The Wall Street Journal highlighted the recent management changes at Lehman. Effective immediately Eric Felder and Hyung Soon Lee will become global co-heads of fixed income and that Riccardo Banchetti and Christian Meissner have been appointed co-chief executive officers of Europe and the Middle East. Meanwhile, Andrew Morton, who was just tapped to run the firm's global fixed-income operations in February 2008, is leaving the firm, and Jeremy Isaacs, who since 2000 has been the firm's chief executive officer for Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, has decided to retire from the firm effective Dec. 31.
These management changes come after Herbert McDade III replaced Lehman president Joe Gregory.
This comes on top of rumors that Lehman Brothers could dole out pink slips to another 1,000 to 1,500 employees as early as Tuesday, according to The Wall Street Journal. The cuts are expected ahead of the bank's third-quarter earnings announcement Sept. 15 and follow 6,000 layoffs since last June, The New York Times reported on Aug. 28.
So is Lehman facing brain drain yet? Reports highlighting the newest executive appointments seem to be unclear if the board is shuffling management or if executives are simply jumping ship. But who could blame them if they are leaving? After all, this is the third time in four months that CEO Richard Fuld has reshuffled management, while negotiating with outside investors to sell, spin or split up the bank into itty bitty pieces. So, let's face it, given the circumstances, it's not the most secure environment to work in. As The Deal's Vipal Monga reports:
In such a negative environment, a banker says, some of Lehman's higher-profile employees will inevitably begin to leave and some customers or counterparties will lose confidence. "It's really hard to get business done when everyone feels your business is imploding," he says.
- Maria Woehr
See Lehman press release
See The Deal newsweekly: Fuld's plight
See Dealscape: Report: More job cuts at Lehman
Lost amid all the rumor and speculation surrounding Lehman Brothers Inc.'s future is news of management changes -- or should we say "brain drain"?
