Philip Purcell, the CEO of Morgan Stanley, who has been faced with a lot of criticism, sent a letter to the firm’s employees announcing his plans to retire.
Purcell will be gone by March 2006 at the latest. A certain group of shareholders should be content that he is leaving, though none of them are eligible to take his place. For now, he is staying around until a suitable replacement is found.
The group that has been calling for Purcell’s termination feels that he has ruined the company’s reputation. According to Financial Times,
The board has hired headhunters Spencer Stuart to find a successor, but Charles Knight, head of the board’s compensation committee, said it had ruled out as possible candidates any of the group of eight dissident former directors that have been campaigning for Mr Purcell’s removal…
He also ruled out any of the five members of the management committee who quit following a management reshuffle in March and John Mack, a former president of Morgan Stanley.
A month ago, the group of eight wrote Morgan Stanley’s board a letter calling for the spin off of its institutional securities business. “The proposed spin off is motivated by a belief that the board of Morgan Stanley faces an immediate crisis and that the firm has been badly served by its present management and leadership,” it said.
Purcell did agree in April to spin off the the company’s Discover credit card business, which he founded. Today he said that the strategy of combining institutional and retail securities was the way to go.
“The whole is greater than the sum of the parts and clearly more important than any one part. Even in the midst of the distractions of recent months, the firm’s integrated securities strategy is coming together and will certainly bring great success in the future.”
Chris is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest ebusiness news.
