FULD IN EYE OF STORM
Seven years ago, Dick Fuld gave a rousing speech at the Sheraton New York in Midtown after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks forced Lehman Brothers to move from its offices opposite the World Trade Center.
“Dick said we’re going to pull through this,” said one former Lehman banker who described the speech as a defining moment for the firm. “He was a uniting force that day.”
It’s that kind of toughness and loyalty that is being tested this week as the 62-year-old Lehman chief faces another defining moment – his bid to save his venerable firm from the graveyard.
Known as “the gorilla” for his wild antics as a trader, Fuld usually keeps a low profile, preferring to focus on business rather than high society.
But yesterday, the native New Yorker jettisoned his penchant for the shadows to defend his plans to save the firm.
The normally blustering and hard-charging CEO seemed more measured than usual on the emergency earnings call, during which he reported Lehman’s largest quarterly loss ever.
While some analysts noted he sounded run-down, his drive to get up when knocked down was on display.
“We’ve been through adversity before, but we always come out stronger,” he said.
Fuld, a one-time competitive squash player, is famous for having gotten into a fistfight with another father at his son’s hockey game a few years ago, and for crowing about ripping the throats out of his Wall Street competitors.
“He’s a stubborn and incredibly serious guy who treats the firm like one of his own kids,” said one source close to the Lehman CEO.
Fuld started at Lehman while he was a student at the University of Colorado in 1967 and rose to CEO when American Express spun off Lehman in 1994.
Fuld’s wife Kathy, who is on the board of the Museum of Modern Art, has been trying for years to expand her husband’s artistic side, say friends close to the couple. For now, though, his creative energy is being channeled into saving Lehman.
“What’s most upsetting about this is that Dick’s invested his entire professional career and net worth in Lehman,” said one company source. “If he can pull out of this, it will be his greatest accomplishment.”