Jimmy Cayne has better things to do than deal with silly Wall Street crises
The W$J has a big front-page story on Bear Stearns CEO James Cayne's priorities:
During 10 critical days of this crisis -- one of the worst in the securities firm's 84-year history -- Bear's chief executive wasn't near his Wall Street office. James Cayne was playing in a bridge tournament in Nashville, Tenn., without a cellphone or an email device. In one closely watched competition, his team placed in the top third.
As Bear's fund meltdown was helping spark this year's mortgage-market and credit convulsions, Mr. Cayne at times missed key events. At a tense August conference call with investors, he left after a few opening words and listeners didn't know when he returned. In summer weeks, he typically left the office on Thursday afternoon and spent Friday at his New Jersey golf club, out of touch for stretches, according to associates and golf records. In the critical month of July, he spent 10 of the 21 workdays out of the office, either at the bridge event or golfing, according to golf, bridge and hotel records.
I can't quite decide whether I find this admirable or appalling, but I'm leaning toward the former. I guess I just like the idea of a major Wall Street firm being run by a pot-smoking former scrap-iron salesman who doesn't carry his Blackberry with him much of the time and lets his underlings do their jobs without too much interference (yup, all in the article). Then again, I'm not a Bear Stearns shareholder. I'd say the WSJ article puts Cayne back at or near the top of the endangered financial CEO list.
Update: Gotta love this, from the FT:
Dick Bove, an analyst at Punk, Ziegel, said in a research note that the Journal article could increase the likelihood that Bear will be a takeover candidate. “This article clearly places the company in play because it is more likely that Mr Cayne will sell Bear Stearns before he will retire in disgrace,” Mr Bove said.
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I just thought you can expand the title of your post...
Jimmy Cayne has better things to do than deal with silly Wall Street crises...that's right, sit back and handle his munchies craving.
I'm really surprised that W$J would throw this in the middle of the article with very little around it:
Attendees say Mr. Cayne has sometimes smoked marijuana at the end of the day during bridge tournaments. He also has used pot in more private settings, according to people who say they witnessed him doing so or participated with him.
After a day of bridge at a Doubletree hotel in Memphis, in 2004, Mr. Cayne invited a fellow player and a woman to smoke pot with him, according to someone who was there, and led the two to a lobby men's room where he intended to light up. The other player declined, says the person who was there, but the woman followed Mr. Cayne inside and shared a joint, to the amusement of a passerby.
Mr. Cayne denied emphatically that such an incident occurred. "There is no chance that it happened," he said. "Zero chance."
Asked more generally whether he smoked pot during bridge tournaments or on other occasions, Mr. Cayne said he would respond only "to a specific allegation," not to general questions.
Amazing. Just goes to show, a little pot goes a long way, even for a Wall Street giant. Now pass me the bowl.
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Is it just me, or does it seem that the Wall St. Journal went the sensationalist route touting not once, but several references to Mr. Cayne's alleged indulgence in marijuana.
Not that the information that the CEO of a major investment bank is using recreational drugs isn't important, but the tone in the article suggests less of a news story for investors as something we would find with some of Mr. Murdoch's other supermarket publications.
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I wonder how large his "severance" package is going to be. After all Stanley O'Neal received a $159 MILLION package from Merrill Lynch.
Gotta love this country--where else can a corporate CEO royally screw up and receive a large reward for it? Unlike the rest of us mere mortal working folk.
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I think the better point is that Cayne hangs out with Maury Povich. I doubt the two work on business deals, though I bet they could do a show together:
http://www.starkmanassociates.com/index.php/2007/11/05/bear-stearns-jimmy-cayne/ -
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