Mack builds a new CSFB

IT WAS AN extraordinary sight. Late last year CSFB put on what it dubbed "karaoke at the close", a charity event for staff in the equity division held in its New York headquarters just after the markets closed. About 400 people turned up to watch their bosses sing. Staff could bid up their value, and contestants could only evade the ordeal by paying triple the bid.

Jim Kreitman and Michael Clark, then co-heads of the equities division, went up as Sonny and Cher, with Clark, who now runs equity prop trading, as Cher. Brady Dougan and Brian Finn, co-presidents of the investment bank, dressed up as the girls from Abba.

But John Mack, CEO of CSFB and co-CEO of Credit Suisse Group, stole the show. Bids reached $25,000; Mack paid the opt-out, but also sang. Wearing a shark's outfit, he went on stage and delivered a song from Bertold Brecht's...