Countrywide Financial: Mozilo Rakes It In, While Thousands Are Laid Off

Yes, the stock sales were conducted under a prearranged 10b5-1 trading plan that allows Countrywide Financial (NYSE:CFC) CEO Angelo Mozilo to set up automatic same-day sales for stock option grants ... but it just looks bad.

And it looks even worse when the press release announcing the stock sale - the third in three days totaling almost 420,000 shares, netting Orangelo over $4 million ...

... comes 47 minutes after a press release confirming the elimination of 4,935 jobs last month, leaving the mortgage lender well short of its stated goal of 12,000 job cuts by December.

Now would be a good time for the remaining Countrywide employees to look down at their green wrist bracelet and repeat, "PROTECT ANGELO'S STOCK OPTIONS", "PROTECT ANGELO'S STOCK OPTIONS".

Also, don't forget to pick up a CountryFried Financial T-Shirt (with the graphic shown above) to go along with the green wristband - they are available for a limited time only over at The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter.

Comments

[kurt walter]

Old Angelo has been exercising cheap stock options for years. He never held much common stock. But those cheap stock options never seem to end. Had he bought on his own and held a significant percentage of common stock and sold, it wouldn't bother as much. But the board rubber stamped a sweetheart stock option plan for him. But "it was hard to raise a family with 5 kids on only $350k per year for so many years." That quote from a NY Times story a couple of years ago was classic, Angelo.

[WJ]

I saw a speech that Angelo made saying they were getting out of Sub-prime and then three days later they are pushing a new program called " Non-Prime". I called a CW rep and they said CW just renamed their supprime products!

[WJ]

I saw a speech that Angelo made saying they were getting out of Sub-prime and then three days later they are pushing a new program called " Non-Prime". I called a CW rep and they said CW just renamed their supprime products!

[cwcrazy]

I used to work for Countrywide and I have never been employed with a company that cared so much for the upper management and so little for the little guys. I was in mid management and was constantly asked to cut the little people to help the upper management numbers. It was a hard internal conflict that lead to me leaving the company.

[cwcrazy]

I used to work for Countrywide and I have never been employed with a company that cared so much for the upper management and so little for the little guys. I was in mid management and was constantly asked to cut the little people to help the upper management numbers. It was a hard internal conflict that lead to me leaving the company.

[User 114004]

I too used to work for those vultures! I was one of those little people called a branch manager. Once I started making a good bonus based on my branches performance they tossed me! If Countrywide were to fall tomorrow I would love to be one of those people who gets to put a shovel of dirt on their grave.

[3XCW]

Worked for Countrywide three separate times. Bottom of the pile, a loan processor. Last time, after things blew up last fall, I didn't wait to get laid off, I quit. I wanted to be able to look myself in the eye in the mirror and know I wasn't dragging any more people into that mess.