Wachovia Ousts CEO Thompson

The Wachovia board ousted CEO Kennedy Thompson, blaming him for write-downs that have cost the company half its market value over the last year. Thompson was the lead architect on the purchase of World Savings (a/k/a Golden West) which was a leading Option ARM lender in California right at the peak of the housing bubble. When that deal went down any sane person had to wonder what was he thinking. From Bloomberg on Thompson's removal: Wachovia Corp. ousted Kennedy Thompson as chief executive officer of the fourth-largest U.S. bank after the board blamed him for losses that cost the lender more than half its market value in the past year. The stock fell as much as 4.5 percent. Chairman Lanty Smith was appointed interim CEO, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company said today in a stat