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Bank of America - Merrill Lynch Merger

peaceloveunderstanding

By peaceloveunderstanding
in Charlotte

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cltbwimob Burg

cltbwimob

Posted
Posted

Here is hopefully some good news for Charlotte and it's prospects of keeping BofA's HQ.

The most telling lines of the story:

DuPont chairman Chad Holliday Jr., a friend who is the newest member of Bank of America's board of directors, introduced Rogers.

"I look forward to many trips to here year after year," said Holliday, a member of the committee searching for a replacement for outgoing bank CEO Ken Lewis.

The audience applauded, and he said, "Good catch."

Asked later whether Charlotte can be confident about retaining the bank's headquarters, Holliday said, "I don't know anybody who brought up the idea of moving the headquarters."

Rogers said he was proud of Holliday's tenure as CEO of DuPont and added, "I'm also proud that you're on the board of Bank of America and that Charlotte is going to be your new home."

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kermit Megalopolis

kermit

Posted
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Aparaently Ken Lewis has offered to delay his retirement in order to give the board more time to find a successor:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704533904574548170106937090.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTWhatsNews

The most interesting part of the article was the confirmation of what we heard Monday about the HQ location:

"One widely rumored bargaining chip isn't on the table in discussions with CEO candidates, people with knowledge of the process said. The board hasn't offered to move the company's headquarters from its longtime hometown,"

Sorry about the recycled newspaper post

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kermit Megalopolis

kermit

Posted
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Hidden in a story about TARP repayment (and the associated capital raise) It appears Greg Curl has become the front runner for CEO:

http://online.wsj.co...s_LEFTWhatsNews

"Mr. Curl may be installed as interim CEO, people familiar with the matter said, although that move might not be imminent."

EDIT: Well, the revision to the story (two hours after the original was posted) removed the above statement and replaced it with this:

"A person familiar with the process said directors have made no decision on Mr. Lewis's successor."

http://online.wsj.co...s_LEFTWhatsNews

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kermit Megalopolis

kermit

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WCNC is reporting that the CEO for Bank of America is "close."

For what it's worth, Tony Plath was interviewed and said that he believes that in the end, Bob Kelly, CEO of BNY Mellon, gets the job. Since he is a former Wachovia head, I am assuming he would not try an HQ relocation.

Interesting HQ related quotes from the WSJ story on Kelly's rejection of the job: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703954904574596413322674146.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTWhatsNews

"Mr. Kelly also raised the possibility of moving Bank of America's headquarters to New York and becoming chairman."

"Bank of America's board has been reluctant to move the company out of its longtime hometown, where it is a major employer and synonymous with Charlotte's economic rise over the past two decades."

Sounds like the new board is more pro-Charlotte than we had feared and Kelly was not so enthusiastic about returning.

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cltbwimob Burg

cltbwimob

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Interesting HQ related quotes from the WSJ story on Kelly's rejection of the job: http://online.wsj.co...s_LEFTWhatsNews

"Mr. Kelly also raised the possibility of moving Bank of America's headquarters to New York and becoming chairman."

"Bank of America's board has been reluctant to move the company out of its longtime hometown, where it is a major employer and synonymous with Charlotte's economic rise over the past two decades."

Sounds like the new board is more pro-Charlotte than we had feared and Kelly was not so enthusiastic about returning.

Thanks for posting that. I was not too happy when I heard he was staying at BNY Mellon because I thought he would be committed to Charlotte. After reading your post, I am glad to see that a true disaster for Charlotte may have potentially been averted, if the WSJ is correct. I am also beginning to think the Board of Directors just may have the best interest of the city in mind. To be fair though, the compensation cited in earlier reports from today could have been the problem in getting Kelly to reject the offer. At any rate, this might have been a blessing in disguise for Charlotte.

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kermit Megalopolis

kermit

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Wile there is not much of substance in this blog entry on Moynihan's speech this morning I did think it was interesting that someone at the WSJ parsed the headquarters issue so closely.

"Moynihan mentioned the Tar heel state eight times. Several times he stressed the bank’s Carolina roots and its commitment to the North Carolina economy."

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2010/01/04/bofas-moynihan-nothing-could-be-finer-than-north-carolina/

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kermit Megalopolis

kermit

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Monday's journal features an article on Moynihan's new 'make nice with Washington strategy". The article features this tidbit on the HQ location:

"Now that Bank of America gets a substantial chunk of its overall revenue and profits from the former Merrill Lynch & Co., it is increasingly likely that the company will establish dual headquarters in New York and Charlotte, say people familiar with conversations inside the bank."

