The Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week

1. Dolan Doldrums

Bristol-Myers (BMY Quote - Cramer on BMY - Stock Picks) put an end to the doleful Dolan era.

CEO Peter Dolan departed Tuesday after five years atop the New York pharmaceuticals giant. A government-appointed monitor recommended Dolan be fired for possibly breaking the law in a push to shield the company's bestselling blood thinner, Plavix, from generic competition.

Bristol shares have been under heavy pressure since this summer, when the Justice Department began investigating possible antitrust infractions in a failed settlement with drugmaker Apotex of Canada. A trial in the Apotex patent dispute is set for early next year.

If Dolan left under a cloud, though, the picture seemed much brighter six years ago. That's when Dolan ascended to Bristol's executive suite as heir apparent to then-CEO Charles Heimbold.

"We are developing the next generation of leaders," Heimbold said in naming Dolan president on Jan. 20, 2000, "who will continue to build on our reputation for quality products and great performance."

But Dolan ended up building a reputation for something else altogether. He oversaw a 40% decline in the stock as Bristol-Myers stumbled from one black eye to another, many involving regulators and prosecutors.

Bristol restated revenue downward by $2.5 billion after finding evidence of so-called channel stuffing -- the sale of goods to distributors who can't sell them. It paid hundreds of millions of dollars to settle allegations it cooked its books and sought to stifle generic competition. It was ordered to improve its corporate governance.

Yet even after all that, Chairman James Robinson found room Tuesday to applaud Dolan's "unyielding commitment to our company's mission, values and purpose." The Dolan strategy, Robinson added, "has put Bristol-Myers Squibb squarely on a path toward growth and leadership for the future."

Not to mention yet another date with its lawyers.

Dumb-o-Meter score: 93. "Maybe we shouldn't have negotiated in the first place" with Apotex, Robinson conceded on a Tuesday conference call, Dow Jones reports.

To watch Colin Barr's video take of this column, click here.

« Previous Page

1 2 3 4 5

Next Page »