Just because people work together, doesn't mean they like each other.
On Wall Street, just because people work together, doesn't mean they don't want to stab each other in the back.
When that happens between two people at the top of the heap, you have an epic breakup on your hands.
Steve Kaplan, a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, comments on the cutthroat environment that exists in the upper echelon in finance:
“What happens is people spend time politicking, which has some costs. It’s the CEO’s or the board’s job either to try to get them to stop feuding, or you remove one.”
We've collected the nastiest, most embarrassing breakups from the world of finance to show just how ugly things can get.
Whether it's due to gross misconduct, oversized egos, strategic differences, or poor performance, these executive exits have become the stuff of legends.
Sallie Krawcheck left Citigroup amidst tensions with then-CEO Vikram Pandit.
Once CFO at Citi, Krawcheck received a public demotion and became chairwoman of wealth management at the firm in 2007. It became clear she and Pandit did not share the same corporate vision, and a decision to accelerate stripping Krawcheck of further responsibilities prompted her to leave Citi in 2008. According to the New York Times, she lost seven pounds shortly thereafter and told friends it felt like she got a divorce.
But this one incident didn’t keep Krawcheck down. Less than a year later, she was hired by Bank of America to integrate Merrill Lynch into the firm. When Krawcheck left, she received a golden parachute of $6 million in 2011.
Peter Lewis was ousted from HSBC over allegations of lewd behavior in the changing room of the company gym.
Lewis, who had been in a monogamous homosexual relationship for a decade prior to the incident, lasted just eight weeks as HSBC's Global Head of Equity Trading. He denied any inappropriate acts and sued the firm for wrongful termination, claiming he was fired due to his sexual orientation.
Lewis sued HSBC for £5 million, but didn't get a penny. He went on to become the CEO for MF Global Hong Kong, and currently runs his own consulting firm in Hong Kong.
Jeff Gundlach had a lot of dirty laundry aired after he was fired and sued by TCW.
Gundlach, who served as CIO, was allegedly caught plotting to start his own firm , DoubleLine Capital, after a falling out with CEO Marc Stern and subsequently fired in 2009. The firm accused him of stealing proprietary information, and revealed that it found pornography and drug paraphernalia in his office. In return, Gundlach countersued for unpaid wages.
After a jury awarded Gundlach and some colleagues $66.7 million in unpaid wages but also found him guilty of breaching his fiduciary duty, the two sides reached a confidential settlement in early 2012.
It's clear Gundlach hasn't lost his magic touch. His recent trade recommendation (short yen, long Nikkei) has performed fabulously.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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