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Bank of America Investor Calls for CEO Lewis’ Ouster

By Mike Caggeso
Associate Editor
Money Morning

Upset with Kenneth Lewis’ leadership as Bank of America Corp.’s (BAC) Chief Executive Officer, and unable to privately persuade the company to unseat him, longtime shareholder Jerry Finger is launching a public campaign to oust Lewis from his post.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Finger said he asked the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday for permission to start a public campaign to remove Lewis, as well as lead director Temple Sloan and asset-quality committee chairman Jackie Ward at Bank of America’s annual meeting on April 29.

Finger told The Journal that he has known Lewis for a long time, and his biggest beef with Lewis is his leadership is the bank’s Jan. 1 decision to buy Merrill Lynch & Co.- a deal Lewis himself considered abandoning.

Since the purchase, Bank of America’s stock has taken a beating. It’s now trading at about $6.32, more than 55% below its value Jan. 1.

“The board and management have not looked after the shareholder,” Finger told The Journal.

Finger’s bullhorn is blaring fairly loud considering he and his family hold only about 1.5 million of Bank of America’s shares, which is about 0.02% of total outstanding shares.

Finger has been invested in the company since 1986, when former Bank of America CEO Hugh McColl purchased a $6 million stake in Finger’s Texas bank, Charter Bancshares Inc.

“We have met with Mr. Finger several times to hear his concerns and have attempted to address them,” a Bank of America spokesman told The Journal.

Bank of America’s investor uprising bears resemblance to the Carl Icahn/Jerry Yang proxy showdown at Yahoo Inc. (YHOO). Billionaire investor Icahn – upset with Yang’s performance as Yahoo Chief Executive – threatened to seek control of the board and resuscitate takeover talks with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT).

Icahn ultimately won the battle, with Yang stepping down and Yahoo selecting Carol Bartz, chairwoman of Autodesk Inc. (ADSK), as his replacement a few months later.

But Icahn did not get his ultimate wish, as Microsoft did not succeed in taking the company over.

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March 13th, 2009

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 13th, 2009 at 8:19 pm and is filed under Mike Caggeso, Top News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Due to the amount of comments we receive Money Morning will not be able to respond to all questions. If you have not already registered to leave a comment, once doing so you will receive Money Morning's Daily Email.

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  1. Comment by Richard Davet on 14 March 2009:

    Shareholders must take an active role and not wait for the hatchet of plunging stock prices as was done here.

    At BAC, the Board has been derelict in their fiduciary duty shareholders and stakeholders for years in ignoring the mischief of Management.

    I encourage all shareholders to express their views at the annual shareholders meeting. Be careful though, if you bring tough questions, they will threaten you with arrest as they did to me last year.

    Lewis and the Board must be held accountable

  2. Pingback by Bank of America Shareholders Strip Lewis of Chairman Role on 30 April 2009:

    [...] But it wasn’t enough to appease shareholders, who began rallying around fellow shareholder Jerry Finger and his campaign to oust Lewis from his post. [...]

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