Word: lewises
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Lewis, 60, insists that he bought Countrywide for his shareholders, not the greater good. "In no way did any government agency call us prior to encourage us," he says. "I can't say they weren't glad that we did it. But we did it on our own."
Lewis can't muster much enthusiasm for his new role as savior. "It's nice that we could to some degree have an effect that would calm the markets" is all he will admit. BofA can't bail out the Wall Street banks, which have been busy trying to save...
Some analysts have speculated that the deal conveniently earns BofA the political goodwill it will need if it ever wants to expand its consumer-banking business. (The bank already holds close to the federal limit of 10% of the nation's deposits.) Lewis says his motivation is much more straightforward...
Mozilo may have led Countrywide over the subprime cliff, but he also constructed a formidable mortgage machine - 1,000 offices in 49 states responsible for 9 million loans worth about $1.5 trillion. Lewis had to figure out whether acquiring it would be worth the legal heartburn, including a shareholders' lawsuit...
Before he agreed to take on those burdens, Lewis sent 60 BofA executives to check under Countrywide's hood - a huge commitment of inside talent for a task that other CEOs would have left to outside lawyers and accountants. The execs liked what they saw. "I kept on getting reports...