The New York Times is featuring a great opinion article that highlights some of the things going on at Countrywide Financial, now that they’re treading water in the wake of a mess in the mortgage markets supposedly caused by subprime problems.
Last year Mr. Mozilo’s [Countrywide CEO] huge compensation drew a protest from a group of shareholders including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Pension Plan. But the worst was yet to come.
In late 2006, even as Countrywide began using shareholders’ money to buy back its own stock at more than $40 a share — it’s now worth only $19 — Mr. Mozilo was selling. Between November 2006 and August 2007 — that is, during the months before investors fully realized the extent to which his company would be hurt by the subprime mortgage crisis — he unloaded $138 million worth of Countrywide’s stock.
It appears that some people aren’t too happy with them. Haven’t we seen something like this before? Has history been forgotten so quickly?