September 05, 2007

Anyone want to guess when Countrywide announces the mass layoff and a hundreds-of-millions of dollars "mark to market" balance sheet markdown?

Orangelo has dumped enough shares, and the cat's out of the bag, so now he's gotta be thinking Sarbanes Oxley, and staying out of jail.

So here comes the huge layoff (20,000?), office closures, and shocking cancer loan portfolio markdown (mark to market CFC auditors? anyone minding the store?)

I've got a feeling the news could be soon, real soon... and yes, I own CFC puts. Do you?

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

OrangeloRose threw the diamond overboard for later retrieval.

Anonymous said...

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Before the end of the year, CFC will institute significant cost cutting measures & a reorganization as the huge drop in demand coupled with the drop in profit margin on conforming prime loans is very thin. I'd say whatever there pre-bubble work force was will be the maximum post bubble, and they could be even smaller depending upon where demand ends up at.

Anonymous said...

Hi-

Does this tie make me look orange?

Econ_E said...

As soon as the August housing sales figures come out.

Anonymous said...

maybe mozillo has bought up half of paraguay with his bounty?

Anonymous said...

He exercised those stock options by god, they all did. Life is good for the CEOs of America. I admire them so much.

Anonymous said...

Countrywide May Trim Up To 10,000 Workers

Countrywide Financial Corp., is contemplating slashing its work force by 7,000 to 10,000 workers, according to industry officials close to the situation.


http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/

Anonymous said...

Great future mugshot keith.Can any of you computer people substitute an orange jumsuit instead of the suit and pathetic tie?Would love to see him serve some time down here in tent city.

Mass layoffs will begin in the next leg downward, most likely february I think. I am going to polish up the resume so I can be an insider for hp.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm...Well all, I am a Countrywide employee, and hearing all the rumors myself, although I can't find any link to the rumor of "10,000 potential job cuts" where you don't have to have a paid subscription to the site to access the info...??!!!!

I think the writing is on the wall though, no way to keep going the way we have in this market. Oh well, there's always waitressing at Hooters......WAIT!! I need Boobs to do that!! Maybe Angelo will kick in for the "Angela T. implants or bust fund" A gal's gotta make a living somehow! HAAAA

Hey...At least I have my sense of humor...gotta hang on that.

Peace out-

Anonymous said...

When the layoff comes the ex-employees should immediately sue Orangelo for his stock option gains

Anonymous said...

He really likes orange

Anonymous said...

Nope, I sold my CFC puts for a 100 percent pre-tax profit. No sense in getting greedy, that's what started the mess in the first place.

Anonymous said...

I seem to be in the minority, in that I don't support prison sentenses for most white collar crime; just, in Mozilo's case, a 500+ million dollar fine. If he "spent it all" on offshore accounts, then it's prison until repaid by one US median income per year subtracted from the total in arrears.

Anonymous said...

When the layoff comes the ex-employees should immediately sue Orangelo for his stock option gains

September 05, 2007 3:09 PM

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File suit on what basis? This is a criminal economy i.e "de regulated" economy. The only suits ever brought forward are based on the interest of shareholders who bring suit against their hired flunkies who didnt steal enough on their behalf.
Dont tell me you havent heard of "shareholder value" doctrine? It's replaced the constitutional principle of the "general welfare".

Out at the peak said...

Some lawfirm sent me a notice if I wanted to be part of a shareholder lawsuit against CFC. However, it is meant to sue for loss due to stock dropping. I guess they have no idea my stock purchases were buy to cover only.

Some optimists on the Yahoo board believe the stock will pop up when the layoffs are announced. Usually stocks do pop with layoff news, but the sentiment is pretty bleak with lenders, so I don't know.

If it does pop, then I will add to my short position. I sometimes cover on negative days and then reshort on positive days.

brokersleaveyoubroke said...

With all the attention that subprime is getting I think their auditor will be very careful not to be the next Arthur Anderson. Just as the ratings agencies got religion and dropped the AAA rating on some of the subprime CDO's I think the auditors will also have an honesty attack. The auditors at NovaStar just gave them the kiss of death "going concern" words. If NovaStar wants to sell stock or apply for credit they must include the words "The company may cease to be a going concern" meaning it may go bankrupt. This almost always means that bankruptcy is the next step.

Anonymous said...

Countrywide just hired a "Risk Manager". That guy's first action in his new position should be to call for the firing and detention of their CEO.

Anonymous said...

