Posted on 09/12/2008 10:16:03 AM PDT by rabscuttle385
Washington Mutual’s (WM) new chief, Alan Fishman, could be looking at the briefest executive tenure in recent memory. The American Banker reported Friday that the struggling Seattle-based thrift is in “advanced discussions” to sell itself to JPMorgan Chase (JPM). The publication, citing sources, said the talks “are ongoing at the highest levels of both companies.” WaMu didn’t comment.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailybriefing.blogs.fortune.cnn.com ...
Totally unrelated to FDIC Friday.
Is WaMu going under?
That's a very good question to ask.
All I can say is that if you're a depositor there, make sure you are within FDIC limits.
YES
Nope. WaMu has sufficient cash reserves to weather the current market.
They've been cutting staff like it was 2001.
I hope you’re correct, I despise CHASE!
No, they are not overextended and broke. They have more than enough cash reserves to rid out current market conditions. The layoffs are a natural reaction to a slowdown in the housing market.
Oh, no I am not a depositor there. But good advice.
Is WaMu going under?
That’s a very good question to ask.
All I can say is that if you’re a depositor there, make sure you are within FDIC limits.”
This has been fliting across the screen for many weeks.
I had a friend who had waaaay above the $100K limit in accounts there. I spent hours convincing him to get it spread across 7 other banks.
WaMu was deep into the sub-prime mess. They've not only laid off a tremendous number of people, they've closed entire divisions, dozens of branch offices and indefinitely postponed major infrastructure upgrades.
While their balance sheet may look okay at the moment, management there has heard the news of impending doom. The layoffs aren't the only people leaving. Twenty year employees are leaving and WaMu has flatly stated that they won't be replaced due to budget cuts.
Exactly. I rearranged some deposits recently to ensure I didn't exceed the $100,000 limit on any one title. Good advice for anyone who banks at WAMU.
(I have IRA's there, and I absolutely REFUSE to refer to their stupid new "hip" name.....)
Yes. The company was “fat” during the housing boom. They have cut out most of the fat, and they have consolidated the business lines appropriately, given market conditions. WaMu eliminated their Long Beach Mortgage subprime brand quite awhile ago as part of this consolidation. Right now WaMu has upwards of 50B (I’ve heard 78B) in liquid cash reserves, plenty to ride out the current conditions. Additionally, Goldman-Sachs has upgraded WaMu from a “Sell” to a “Hold”.
They keep sending me junk mail about signing up for their Visa card. It all goes into my micro shredder immediately.
WaMu is the name that their employees have used forever. I still don't understand why it became the official branding.
I think they felt they were getting stale and this foolishness would perk up biz.
A neighbor is an executive with them, and he was lamenting about how his retirement nestegg plan with them is shot to hell......but he's far enough from retirement (assuming he doesn't get the can tied to him as the result of a buyout) to ride things out, he hopes.
It's got to really suck knowing your stock basis is 10 times current market.
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