Yet another Wall Street heavy has weighed in on Vikram Pandit's surprise resignation from Citigroup. John Mack, former chairman and CEO of Morgan Stanley, spoke with Bloomberg Television about Pandit's departure, saying that "there was a view clearly by shareholders that change was a good thing." Mack said, "Clearly there was unhappiness with the board" and "at the end of the day the CEO has to have a close relationship with his board."
Mack said that although he voted for Obama in the last election, he supports Romney, saying that he Obama told him and colleagues at the White House that "we need to work together." Mack said, "and then the meeting is over and he trashes us to the press."
Mack on Pandit's departure from Citigroup yesterday and whether it was the right way to handle a CEO transition:
"Sometimes you can't do with the right way. You have to take advantage of what is going on. What was going on, clearly, there was unhappiness with the board for a lot of different reasons. You sit and you want to plan it out, but clearly they had done work on succession in advance of this so you have to give them credit for that. They moved very quickly after the announcement to address shareholders and employees. The chairman did that, which I thought was a really positive. It is difficult to lay out a road map that always works perfectly every time. The most important thing is that they were ready for this, they had succession and announced it immediately."
On Citi's stock doing well following the announcement and whether who has the CEO seat is relevant:
"I think it is relevant. I think it's all about leadership. There was a view, clearly by shareholders, that a change was needed to happen and the stock did move up."
On how people will judge Pandit:
"You have to go back and think about his entire career, not just a slice of it at Citi. He is a very bright individual, very smart about the business and understands the business. I think he made a lot of progress, and also taking that intellectual power that he had and worked on a more personal side of how to talk with people and boards and to be a leader. If you look at what he did, in many ways, he did the right things. But he inherited something. He did not step in and create it, it was there and he tried to fix it. Markets move quickly. When markets move and there is so much animosity towards the banks, there is a lot of pressure put on boards. Communications with the board become paramount. You had a lot of changes. Clearly he stepped in when Chuck [Prince] left. There was some resentment on the price paid to his hedge fund that was bought…There were negotiations with the government when they were selling GM shares and I think that created tension. Then the question becomes, when the board is under pressure, and they should be because we should all take the responsibility seriously and they do, communications is key. Then you have say on pay. It was one thing after another If you look of the comments about Smith Barney and the write-down, that just added more fuel. At the end of the day the CEO has to have a close relationship with his board and he has to understand what is on their mind and the issues, and you need to be able to respond to it. You cannot just give them short answers. You need to get deeply involved with your board and make sure you are working with them and they know what's on your mind."
On why Pandit was continually judged or punished for what Citi paid for Old Lane Partners:
"I think certain people resent it…It's much easier to target an individual. Just the way life is."
On Michael Corbat's role as CEO:
