Wells Fargo Move

[SydneyCarton]

21 minutes ago, atlrvr said:

Wells market cap = $223B which is more than 3x GS or MS which are both slightly under $75B.

Ok.

Anyway, let’s hope for the best.  Getting the HQ would be great.

Edited March 29, 2019 by SydneyCarton

[RiverwoodCLT]

From what I have read,   State of California has cut all business with Well Fargo.

[Dale]

3 minutes ago, RiverwoodCLT said:

From what I have read,   State of California has cut all business with Well Fargo.

Y’all come on over!

[KJHburg]

Top story in the Wall Street Journal today aka Tryon Street North Journal 

 

[csweet]

With the new HQ move from BB&T and SunTrust, it is logical for Wells to move complete operations to increase their market share as well as dominance in the region. 

[CLT2014]

2 hours ago, csweet said:

With the new HQ move from BB&T and SunTrust, it is logical for Wells to move complete operations to increase their market share as well as dominance in the region. 

Market share of deposits? You don't need to have your HQ somewhere to be #1 in deposits. 

[KJHburg]

American Banker magazine handicaps the Wells CEO search.  The choice of where this person comes from could determine if the CEO sits in Charlotte and finally Wells gives up their embattled California home state.  I pulling for a regional bank exec or a former bank regulator. 

https://www.americanbanker.com/list/who-will-be-wells-fargos-next-ceo

Here is a Fox Business story about the search with some more names

https://www.foxbusiness.com/financials/wells-fargos-task-in-new-ceo-search-find-the-next-jamie-dimon

We should have some kind of CEO Final 4 contest and everyone pick the winner!  

Edited April 3, 2019 by KJHburg

[DMann]

Anyone remember Al DeMolina or David (can't remember his last name) from First Union?

[KJHburg]

He was an exec DeMolina who I think was with BofA then went to Ally right after they took govt. bailout money and changed the company name from GMAC to Ally.

I was thinking about this so more Charlotte has several other bank execs the new Wells Fargo could meet here in Charlotte including the CEO of Ally, the new 6th largest bank BBTSunTrust will be be here and several top execs with BofA are based here and live here too.   Maybe CEO Brian Moyihan doesnt spend much time here but he has made No move to move HQ out of Charlotte. 

I hope the CEO will be based here and Wells officially moves the HQ from California.  their non customer facing employment in California has been dropping for years as it is so expensive a place to do business and the regulatory environment  are even worse in California.    Here is one.  https://calaborlaw.com/california-meal-break-law-for-employees/  and yes you can sue for employer if they mess up! 

 

[Zeitgeist_4131]

2 hours ago, DMann said:

Anyone remember Al DeMolina or David (can't remember his last name) from First Union?

David Carroll. He retired from Wells Fargo last year (or in 2017...don't remember for sure). He wouldn't be considered because he's not external.

[queensguy06]

This Bloomberg article from today makes it clear that Wells isn't even close to finding a new CEO at this point.

"No formal talks with possible successors have begun and a recruiting firm had yet to be selected as of late Tuesday, a person familiar with the matter said. The San Francisco-based bank declined to comment on the process. One tally of supposed candidates lists more than two dozen men and women."

Edited April 3, 2019 by queensguy06

[KJHburg]

This article is very interesting and great news for Charlotte.  Wells Fargo is adding space and adding seats aka desks for 1900 more people in Charlotte!  This is a subscriber article but here are some highlights of it.

Wells is taking all 360,000 sq ft in 300 South Brevard long known on this board and is giving up 380,000 sq ft in One Wells Fargo by 2021 but will still occupy 400K in that building!

Wells is not renewing leases in 3 Wells Fargo and will eventually take over 100,000 sq ft more in that building that they own.  That means those tenants will be looking for new space and that includes one of the largest law firms in the city.    The bank owns 3 Wells.  Parker Poe a huge law firm sounds like they need a new home! 

