The departure of yet another JPMorgan Chase executive, Frank J. Bisignano, has heightened concerns about persistent executive turnover and raised questions about who might succeed Jamie Dimon, the bank’s chief executive and chairman, Susanne Craig and Jessica Silver-Greenberg write in DealBook.
It is a precarious time for Mr. Dimon, just weeks before the results of a shareholder vote on whether to split the chief executive and chairman roles. “With voting now under way, the bank had hoped to keep a low profile, according to people briefed on the matter but not authorized to speak on the record.†But some are concerned about the string of executive departures in the last four years, among them William Winters, Heidi Miller, Steven Black, Charles Scharf, William Daley and Jay Mandelbaum. “While people close to the chief executive say he is not worried about the executive turnover, others wonder if the many reshufflings at the top point to a larger problem within the bank,†DealBook writes.
The turnover is a reminder of unfinished business at JPMorgan in the wake of a huge trading loss last year. “The trading debacle, however, explains only part of the executive exodus.†Lost track of all the executives who have moved on? Here are some of the most notable departures of recent years.
UBS EARNINGS BEAT FORECASTS  | UBS on Tuesday said its earnings in the first quarter fell 5 percent, to 988 million Swiss francs ($1 billion) from 1 billion francs in the period a year earlier, helped by strength in wealth management and investment banking. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News had predicted earnings of 412 million francs. Sergio P. Ermotti, the chief executive, said in a statement that he was “very pleased,†adding that it was “too early to declare victory†but that the results showed the company’s “business model works in practice.â€
THE ART OF THE LEAK Â |Â An academic study highlights the dark art of leaking deals, Andrew Ross Sorkin writes in the DealBook column. According to the study, conducted by the Cass Business School in London, and commissioned by Intralinks, a provider of electronic data rooms for deal makers, leaks often reward sellers, with buyers of companies in leaked deals paying an average premium of 18 percentage points over deals that were not leaked. At the same time, leaked deals were 9 percent less likely to close than those kept under wraps.
The number of leaks has declined in recent years, according to the study. Mr. Sorkin writes: “With so few deals these days, everyone involved in a transaction â€" management, boards, bankers, lawyers, accountants, public relations professionals, consultants and other fixers â€" are reluctant to leak and risk their fees, many of which are typically contingent on a deal’s completion.â€
START-UPS TAKE ROOT IN BERLIN  | “More than two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the German capital has gone from a cold war relic to one of the fastest-growing start-up communities,†DealBook’s Mark Scott writes. “With the new wave of entrepreneurs, Berlin, once viewed as the poor relation to Germany’s main business centers, like Frankfurt and Hamburg, is improving its ranking in the country’s economic hierarchy.â€
But by the standards of Silicon Valley, Berlin is still a backwater. A lack of early stage financing has hampered companies’ growth, and entrepreneurs say high-quality programmers are hard to find. Berlin is also trying to overcome its reputation for copying American business models. “Berlin isn’t proven yet. It’s much like a start-up in that way,†said Alex Ljung, the co-founder of SoundCloud, a music Web site backed by the American venture capital giant Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
ON THE AGENDA  | Avon Products, Pfizer and Sirius XM Radio report earnings before the market opens. IAC/InterActiveCorp and Office Depot report results on Tuesday evening. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index is out at 9 a.m. The Bloomberg Washington Summit features speakers including Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The Federal Reserve’s policy-making committee meets. Stephen A. Schwarzman of the Blackstone Group is on Bloomberg TV at 2:15 p.m. Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital is on CNBC at 3:40 p.m.
RUBENSTEIN’S LATEST GIFT  | David M. Rubenstein, co-founder and co-chief executive of the Carlyle Group, who is known for his collection of rare Americana, is sharing an item in that collection with Americans around the world, according to GalleristNY. Mr. Rubenstein is donating reproductions of the 1823 Stone Declaration of Independence â€" which was commissioned by John Quincy Adams in 1820 â€" to each United States embassy. The version Mr. Rubenstein owns is currently on loan to the State Department’s Diplomatic Reception Rooms.
