justen

On Tuesday, I posted about Jim Cayne was resigning as chief executive from Bear Stearns, the first exit of the four “top execs” I said might soon be sent packing (see the original post from back in November). Today, Angelo Mozilo sold his (apparently nearly bankrupt) Countrywide Financial to Bank of America (the Wall Street Journal is calling it a “rescue deal”), a disgraceful exit from CEOland for him and an even more tragic ending for Countrywide shareholders.

Mozilo gave the usual quote: “We believe this is the right decision for our shareholders, customers and employees.” I guess the $110 million severance package he stands to pocket didn’t hurt, though, did it? (For comparison, just a few days ago, Countrywide was worth barely $3 billion. Drawing a $110 million severance from a nearly-bankrupt $3 billion company… That ought to be criminal. Of course, Bank of America is now the one picking up the tab, but try telling that to Countrywide shareholders, who have seen their stock plummet to its lowest point in over a decade.)

Just in case you need the visual, I updated the graphic from November, and here’s where we stand…

With Cayne and now Mozilo down for the count, that leaves us with Todd Farha at WellCare and George Halvorson at Kaiser Permanente.

At this rate, one ought to be resigning by Monday, but I don’t think we’ll be quite that lucky. I do hear that membership at KP has taken a nasty an even nastier turn after last year’s dismal results, which means we could have news on the Halvorson Retirement Party planning as early as mid-February. More on that front later today, though…