Now onto the bank owned Duke Energy Center

""At Duke Energy Center, Wells will grow from 625,000 square feet to about 780,000 square feet, which represents about two-thirds of the tower. Several third-party tenants have recently outgrown their space there or will soon relocate elsewhere in uptown, space that Wells has backfilled as companies have exited.   "We've talked to (Duke Energy) about whether they’d be vacating any of the space in our building because we'd take it," Bertges said. "They weren’t interested in that. ... They love that building."

""Following the upcoming moves, Wells Fargo will occupy 6.5 million square feet across the market. Wells Fargo generally houses its revenue units in uptown, while operational and support jobs are in north Charlotte.  Bertges said the bank isn't likely to build another uptown tower anytime soon, despite recent growth in Charlotte.  "We have the opportunity to build additional buildings out at Ballantyne," he said, adding he doesn't think other major real estate moves would be done in the near term.     The moves will shift more of Wells' uptown space into bank-owned buildings, which Bertges said is intentional.  "We’re always evaluating the value of owning a building versus leasing space," Bertges said. "We always run a pretty deep analysis of the benefit of both."""

Here is the last number:    Wells Fargo employs 25,700 here in the metro area and what they do and their CEO search is of utmost important to Charlotte.    All in all what Wells is doing is moving to its own buildings just like Bank of America has done like  3 Wells Fargo and Duke Energy and spreading out people in different buildings.  

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2019/04/03/exclusive-why-wells-fargo-is-headed-for-a-real.html

 

Edited April 3, 2019 by KJHburg

[Popsickle]

As far as the naming of Duke Energy Center...how does the naming for that building work?  Is Duke paying rights since Wells owns the building? (I thought that since the 08 crash Duke took space and naming rights...could be wrong) Since Duke is building a new tower and Wells is taking more space; will this affect the naming?

[KJHburg]

Also that article states Wells is vacating more of the upper floors of One Wells Fargo as the floorplates are smaller and the floorplates are huge over at 300 South Brevard 40,000 sq ft a floor. However higher floors are also more popular in this city for law firms and others so they should release fairly quick.

3 minutes ago, Popsickle said:

As far as the naming of Duke Energy Center...how does the naming for that building work?  Is Duke paying rights since Wells owns the building? (I thought that since the 08 crash Duke took space and naming rights...could be wrong) Since Duke is building a new tower and Wells is taking more space; will this affect the naming?

Nope many of the formerly owned Bank of America building like Hearst and 5/3 (they sold them as of late ) Bof A was and still is the largest tenants.  There are only so many buildings a bank wants to have their name on.  So I guess we will have a Duke Energy Center and Duke Metro Tower or something for the new building.    Let the uptown shuffle begin and it will result in new buildings for others.  Wells having just bought Wachovia and that building was glad to have Duke come in and give them naming rights but now the dream of the old Wachovia comes around and Wells will occupy 2/3 of the tower with the new space they are taking there.   Regions was first in at 615 South College got naming rights but WeWork is the biggest tenant in that building.  

Edited April 3, 2019 by KJHburg

[KJHburg]

If we named every building uptown for the largest tenants we would have Bank of America 1,2,3, 4,5, 6,7, 8 etc and I am not kidding.

Wells Fargo would have 1,2,3,4,5 Wells Fargo   People used to and probably still do think I was crazy when I  pointed at towers back in the day and say 1 FU, 2 FU, 3 FU

[KJHburg]

More Wells Fargo news and everyone can see this article 

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2019/04/04/former-wells-fargo-ceo-talks-decision-to-step-down.html

[KJHburg]

Warren Buffet weighs in on the Wells CEO search and he says look outside of Wall Street.  (and this may benefit Charlotte more too especially if CEO moves here instead of San Fran and HQ is moved here)

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/07/warren-buffet-calls-for-wells-fargo-to-look-beyond-wall-street-for-next-ceo.html

[KJHburg]

Wells Fargo to sell retirement division to Principal of Des  Moines however it sounds like they will keep chunk if not all of the 800 workers in that division currently here in Charlotte.  However I would expect them to move out of their Wells offices uptown and at the CIC on Harris Blvd to their own space.

