April 2008

Abigail Hofman: Armageddon has arrived


We are engulfed in a tornado of gloom. Wall Street titans and employees alike have seen their share options decimated, pension pots plummet and everyone feels insecure about job security. I’m hearing that investment banks need to cut 20% of their employees to accommodate lower profitability.


And talking of the dear departed, what has happened to May Busch, the energetic and fragrant Morgan Stanley managing director about whom everyone speaks so highly? May made her name as a front-line coverage officer. But then, in 2006, she was given the job of head of firm relationship management, which later became chief operating officer for Europe. And now May is no more (well at least not at Morgan Stanley). A source murmurs that she might have been too closely associated with Jonathan Chenevix-Trench, a former chairman of Morgan Stanley International, who left Morgan Stanley in late 2007 after two decades. This is not true: “I am leaving on the best possible terms,” May told me. “I’ve been at Morgan Stanley 22 years and I love the firm. I’ve had the opportunity to do eight different jobs on two different continents. But now it’s time to seek new professional...


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