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Gorman, 64, said the board has identified three strong candidates to succeed him and that he will become executive chairman once a new CEO is chosen.
Shares of Morgan Stanley slipped about 1% to $83.84 in morning trading.
COMMENTS:
STUART COLE, HEAD MACRO ECONOMIST, EQUITI CAPITAL, LONDON:
“Gorman has been at MS for a long time now, and was very much behind the purchase by MS of E*Trade Financial (NASDAQ:ETFC) Corp and Eaton (NYSE:ETN) Vance Corp, both of which have been very successful for MS. Under his leadership MS stock has been one of the best performing financials, so I expect investors will be disappointed he is leaving and will see him as a hard act to follow.”
JOHN GUARNERA, SENIOR CORPORATE ANALYST AT RBC BLUERAY ASSET MANAGEMENT:
“James Gorman has taken a lot of effort to bolster the leadership ranks and to train and promote potential successors there. He’s been pretty clear in terms of establishing a bench that would be there to be able to support him when and if he chose to leave. So, I don’t anticipate any major change in strategic direction, and I would think that the transition would be relatively orderly.
PHIL BLANCATO, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, LADENBURG THALMANN ASSET MANAGEMENT, NEW YORK:
“I would applaud James Gorman here for taking the right time to step down. The guy has done an excellent job navigating the bank. It’s a company that has done quite well for itself in the midst of a time when other banks have not.”
ART HOGAN, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, B RILEY WEALTH, BOSTON:
“James Gorman has done a masterful job of transforming Morgan Stanley into the model that most major banks want to be, with a focus on asset management, financial advisors, and a road map to get to $10 trillion in assets under management.”
KIM FORREST, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, BOKEH CAPITAL PARTNERS, PITTSBURGH:
“It has really been a great performing stock and I think it’s largely because of Gorman’s focus on the new world of how things are done. His focus on deals was good, but also on enabling trades, that is something that they really set out to capture as a market. Building out their wealth management division has been a real boon to the company and they bested Goldman in that practice.”