I can see good and bad here (but considering that Moynihan maintains an office in NY where Lewis did not (according to the article) I mostly see bad)

http://online.wsj.co...eTabs%3Darticle

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cltbwimob Burg

cltbwimob

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Monday's journal features an article on Moynihan's new 'make nice with Washington strategy". The article features this tidbit on the HQ location:

I can see good and bad here (but considering that Moynihan maintains an office in NY where Lewis did not (according to the article) I mostly see bad)

http://online.wsj.co...eTabs%3Darticle

I think the line about the HQ issue has been tweaked a little... Here is how it currnetly reads:

Other changes are coming. Now that Bank of America gets a substantial chunk of its overall revenue and profits from the former Merrill Lynch & Co., people inside the company say it could establish dual headquarters in New York and Charlotte. No decision has been reached, and it isn't clear how wide-ranging the headquarters discussions are.

Notice how it changes from being "likely" to just "could happen" and "people familiar with conversations inside the bank" becomes "people inside the company", so I think the WSJ may be backing off of it's original statement, or at least tweaking it a little to not make the dual HQ idea seem imminent.

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HopHead City

HopHead

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Well, it did not take long but BofA already released a statement this morning saying that: "There is zero factual basis for this idea of dual headquarters," said bank spokesman Larry Di Rita. "Brian (Moynihan, the chief executive) has been unequivocal that the headquarters are in Charlotte. ...There’s no thinking, planning, or discussions to the contrary."

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cityboi Metropolitan Area

cityboi

Posted
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If rumors are true, then its a concern. Dual headquarters never work out in the long run. Eventually there would have to be a choice between the two cities. When Bank of America was once NCNB, there was a time when there was a dual headquarters in Charlotte and Greensboro. Eventually when the bank decided to pick one city for the headquarters, they went for the larger city that had more of a financial presence. With the Merrill Lynch Merger there is already a larger BofA presence in New York than Charlotte and that explains why we are hearing these rumors. Also the new Bank of America tower in New York that was completed last year is just as large as the corporate headquarters in Charlotte so they would already have a building ready for such a move. The timing of all this seems suspect. But even if these talks are rumor based this should be a concern to Charlotte. The city already lost Wachovia to Wells Fargo. Symbolically, there are those (in the New York media) out there that thinks the Bank of America belongs in New York so it may be a case of sour grapes for the Merrill Lynch loss. The media up there wants to stir the pot. If B of A did decide to move to New York in the future, I would expect that Charlotte would still remain a major center of operations for Bank of America (regional headquarters) but a move would clearly be a major blow to Charlotte's pride and ranking as a financial city.

“We’re committed to maintaining everything we do for Charlotte,” Moynihan told the Observer then. “It’s just that simple.”

someone on the blogs pointed out that what he meant was that B of A would always support community programs, ect.

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Urbanity Burg

Urbanity

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Many readers leaving comments on the Charlotte Observer article are doubtful that BofA will stay headquartered in the South.

http://blogs.wsj.com...sing-charlotte/

hysterical.gif

Using the comment section of the Observer as a source/backing argument in this story is hysterical! Talk about sinking to the low depths of journalism.

I think Uptownliving had it right" Sounds like more sour grapes reporting from NYC based media....they still can't get in their heads that one of the largest financial companies is not based in NYC. "

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49er Hamlet

49er

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Agreed regarding the comments. The Observer would be a lot more credible without the comments. 95% of what I see posted is pure nonsense and often times pretty rude. Behind the safe confines of their keyboards people will say anything

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Commoner Whistle-Stop

Commoner

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Its not just the Observer, either. The local media has been completely irresponsible in reporting on this story non-story. They must have seized on it as a ratings boost or something.

WBTV has been the worst with over-the-top and sensationalist reporting on BAC stories for the past year. Their coverage of the BAC/MER investigation by Cuomo shows zero understanding of the issue or (just as importantly) the procedure. Their coverage of CEO and HQ rumors is nothing but sensational. I never imagined they would cover a local institution so irresponsibly. One reporter comes to mind...

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HopHead City

HopHead

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WBTV has been the worst with over-the-top and sensationalist reporting on BAC stories for the past year. Their coverage of the BAC/MER investigation by Cuomo shows zero understanding of the issue or (just as importantly) the procedure. Their coverage of CEO and HQ rumors is nothing but sensational. I never imagined they would cover a local institution so irresponsibly. One reporter comes to mind...

Though there are exceptions, for the most part the local Charlotte media coverage is embarrassing quite often. I've been to and lived in other cities of similar size or smaller that have better reporting. Charlotte tends to be so sensitive and will make a story out of nothing, such as what you mentioned with BAC.

EDIT: I should also add that actually using comments from an online newspaper such as the Observer as an indicator to how people feel about a major hometown corporation like BAC is even worse reporting. Yes, I'm talking to you Wall Street Journal.

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