Death Threats for Analyst Covering Citigroup
November 5th, 2007“At some point, this thing is going to start looking less like a financial crisis and more like a mob war.”
—Unloading Toxic Waste Mortgage Backed Securities: “We Americans Were Very Cleverâ€
Via: Globe and Mail:
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce analyst Meredith Whitney says she’s received multiple death threats because of a research note she wrote that sparked a selloff in shares of banking behemoth Citigroup Inc.
The 37-year-old analyst, who is based in New York, is standing by her research, and lashing out against what she characterizes as analysts’ fear of negativity.
CIBC spokesman Rob McLeod said the bank is also standing by Ms. Whitney’s decision to downgrade Citigroup.
“People are scared to be negative, especially when a company has such a wide holding,” Ms. Whitney told The Times of London. “Clients are not pleased with my call, and I have had several death threats.”
I like your mobster analogy because it’s so true. This article uses the same language but doesn’t refer to covert retaliation: http://www.counterpunch.org/martens11062007.html. Some young industry workers in their mid-20s easily might not have understood their role, and did think they had a brilliant business idea that earlier people hadn’t thought to take advantage of.