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.Clark believes that the deal, as it happened, was the right onefor AmEx.He says that AmEx shareholders ultimately made outfar better with the decision to fix the company over time whilegradually selling shares to the public. The way Sandy hadstructured a number of his purchase offers, there were a lot ofston_c05.qxd 4/16/02 8:50 AM Page 151151Deputy Dogcontingencies that American Express would have kept.SoAmerican Express would have ended up putting in more moneyafter selling it. In 1990, the company was sold to Allianz A.G.of Germany for $3 billion.In June 1985, Weill resigned from American Express, effectiveAugust 1.His stated reason, as he would frequently tell the press,was that he was exhausted with the corporate grind.He said hewas determined to take it easy for a while.Not surprisingly, Gerst-ner succeeded him as president.One thing Weill did, incidentally,before leaving was to give Cohen his blessing to go ahead with theLehman deal not that it was really needed.AmEx after Weillohen, whose first few years at American Express were a stun-Cning success, floundered in the years after Weill s departure.Apparently caught up in the excesses of the day on Wall Street,Shearson was hurt by bad real estate deals, junk bonds, and bridgeloans. There was a lot of bad stuff going on and it affected a lot ofcompanies, not just Shearson, says Clark. It was clear that Peterwas very smart, a terrific back-office person, and a great integra-tor of the acquisition strategy that Sandy Weill had.But he alwayshad Sandy. Cohen resigned on January 30, 1990.As for Robinson, he, too, would see his once sparkling reputa-tion lose luster in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Jim did a lot ofvery good things for American Express over a long period oftime, says Clark, pointing to the firm s tremendous growth.ButRobinson inevitably suffered at the hands of the press whenmany of the acquisitions, including Shearson, ran into problems.Business Week ran a punishing story  American Express: TheFailed Vision, on March 19, 1990.Robinson eventually resignedfrom AmEx in January 1993.ston_c05.qxd 4/16/02 8:50 AM Page 152152KING OF CAPITALDespite never quite hitting his stride at American Express,Weill has said many times in the business press that he would dothe Shearson/American Express deal all over again.His AmExyears were a time of tremendous growth, if not great achieve-ment.The lessons he learned about cultivating the board of di-rectors, keeping a power base in operations, and never acceptinga number two spot would all serve him well 17 years later whenTravelers merged with Citicorp.ston_c06.qxd 4/16/02 8:51 AM Page 153Starting Over6he ultimate measure of success for the super-rich fromJohn D.Rockefeller to Bill Gates is just how much moneyTthey can comfortably give away.Sandy Weill, appropriatelyenough, has assumed his rightful place in the philanthropicmajor leagues, with two headline-grabbing $100 million dona-tions to Cornell, first in 1998 and again in January 2002.Bothdonations were to the medical school, which now bears his name.Cornell, Weill s alma mater, is just one of his many charities.Weill is the chairman of three organizations: the Weill MedicalCollege, the National Academy Foundation, and Carnegie Hall. And if I said that any was the favorite over the others, I d be inbig trouble, Weill joked in an interview.What distinguishes Weill from other philanthropists akin towhat distinguishes him from other CEOs is the hands-on rolehe plays.He doesn t just give money away, he donates his timeand energy.This rule goes for Joan as well, chair of the board ofthe Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.As Weill says,  we staypretty active.153ston_c06.qxd 4/16/02 8:51 AM Page 154154KING OF CAPITALThe Weills have become fixtures on the social pages notmerely for attending charity balls, but for hosting various fund-raising events for their organizations all year-round.Philan-thropy  is a very important part of my life and has been for along time, says Weill. I ve devoted a lot of time to it.Weill s first serious philanthropic pursuit was a career-orientededucational organization he founded himself, the NationalAcademy Foundation.He used the same approach he employedin launching his first brokerage start with clear goals and awillingness to work hard, and you really don t need a lot ofmoney to get going.As his friend Michael Lipper sees it,  Thiswas the classic example of using some capital, but more just in-telligence and effort, to do something about a problem.Weill founded the Academy of Finance (which grew to be-come the National Academy Foundation) in 1980 as a trainingprogram for high school students interested in careers in fi-nance.Weill was disturbed that, while New York had survived itsmid-1970s fiscal crisis, businesses were still threatening to moveout of the city because they couldn t find enough qualified work-ers.Meanwhile, city kids were missing out on the opportunity forlucrative careers in finance.This may have been particularlygalling to Weill, who knew from personal experience that evenyoung people born well outside New York s elite could make it onWall Street given hard work and determination.Weill talked about his motivation for starting the Academy ofFinance before a 1996 House Ways and Means Committee hear-ing on how to improve American education and produce a betterworkforce.It was his first testimony before a Congressional com-mittee, and he admitted to being  a little bit nervous as hebegan.He described how he came up with the idea for the Acad-emy while driving around the five boroughs of New York City:You saw young people playing in the street, young peoplewithout having a clue of what life was about, and how theyston_c06.qxd 4/16/02 8:51 AM Page 155155Starting Overcan become part of the system.That was the beginning of theidea that maybe the private sector should get together with thepublic sector and see if we can create a high-school level pro-gram that can train young people for a career in the financialservices industry.1Weill brought his deal-making skills to the challenge of get-ting started.First, he worked behind the scenes to create a net-work of powerful people who would back him.He went to FrankMacchiarola, who was at that point chancellor of the New YorkCity schools, and offered to contribute his experience and skillsas long as Macchiarola would accept the help of someone fromthe private sector.Knowing the teachers union might oppose hisplan to include courses designed by financial services practition-ers, he included Sandra Feldman, head of the United Federationof Teachers, in his discussions about founding the Academy.The Academy of Finance debuted in 1982 at John Dewey HighSchool in Brooklyn as a two-year pilot program for 35 juniorsand seniors.Weill insisted the program include paid internshipsat financial institutions, so that students could experience work-ing in a thriving corporate environment, as opposed to toilingaway at a Wendy s or a minimart.It was a hit with students andafter three years, the program was expanded to another school.By the time of Weill s testimony before Congress in 1996, it wasactive in 200 schools in 25 states.That year, Weill started the firstfull four-year Academy of Finance program, at a high schoolnear the American Stock Exchange in downtown New York City.The program continued to grow and diversified into otherfields [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]