Postcards
How JPMorgan's Dimon conquers his critics
May 18, 2010: 3:09 PM ETby Patricia Sellers
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon is getting plenty of practice handling protesters lately. "Stop the loan sharks" read the T-shirts worn by some protesters hovering outside the company's annual meeting this morning.
Dimon assuaged the shareholders--he predicted a rise in the dividend to 30-40% of earnings "later this year or early next year" if U.S. unemployment goes down and credit improves.
The crowd was tougher, potentially, this past Sunday at Syracuse University. Some students there had fretted about the choice of a Wall Street titan--a beneficiary of the bailout, no less!--as the 2010 commencement speaker.
The protest scheme called for students to disrobe during Dimon's speech.
But classic Dimon, he embraced the controversy.
As he explained to 4,000 grads at Syracuse's Carrier Dome, he dialed up one of the leaders of the disgruntled group, a student named Mariel Fiedler, He heard her out and basically told her: "Good for you for speaking up."
Dimon advised the Syracuse grads to do the same. Learning, he told them, comes from listening to arguments that you don't agree with. So, he said, Socialists should read Milton Friedman, capitalists should read Karl Marx, and Republicans should listen to Democrats--and vice versa.
Of course, Dimon couldn't avoid the issue that drives him crazy these days: public rage against Wall Street. "To categorically and indiscriminately judge (CEOs) as all equal is simply another form of prejudice and ignorance," he told the graduates. "It's not fair. It's not just. It's just plain wrong."
He drew applause at that comment and got a standing ovation at the close. Reportedly, only 11 grads took off their robes. Not bad for a first-time commencement speaker--who, say folks at JPMOrgan, wrote his speech himself. Click here to see a clip of Dimon in action.
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Jamie Dimon's full disclosure
by Patricia Sellers
It's an important next couple of days for JPMorgan Chase (JPM).
The company reports earnings tomorrow morning.
And on Thursday morning, we'll see how far the $100 billion bank--yes, that's how big, in terms of annual revenues, JPMorgan has grown through the financial crisis--has surged up the Fortune 500.
I know. But I can't tell you. Watch for the Fortune 500's release at 7:30 a.m. Thursday.
So, it's a good moment to MORE
Patricia Sellers - Apr 13, 2010 12:57 PM ET -
A pair of Dimons at JPMorgan Chase
by Patricia Sellers
Ted Dimon Sr. started a new job yesterday.
Not just any job. Formerly a broker at Merrill Lynch, Dimon joined the brokerage unit of JPMorgan Chase (JPM). His son happens to be CEO of the parent company.
Word is, Jamie Dimon steered clear of the deal to hire his 78-year-old dad, who arrived with five other Merrill brokers in tow. According to people close to father and son, Ted MORE
Patricia Sellers - Nov 10, 2009 12:10 PM ETPosted in: Bank of America, banks, CEOs, Citigroup, finance, Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, Postcards, Power Shift, Sallie Krawcheck, Sandy Weill, Wall Street -
JPMorgan Chase's view on China
So now we have evidence that Goldman Sach's (GS) Lloyd Blankfein and JPMorgan Chase's (JPM) Jamie Dimon are the rock-star CEOs in financial services. Two days after Goldman announced blowout quarterly profits, JPMorgan soundly beat the Street today.
Investors predicted it. JPM's stock is flat today, trading around $36--that's evidence enough. But one thing few investors knew is that Dimon spent a month, until July 2, in Asia--confident enough, obviously, to MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jul 16, 2009 3:52 PM ETPosted in: banks, CEOs, earnings, finance, Jamie Dimon, Jing Ulrich, JPMorgan Chase, Postcards, Wall Street -
Bits of inspiration to end the week
This is a short post on a Friday to close an inspiring week. I told you about going to the Time 100 gala on Tuesday evening. What a high. The biggest names there were influential women, starting with Oprah, who wrote the piece about Michelle Obama in the Time 100 issue. At the dinner, the First Lady talked about social entrepreneurship and the best-of-breed innovators, like Donors Choose, whom we MORE
Patricia Sellers - May 8, 2009 3:59 PM ET -
Power Point: Give the money back!
