George Mannes
6. CEO Speedwagon
| Chalet Wendt |
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Wendt donated $8 million to New Jersey's Seton Hall University, which will name an under-construction student center in his name. Seton Hall already boasts buildings named after Wall Street luminaries as ex-Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski -- who has pleaded innocent to Tyco-related larceny charges -- and ex-Tyco director Frank Walsh, who has pleaded guilty to securities fraud. The university only recently removed the name of imprisoned financier Robert Brennan from a recreation center.
Wendt donated $8 million to an animal rights group known as the Mammal Liberation Front.
Wendt received an additional $8 million cash bonus.
Wendt agreed to forgo his $1 million 2002 salary, opting instead for a double-wide mobile home recently repossessed by Conseco's lending unit. He said at the time he planned to relocate it to a hunting retreat he owned in Michigan.
7. Where's Quasimodo When You Really Need Him?
We all know that stocks won't recover until individual investors regain their confidence, right? And they won't overcome their jitters as long as they believe that the markets are a scheme by the rich to separate the poor from their money? As long as it looks like some sort of game? So, you might ask, what steps might the financial pashas take to restore trust and respectability to the markets? Well, starting with the New York Stock Exchange, they might put the kibosh on some of the characters they have participating in the opening and closing bell-ringing ceremonies each day. |
| Source: NYSE |
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Tonya Harding
January 1996 Playboy Playmate Victoria Fuller
The dog from Men in Black II
Asimo, billed as "the world's most advanced humanoid robot"
8. Get the AOL Out of Here
Media and entertainment conglomerate AOL Time Warner(AOL Quote - Cramer on AOL - Stock Picks) has spent most of the year contending with the blowback from the 2001 merger of America Online and Time Warner. There were the departures of CEO Jerry Levin and co-COO Bob Pittman. The stock decline. The Securities and Exchange Commission investigation. And the $50 billion-plus impairment of goodwill. So America Online may have been acquired by Time Warner at a market top. But it's still a crown jewel, right? Here's the proof. According to a recent survey of 1,000 AOL subscribers by J.P. Morgan, which of the following is seen as the most compelling reason to pay a premium for AOL's online service?-
Keeping one's email address
AOL's Instant Messenger service
Parental controls
Sessions@AOL (live music performances)
9. Fifteen Minutes of Fame Times Four
Who are Bill Hillison, Joyce C. Lambert, Russell J. Lundholm and Margaret Hicks?-
Some of the 125 beneficiaries of the nonprofit group known as the ex-WorldCom Employee Assistance Fund.
Named plaintiffs in a class-action suit seeking damages from McDonald's (MCD Quote - Cramer on MCD - Stock Picks) for making children morbidly obese.
Four of the 23 state attorneys general who filed suit in October to block the merger of EchoStar Communications (DISH Quote - Cramer on DISH - Stock Picks) and Hughes Electronics (GMH Quote - Cramer on GMH - Stock Picks).
Arthur Andersen Professors in Accounting at four different U.S. universities.
10. $25 Million Here, $25 Million There, It All Adds Up
Gary Winnick, ex-chairman of bankrupt telecom company Global Crossing (GBLXQ Quote - Cramer on GBLXQ - Stock Picks), surprised lawmakers at an Oct. 1 congressional hearing by vowing to donate $25 million to Global Crossing's 401(k) retirement fund. The announcement, however, only briefly took the heat off of Winnick for his May 2001 sale of $123 million of Global Crossing's stock -- a sale that came one month before the company blindsided Wall Street with reduced revenue forecasts. Later that day, Rep. Diana DeGette (D., Colo.) asked Joe Nacchio, ex-CEO of Qwest Communications International (Q Quote - Cramer on Q - Stock Picks), if he would make a similar donation. According to CNN's transcript, how did Nacchio -- who sold more than $200 million in since-tumbled Qwest stock -- respond?-
"Mr. Winnick ... may have a guilty conscience. I don't."
"Respectfully, Congresswoman DeGette, I have already helped pay for Qwest's employees' retirement. ... I have paid millions of dollars in taxes on my income and capital gains. I also worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to increase Qwest's value."
"I have not heard about it. I have no reflection on it. .... Mr. Winnick's company also went bankrupt. Qwest is not a bankrupt company."
"If I say yes, can we call the rest of the hearing off?"
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