Started from the bottom
How Jamie Dimon climbed the corporate ladder
Good morning, money mavens. This is your Stock Market Rundown for January 31st, 2024. Thanks for tuning in, once again. Let’s get the party started:
TODAY’S TOP STORY: BANKING ON SUCCESS
Imagine becoming a billionaire, not because you founded a buzzy tech startup or inherited a fortune, but by being a mere employee.
Wild stuff, but that’s what Jamie Dimon did, thanks to the stock options he raked up as CEO of JP Morgan. During his 18-year tenure, JP Morgan became the #1 US bank, both in stock market value and assets under management.
In the great Wall Street tradition of nepotism, Dimon got his start when financier Sandy Weill—a colleague of his father—hired Dimon as a summer intern. Over 15 years of working together, Weill and Dimon masterminded a string of acquisitions that became the banking conglomerate Citigroup.
Dimon was viewed as Weill’s obvious successor—until a clash of egos resulted in him being fired in 1998. Dimon later said in an interview that being canned made him want to “get a houseboat and never put on a suit again.” But pretty soon, he signed on as head of a Chicago-based bank. When it was acquired by JP Morgan, he was appointed CEO.
According to a 2010 profile, Dimon is a “famously bad listener” who “interrupts and finishes people’s sentences.” But Dimon’s culture of risk control and accountability was what let JP Morgan survive the financial crisis intact—unlike some peers.
The man Fortune called “the toughest guy on Wall Street” worked through his treatment for throat cancer in 2014. But now, at age 67, he may finally be getting ready to board that houseboat.
A recent C-suite shuffling spurred rumors of who may be next in line for the top job. Some insiders are betting on Marianne Lake, a top exec with a two-decade tenure who currently runs retail banking. But, chances are, only Jamie knows for sure.
SO WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
Logitech, maker of computer peripherals like your keyboard and mouse, raised its full-year sales guidance. Not surprising replacement demand is up—white-collar workers probably spill a lot more beer into their keyboards now that they’re working from home a few days a week.
Grain processing giant ADM has been posting record earnings, but now it seems like that might have been a lot of chaff. An investigation into its accounting practices has the stock getting threshed like barley in September.
Top hedge fund Trian didn’t have a very magical year. Their fund underperformed due to a massive position in Disney, where a planned turnaround failed to take hold. Haven’t these guys heard of diversification?
You know how TurboTax markets itself as “free”, but somehow you end up having to pay when you use it to file your taxes? They just got their wrist slapped, since regulators frown on deceptive advertising. Personally, I’m not into TurboTax… why do it myself, when I can take my shoebox of receipts to the H&R Block in the local strip mall and pay to have somebody with a degree in Fitness Studies do it for me?
Wrapping up for today, everyone. Can't wait to catch up with you all tomorrow morning. Yours in capitalism, The Axe