"It was distasteful to make these payments."
AIG (AIG) chief Ed Liddy, testifying today before a House Financial Services subcommittee. He was, of course, talking about the infamous $165 million in retention bonuses that the bailed-out conglomerate paid out to employees. Liddy—who took charge in September and is working for $1 a year and no bonus—told Congress that employees who took home more than $100,000 in bonuses have been asked to MORE
Patricia Sellers - Mar 18, 2009 6:29 PM ETPosted in: AIG, banks, Carol Loomis, CEOs, Ed Liddy, finance, Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan Chase, Leadership by Geoff Colvin, management, Postcards, Power Point, Wall Street -
Confidence game: It takes a leader
Are you keeping the faith? Your answer probably depends on whether you have the right leader to look up to.
I've been thinking about leadership a lot lately. For one thing, I read on the front page of today's New York Times that a remarkable portion of America believes in our new president. Sixty-three percent of Americans approve of the way Barack Obama is handling his job, according to a new MORE
Patricia Sellers - Feb 24, 2009 1:30 PM ET -
Power Point: Accountability starts at the top
"We will hold ourselves accountable for what we do, and that starts with me."
-- Citigroup (C) CEO Vikram Pandit testifying before Congress on Wednesday. The heads of eight of the nation's top banks, which have collectively received $165 billion in government rescue funds, appeared together before the House Financial Services Committee to explain what they've done with the money so far.
The CEOs—including Goldman Sach's (GS) Lloyd Blankfein, Wells Fargo's (WFC) MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Feb 11, 2009 7:06 PM ETPosted in: banks, Barney Frank, CEOs, Citigroup, Congress, finance, Goldman Sachs, Jamie Dimon, John Stumpf, JP, JPMorgan Chase, Lloyd Blankfein, politics, Postcards, Power Point, Vikram Pandit, Wall Street, Washington, Wells Fargo -
Wrath for Rubin, and Mack's shot at redemption
Such wrath! Readers' comments on Friday's post about Bob Rubin were angrier than I ever expected. A half-dozen commenters suggested that the onetime U.S. Treasury Secretary, whose reputation collapsed along with the fortunes of Citigroup (C), should go to jail for bungling the job that he's now leaving. On the one hand, I'm tempted to say: Calm down! There's no evidence - not a whiff - that Rubin did anything MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jan 12, 2009 2:28 PM ET -
This week: Leadership lessons and Dimon's mystery execs revealed
Happy Friday! At least we have an auto bailout -- some reassurance to end another rough week.
As I've monitored the page views on Postcards (way up this week!), I've noticed a pattern: lots of interest in good news and lessons in leadership -- maybe because this is so hard to come by these days. Thursday's post on Execution dispensed management advice from successful CEOs like IBM's (IBM) Sam Palmisano and MORE
Patricia Sellers - Dec 19, 2008 3:05 PM ET
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Fortune senior editor at large Pattie Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Marissa Mayer: Ready to Rumble at Yahoo," "Oprah's Next Act," "Can Meg Whitman Save California?" "The $100 Billion Woman" (Melinda Gates), and "Remodeling Martha" (Martha Stewart). She has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women in Business" package every year since its launch in 1998. Pattie is Executive Director of the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business and beyond. She oversees MPW programs that enable women leaders to extend their influence and empower the next generation—such as Fortune MPW Entrepreneurs and the Fortune-U.S. State Department Global Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership. Beyond her Fortune duties, she is also developing Live Content across Time Inc. Pattie grew up in Allentown, PA, graduated from the University of Virginia, and started at Fortune in 1984. Her blog, Postcards, is about how power players lead, manage others, and navigate their careers.
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