I've sent the letter pasted below to the WSJ, Herb Greenberg, and the NY Times...hopefully it will gain some sort of traction...thought some of you guys might like to look at it:
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To whom it may concern,
I think it would be a great story to note a few things. With the brewing scandal regarding subprime loans, NEW and LEND have been grabbing a lot of headlines. Another institution which has made a lot of press is Countrywide because they are the largest mortgage lender.
The CEO, Angelo Mozilo was on CNBC's Closing Bell program today discussing the issue and stating his case. While he didn't paint a pretty picture for the future, he did note, in his own words, "that at the end of the day, this will be good for Countrywide."
It is curious to note that Mr. Mozilo has sold 386,000 shares of Countrywide holdings in the last two weeks alone! If you want to go back further you can see that he has sold many many more than just 386,000 shares:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=CFC
As you can see at the link below, Mr. Mozilo has depleted his holdings to a paltry sum compared to what he once held:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=CFC
It is extremely interesting to note that Mr. Mozilo sold these shares under the umbrella of a 10b5-1 which is prearranged. The curiosity is why this man arranged the plan in the first place. It is commonly shunned when a CEO or major insider unloads so many shares in this manner.
The real questions arise when you factor in that the company is buying back up to 1/8th of their outstanding shares. The CEO unloading stock mixed with a company buyback in a declining market is not in the best interest of shareholders and Mr. Mozilo would seemingly have some explaining to do as to how anything he has done recently, from the buyback to selling almost all of his holdings to his appearance on CNBC, equate to shareholder interests.
It just seems to me that there are more than a few lingering questions regarding the actions of this man and the company. It's a disturbing trend to see such large businesses go bust and Mr. Mozilo's sale of stock lends(sic) to the idea that he is heading for the hills and kosher doesn't exactly come to mind as a verb when you factor in some of the above.
Information regarding the stock buyback:
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=OBR&date=20061024&id=6130110
I thank you for your time in reading this email and I hope that it makes for interesting reading material for you. I feel that investors would be aghast to see such a large corporation chugging on in this looming scandal in such a dysfunctional manner.
You are one of the better luminaries to break scandalous Wall St. activity and this one is of epic proportions...please don't ignore it.
Regards,
******
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To whom it may concern,
I think it would be a great story to note a few things. With the brewing scandal regarding subprime loans, NEW and LEND have been grabbing a lot of headlines. Another institution which has made a lot of press is Countrywide because they are the largest mortgage lender.
The CEO, Angelo Mozilo was on CNBC's Closing Bell program today discussing the issue and stating his case. While he didn't paint a pretty picture for the future, he did note, in his own words, "that at the end of the day, this will be good for Countrywide."
It is curious to note that Mr. Mozilo has sold 386,000 shares of Countrywide holdings in the last two weeks alone! If you want to go back further you can see that he has sold many many more than just 386,000 shares:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=CFC
As you can see at the link below, Mr. Mozilo has depleted his holdings to a paltry sum compared to what he once held:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=CFC
It is extremely interesting to note that Mr. Mozilo sold these shares under the umbrella of a 10b5-1 which is prearranged. The curiosity is why this man arranged the plan in the first place. It is commonly shunned when a CEO or major insider unloads so many shares in this manner.
The real questions arise when you factor in that the company is buying back up to 1/8th of their outstanding shares. The CEO unloading stock mixed with a company buyback in a declining market is not in the best interest of shareholders and Mr. Mozilo would seemingly have some explaining to do as to how anything he has done recently, from the buyback to selling almost all of his holdings to his appearance on CNBC, equate to shareholder interests.
It just seems to me that there are more than a few lingering questions regarding the actions of this man and the company. It's a disturbing trend to see such large businesses go bust and Mr. Mozilo's sale of stock lends(sic) to the idea that he is heading for the hills and kosher doesn't exactly come to mind as a verb when you factor in some of the above.
Information regarding the stock buyback:
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=OBR&date=20061024&id=6130110
I thank you for your time in reading this email and I hope that it makes for interesting reading material for you. I feel that investors would be aghast to see such a large corporation chugging on in this looming scandal in such a dysfunctional manner.
You are one of the better luminaries to break scandalous Wall St. activity and this one is of epic proportions...please don't ignore it.
Regards,
******
