Tag Archives: Lloyd Blankfein

Science & Technology

Activision’s CEO Made $65 Million Last Year

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Activision CEO Robert Kotick is among the highest-paid Chief Executive Officers in the United States. According to Reuters, Kotick made a total of $64.9 million in 2012, including $56 million in stock awards. Kotick’s salary for 2012 was $2 million, twice what he made in 2011.

Compared to other CEOs in 2012, Kotick made more than three times the $21 million earned by Goldman Sach Group Inc’s Lloyd Blankfein, and 50% more than Walt Disney CEO Robert Iger, who earned $40.2 million.

Kotick is also a board member of Coca-Cola and appeared in the 2011 film Moneyball. He became CEO of Activision in 1991, and later became CEO of Activision Blizzard after Activision joined with Vivendi in 2008.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at IGN Tech

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Obama Sits Down With the Masters of the Universe

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By David Hanson, The Motley Fool

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Thursday morning, Barack Obama met with Jamie Dimon, Lloyd Blankfein, Brian Moynihan, and other members of the country’s largest financial institutions. Let me pause for a minute to let you digest the sheer number of pinstripes and massive egos that strolled into the White House.

While the full details from the meeting between the President and financial leaders weren’t released to the public, it is encouraging to see there is at least some communication present on Capitol Hill. According to the White House, the group discussed housing, education policy, and clean energy financing. Although not explicitly stated, the bankers probably shared their thoughts on the new regulation, such as the Volcker Rule. Of these topics, bank leaders were surely heavily interested in the housing sector.

After drastic deterioration in the housing sector pushed the country into a deep recession, banks and policymakers both received most of the blame. However, looking ahead, a productive relationship between the largest money centers and housing policy makers is absolutely vital to a continued housing and broader economic recovery. The discussion comes at an interesting time, as the nation’s two largest mortgage lenders, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase are set to release earnings on Friday morning.

The two banking behemoths controlled roughly 40% of the mortgage origination market in 2012, and both experienced huge year-over-year revenue increases, as customers’ refinancing accounted for roughly three out of four mortgages. The high refinancing volume was predominantly driven by customers with equity in their homes who jumped at the chance to lock in record low interest rates.

However, the refinancing market is expected to slow, and volume is likely to decline. Enter a necessary productive housing policy. As the refinancing volume becomes a smaller piece of the pie, policymakers and lenders are going to need to be increasingly more in sync. While no one wants to a return to an era of shoddy lending, there is certainly a middle ground that allows banks to support the sector and housing policy while maintaining credit standards.

With the election out of the way, Obama and these leaders may actually be able to make some positive contributions.

With so much of the financial industry getting bad press these days, it may be a “greedy when others are fearful” moment. Not surprisingly, some of Warren Buffett‘s biggest investments are in the space. In the Motley Fool‘s free report, The Stocks Only the Smartest Investors Are Buying, you can learn about a small, under-the-radar bank that’s too tiny for Buffett’s billions. Too bad, because it has better operating metrics than his favorites. Just click here to keep reading.

The article Obama Sits Down With the Masters of the Universe originally appeared on Fool.com.


David Hanson has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Wells Fargo. The Motley Fool owns shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/11/obama-sits-down-with-the-masters-of-the-universe/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

If Jamie Dimon Lived in Iceland, He Might Be Facing Jail Time

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By John Grgurich, The Motley Fool

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It should come as no surprise that Iceland, a country that’s happy to prosecute its own prime minister over gross negligence relating to actions leading up to the financial crisis, is also more than happy to put a few former bank CEOs in the dock.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon should count his lucky millions he doesn’t live a few thousand miles farther east.

The iceman cometh
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Iceland‘s special prosecutor is indicting two former CEOs for “stock price manipulation and securities fraud” relating to the financial crash, which Iceland experienced as intensely as any other country.  

The special prosecutor alleges that the CEOs and other staff lent money to people so they could buy stock and prop up share prices. In March 2012, the tiny country put former prime minister Geir Haarde on trial for “gross negligence” in matters relating to the crash, which caused three of its biggest banks to fail, and sent the country into drastic recession. 

Too big too jail
Does any of this behavior sound familiar? Irresponsible actions at many of our biggest banks wreaked similar havoc across our own banking system and economy. So why hasn’t the U.S. seen any of its bank CEOs, let alone any of its politicians, go on trial for similar charges?

What everyone has suspected for years was actually confirmed several weeks ago by Attorney General Eric Holder: not only are our biggest banks too big to fail, they’re also too big to jail. In congressional testimony, Holder said that fear of repercussions to the economy have prevented the Justice Department from pursuing criminal cases against top management.  

Imagine Jamie Dimon sitting in the dock in federal court, day in and day out for weeks or months, with investors and the country waiting on pins and needles to see whether or not he’s going to go to jail. Would the stock crash? Would depositors pull their money? Would it cause a run that would necessitate the federal government stepping in — again — with bailout money?

The same could be said for a case against Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs. And if you put Ken Lewis, the former CEO of Bank of America on trial, who’s to say how that might affect the solvency of the superbank now, even though Lewis is gone? Because once you open this Pandora’s box of criminal prosecutions, depositors and investors might rightly think, where does it all stop?

Foolish bottom line
I hate to say it, but Holder is probably right, at least as far as the system stands right now. There is too much risk to the economy to put current or former top management on trial for crisis-related behavior, though its arguable that jail time is the only way to seriously curb bad-banking culture.

Sure, we’ve seen lots of fines levied, but none big enough to seriously injure any banks. And again, you really can’t …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance