It was hardly a resounding vote of confidence in his decision, but then Joe Roby probably had not expected it to be. There were no cheers, no congratulations, in fact there was very little response at all as Donaldson, Lufkin&Jenrette's chief executive officially informed his staff on August 30 of the sale of the bank to a rival, Credit Suisse First Boston.
Some, of course, already knew. Senior managers had been told of the probability of the deal two weeks beforehand. Of the rest, most were stunned, and many are still scratching their heads to work out why DLJ is disappearing into the Swiss-owned investment bank. Many say that they thought there was much DLJ still could have achieved as an independent investment bank. "He said that he simply didn't want DLJ to be the last one left on the street," says one DLJer.
The venue Roby chose to address...
