Confessions of a Wall Street Analyst (33 page)

T
he SEC’s “No Action Letter” that propelled analyst conflicts to new heights. October 24, 1997.

S
BC CEO Ed Whitacre and Ameritech CEO Dick Notebaert announcing the sale of Ameritech to SBC for $62 billion. My firm, Merrill, tried desperately for a role but failed and so did I. May 11, 1998.
(AP/Wide World Photos)

M
ike Armstrong, CEO of AT&T, and John Malone, CEO of Tele-Communications Inc., taking questions after announcing AT&T’s $32 billion acquisition of Malone’s cable TV company. Armstrong had dreams of bundling phone, internet, and entertainment services over cable TV lines. June 24, 1998.
(AP/Wide World Photos)

L
ike blood brothers, Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio and US West CEO Sol Trujillo yuk it up at the press conference announcing the merger of their two companies. Two days earlier, Nacchio threatened to back out of any deal that required him to share the CEO role with Trujillo. July 19, 1999.
(AP/Wide World Photos)

O
ne amazing leak: On October 5, 1999, Sprint CEO Bill Esrey (left) and WorldCom’s Bernie Ebbers announced the merger of their two companies. But 27 days earlier, the deal and its exact price had been leaked. The stocks’ values changed by a total of $14 billion during that period.
(AP/Wide World Photos)

M
errill Lynch CEO David Komansky was President and then CEO during my nearly seven years at Merrill. June 1,1999.
(AP/Wide World Photos)

J
oe Nacchio, CEO of Qwest, talking up his company and the Internet. Qwest would later admit to inflating its revenues by $3 billion.
(AP/Wide World Photos)

A
T&T Wireless IPO: CSFB (my firm) and Salomon Smith Barney (Grubman’s firm) competed hard for a lead role in the $10 billion AT&T Wireless IPO, the largest in US history. AT&T CEO Mike Armstrong (left), AT&T Wireless CEO John Zeglis (middle), and New York Stock Exchange Chairman Dick Grasso, celebrating the initiation of NYSE trading. April 27, 2000.
(AP/Wide World Photos)

M
y arb call from a mountaintop: waiting to speak on Qwest/Deutsche Telekom/US West rumors via CSFB’s squawk box from Vail, Colorado. The rumors created panic trading and huge opportunities. March 2, 2000.
(Howard Jacobs)

M
embers of my research team on a ski outing with clients at Telluride, Colorado. (From left) Julia Belladonna, Bill Newbury of TIAA-CREF, Ehud Gelblum, author, and Ido Cohen. January 2001.
(Jeff Jacobs)

E
liot Spitzer, New York State Attorney General, announcing his investigation into conflicts of interest in Wall Street research. Spitzer settled most cases, leaving many questions unanswered and misdeeds unpunished. April 8, 2002.
(AP/Wide World Photos)

C
ongressional hearings on WorldCom: On July 8, 2002, just two weeks after the fraud was discovered, the House Financial Services Committee interrogated four key witnesses. (From left) Melvin Dick, Arthur Andersen; Bernie Ebbers, former WorldCom CEO; Scott Sullivan, former CFO; and Jack Grubman, Salomon Smith Barney telecom analyst.
(AP/Wide World Photos)