbulence at the top on Wall Street continues. Bear Stearns will be sporting a new CEO now that Jimmy Cayne has announced that he is stepping down from the position. Cayne is now the third major Wall Street firm with a new chief, following the shake-ups at Merrill Lynch and Citigroup.
It doesn't come as all that much of a surprise that Bear would make a change -- along with Merrill and Citi, the firm and its stock have been among the worst hit by the recent market turbulence. Unlike some of its other competitors, though, underperformance at Bear wasn't as localized to the debt markets, suggesting that there may be some bigger underlying problems.
The shift at Bear, however, doesn't come with as much hope of a new direction. The firm's new CEO will be Alan Schwartz, who has been at Bear for 30 years. Cayne isn't fading into the sunset either -- he'll be staying on as non-executive Chairman and claims that he will keep the same office and work the same number of hours. It sounds like it may end up being a new face with the same old game.
The news hasn't caused any change in sentiment on CAPS, where investors have staunchly stuck the stock with a rock-bottom one-star rating. Nobody seems to be comforted by the executive shuffle, and opinion continues to skew toward the thoughts of MCKIrobert, who said over the summer that "subprime mortgage loses are the tip of the iceberg for this company."
(Full disclosure: I do not have a financial position in any of the companies mentioned.)