OH MY!!! I have just got some inside scoop on Countrywide!!! My co-worker's girlfriend is a Countrywide Exec, working in the L.A. area, I send him emails about CFC's troubles, and he just sent me this one:

"Wait till you hear the news tonight. I just heard (from you-know-who) that Country Wide’s Management marched 70% of their division in West Hills down to the auditorium (not a conference room), gave them their pink slips and a box to clear out their desk in one hour before their were let go. Tammi is ok for this week, the Executives are next week."

I know this guy not to BS. Can you believe this?!?! HOORAY!!!

Anonymous said...

Major Layoffs Reported at Countrywide05Sep07

This is just breaking, but I’ve heard from multiple sources that Countrywide laid off a very large number of employees today and has closed a large number of Full Spectrum Lending branches, while shutting down the Correspondent Lending Division.

From what I’ve heard, Countrywide laid off 50% of employees at its Correspondent Lending Division in West Hills, California, and a week earlier one of the managing directors quit.

I’ve been told from another source that there were “major layoffs” and that the correspondent division and is now working with a skeleton crew, to the effect that they may be winding down the unit entirely.

Another source said Countrywide has closed nearly 100 Full Spectrum Lending branches, the subprime unit of Countrywide Home Loans.

It is also believed that a number of layoffs struck the Countrywide Wholesale Division as well, although I’m still waiting for more specific information regarding that.

I had spoken about Countrywide closing their correspondent and wholesale channels several times over the last month after I received word from an inside source that they had liquidity issues, and simply wouldn’t have the money to keep those units open.

It is believed that all divisions within the company have been affected by layoffs today, but I’m still trying to work on numbers and more detailed information.

The news will likely be hard on mortgage brokers and correspondent lenders who relied upon Countrywide and their wide array of programs.
Stay tuned for more as it develops.


http://www.thetruthaboutmortgage.com/major-layoffs-reported-at-countrywide/

Anonymous said...

Angelo Mozilo, CEO of Countrywide Financial Corp. (CFC ), is taking serious flak for the mammoth mortgage company's role in the housing meltdown. I caught up with Mozilo twice in the space of a week—first for an exclusive interview on CNBC following Bank of America Corp.'s (BAC ) $2 billion infusion into Countrywide, and then on the heels of a New York Times story taxing Mozilo and Countrywide with allegedly engaging in questionable lending practices. Now sources tell me the embattled Mozilo will soon announce layoffs of about 10% of Countrywide's 60,000 employees in the face of a 20% decline in the mortgage business. In addition, I am hearing that Countrywide is looking for further financing and that the next investor will likely come from private equity. When BusinessWeek went to press on Aug. 29, Countrywide's stock had lost about half its value since June 1.

http://realestatenewsupdates.blogspot.com/2007/09/heat-on-countrywide.html

Anonymous said...

50% by year end

100% by next year

blogger said...

Gotta be weird firing all your employees and watching their 401ks go to pot after cashing out for hundreds of millions of $$$$$$

Anonymous said...

I was at the bank today and my loan officer (and I will not discuss why I was talking to a loan officer on this page without armed guards LOL) she say's you have a mortgage with GMAC, they are down. I said no they are not they aren't on the list (implode o meter) she said yes we heard they are gone. Does any one know? I hope they bundle my loan and then loose it in the paperwork and not find it for years if ever LOL. Can't get a message to I-O-M so I did it here.

Anonymous said...

401k's keith? their investments are all in cdo's......

so the circle is not broken.............is it?

Anonymous said...

I wonder if any of the employees put 100% of thier 401k into company stock due to getting a discount on it if they did that?

That was a huge part of the enron fiasco. I bet they didnt do that, did they?!

Anonymous said...

Layoffs in September: 900 so far. We've got time. (Though your puts probably don't)

Anonymous said...

This Motzorello guy has to be the most hideous creature on the planet. He is way ugly. All that $ ain't gonna fix that face.

Anonymous said...

CFC is now going through the painfull stages of attrition - wave-after-wave of layoffs.

They recently hired a hatchett man for the job, he'll have his hands full for awhile - until Mozilo hands him his head as well.

Anonymous said...

I was layed off last October (2007). It nearly destroyed me, financially. I wasn't part of the in-crowd and I know that's why my number came off. My work was always good/above margin. They used the layoffs to get rid of people who had a backbone; it was their way of geting rid of people that otherwise they couldn't have got rid off.