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2019/04/09/wells-fargo-sells-retirement-trust-business-in-1.html

[KJHburg]

Even under the tight leash of the Fed Wells beat earning expectations and that is good news for Charlotte.   This is the Largest financial employer in this city regardless of where it is headquartered.  

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2019/04/12/wells-fargo-beats-analyst-predictions-in-first.html

Edited April 12, 2019 by KJHburg

[atlrvr]

Cathy Bessant, head of operations and technology at BofA and based here in Charlotte, has been rumored as the favorite of Wells Fargo's board as the CEO search gets underway.

[KJHburg]

4 hours ago, atlrvr said:

Cathy Bessant, head of operations and technology at BofA and based here in Charlotte, has been rumored as the favorite of Wells Fargo's board as the CEO search gets underway.

She would be great and is committed to Charlotte!   

[KJHburg]

from the Business Journal this morning

""In other news, Reuters cites unnamed sources in what the news service is calling an exclusive report on Wells Fargo & Co.'s (NYSE: WFC) hiring of Spencer Stuart to lead the search for its next CEO. The bank aspires to be the first of its peers to have a woman at the helm, according to the report — and, as previously noted, it is seeking an outsider to fill its top job. That's after years of being mired in scandal following the 2016 revelation that millions of fraudulent accounts had been created by Wells Fargo workers in attempts to meet sales quotas. The CEO search began following the abrupt exit of Tim Sloan from that post about a month ago.""

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2019/04/29/cbj-morning-buzz-well-known-charlotte-retail-shop.html

[KJHburg]

Not exec or headquarters related but Wells Fargo commits to 5 more years at Quail Hollow CC for the Wells Fargo Championship.

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2019/04/30/wells-fargo-extends-charlotte-golf-sponsorship.html

[KJHburg]

Wells Fargo real estate exec retiring and here is a subscriber story about it in the Business Journal.  He talks about the Levine Arts campus on South Tryon which the city gave a budget and Wells Fargo or Wachovia at the time coordinated and built.  He also says room for 2 more buildings at Ballantyne and he even briefly touched on a subject before he was in that position.  The 80 story 1000 foot tall plus Four First Union Tower which I have attached a photo from the story.   This was proposed in late 1990s.  I remember reading about this never built tower at the time. 

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2019/05/16/real-estate-exec-at-wells-fargo-on-the-most-fun.html

quote from the article about it and it was 80 occupied floors 

""Not all visions were realized, like the proposed 100-story tower for First Union back in the 1990s.  That happened right before I came into real estate but it was where the main building and the plaza was. It was designed very much (like the Transamerica Building in San Francisco). It would have been a real statement. But I think Mr. Crutchfield decided there would be more efficient ways to use that capital at that time. It would have been remarkable for Charlotte. Back then, it was funny because there really was a divide in Charlotte. Trade Street was the divide. (North Carolina National Bank) was at one end and First Union was at the other, and it was almost like you wouldn’t walk across.  The world is a lot more flat now and our competition is from many, many, many places. When we built this building, I can remember talking to (former Wachovia CEO) Ken Thompson about it and Ken was very pointed in telling me, "I don’t care if it’s the largest building in Charlotte but I don’t want it to be the tallest building in Charlotte because I don’t want people to think we’re in a game here. We’re building a building because we need the space, not because we’re trying to make a statement."""

and if you have lived in Charlotte long enough you remember the Red zone Nationsbank Bank of America areas and Green Zone First Union Wachovia zone.   Now the zones have been blurred and both are red! 

[KJHburg]

story from the San Fran Chronicle about how Wells is shrinking (along with the other big banks) in Bay area.  16,000 employed in the Bay area vs 26,000 in Charlotte. Wells has 2 M sq ft in San Fran and has that much square footage is just the CIC on Harris Blvd which is 2 million sq ft not counting Wells massive uptown leases and Ballantyne lease.

To me this is even more reason why the new CEO needs to sit here in Charlotte to be closer to more employees and still convenient to NYC and San Fran.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Wall-Street-West-no-more-SF-s-banks-14275047.php