Best Buy Sells Stake in European Venture  | Best Buy agreed on Tuesday to sell its 50 percent stake in a European joint venture to its British partner, Carphone Warehouse, for around $775 million in cash and stock. The American retail giant is pulling back from Europe after a five-year effort to expand across the Continent, whose economy continues to struggle from lackluster growth. DealBook »
Chief of Occidental Petroleum to Stay Through 2014  | “Bowing to investor pressure, Occidental Petroleum on Monday announced that its chief executive, Stephen I. Chazen, would continue to serve in his position, but only through the end of 2014 to help find a successor,†The New York Times reports. NEW YORK TIMES
Telefonica to Sell Assets in Central America for $500 Million  |Â
REUTERS
Consolidation in Travel Sites  | “The online travel search business is consolidating, as two of the biggest online travel agencies, Priceline.com and Expedia.com, buy smaller search engines,†The New York Times reports. NEW YORK TIMES
Bow Tie Cinemas to Buy 41 Clearview Movie Theaters  | Bow Tie, a family owned theater operator, is buying 41 Clearview movie theaters from Cablevision for an undisclosed amount. ASSOCIATED PRESS
How a Fiat-Chrysler Merger Could Work  | Sergio Marchionne has long envisioned a fully integrated Fiat-Chrysler as the first step in a continuing consolidation designed to squeeze out the excess capacity that plagues the car industry, particularly in Fiat’s home market, Rob Cox of Reuters Breakingviews writes. REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS
Auxilium to Buy Actient Pharmaceuticals  | Auxilium Pharmaceuticals agreed on Monday to buy Actient Pharmaceuticals, a maker of specialty urology products like treatments for erectile dysfunction, for $585 million in cash. DealBook »
Lloyds’ Profit Surges to $2.3 Billion  | The Lloyds Banking Group said first-quarter net income rose sharply, to $2.3 billion, as the bank continued to reduce costs and shed assets. DealBook »
Most Banks Could Still Profit Under Tough New Overhaul Proposal  | Most banks would still prosper under a tough new piece of financial overhaul legislation introduced in the Senate last week. DealBook »
Deutsche Bank Posts a Profit and Agrees to Raise Its Capital Reserves  | Deutsche Bank, which posted an 18 percent increase in profit for the first quarter, said it would sell $3.65 billion in new shares to bolster its capital reserves. DealBook »
Michele Davis to Join Morgan Stanley  | Michele Davis, a former Treasury official during the financial crisis, has been named to run the corporate communications department at Morgan Stanley. DealBook »
Goldman and Deutsche Bank Seen Helping Apple Bond Sale  | Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank have been setting up phone interviews with fixed-income investors in advance of a potential debt sale for Apple, Bloomberg News reports citing a person familiar with the offer. It would be Apple’s first bond issuance since 1996. BLOOMBERG NEWS
Apple and the Debt Market  | With an expanded budget for dividends and stock buybacks, Apple could be on track to borrow nearly $20 billion a year, putting the company in the same issuance ballpark as huge global banks, Agnes T. Crane of Reuters Breakingviews writes. REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS
In France, Private Equity Slump Underscores Economic Trouble  | Reuters writes: “A collapse of private equity investment this year seems increasingly emblematic of France’s deep-seated economic problems and how hard it may prove to change a vicious cycle of poor growth and weakened companies.†REUTERS
Herbalife Profit Beats Estimates  | Herbalife, the nutritional supplements company at the center of a fight among Wall Street titans, reported first-quarter profit that beat analysts’ expectations and raised its earnings forecast for the year. BLOOMBERG NEWS
Fannie Mae Shareholders Push for Privatization  | Paulson & Company and other hedge funds “are pushing Congress to abandon plans to liquidate†Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Bloomberg News reports. BLOOMBERG NEWS
Financiers’ Charity Gala Goes the Way of Canapés  | Ark, the children’s charity founded by the hedge fund manager Arpad A. Busson, is no longer holding its $15,500-a-ticket fund-raiser that had become an annual fixture for London’s top hedge fund managers and celebrities. DealBook »
Russian Bank Sells Shares in $3.3 Billion Offering  | VTB, Russia’s second-largest bank, said it had found buyers for all the shares it intended to place in a $3.3 billion secondary stock offering. DealBook »
Breyer of Accel Partners Plans to Leave Dell’s Board  |Â
ALLTHINGSD
Level Global to Pay $21.5 Million to Settle S.E.C. Case  | The defunct hedge fund founded by David Ganek and Anthony Chiasson has agreed to pay more than $21.5 million in fines and penalties to resolve its role in the government’s insider trading investigation. DealBook »
Stock Sales by Corporate Directors Under Scrutiny  | The Wall Street Journal reports: “Federal prosecutors launched a criminal investigation into whether corporate directors misused government-sanctioned trading plans to sell company shares for investment funds they run.†WALL STREET JOURNAL
With Unemployment Still High, Fed Seen as Unlikely to Do More  |Â
NEW YORK TIMES
In Cyprus, Blaming Europe’s Central Bank  |Â
NEW YORK TIMES
Credit Ratings Settlement Said to Be Worth $225 Million  | A recent settlement that resolved lawsuits against Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Morgan Stanley †will cost the three companies a total of about $225 million, according to a person familiar with the matter,†The Wall Street Journal reports. WALL STREET JOURNAL
Second Thoughts About the S.E.C.’s Whistle-Blower Program  | The Securities and Exchange Commission’s whistle-blower program sounds great, in theory, but there are several ways its success may harm the agency, writes David Zaring, assistant professor of legal studies at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. DealBook »
Kodak Spinoffs Clear the Path for Emergence From Bankruptcy  | Instead of selling just its document imaging operation to Brother, Kodak will instead spin off the unit, along with its personal imaging arm, to its British pension plan. DealBook »
