CAN ANYONE RUN LAZARD?

摘要

A year ago, investment bank Lazard Freres seemed to be getting its house in order. To smooth discord between the recently merged New York and European branches, William R. Loomis, a Lazard veteran, was appointed as the united firm's first American chief executive officer. The bank made several other moves, including setting up a gen-erous compensation plan to stem high-level defections after key New York part-ner Steven Rattner left in March, 2000. Today, none of that seems to have made much difference. Lazard is adrift again-just as the entire investment banking business is going through its roughest patch in at least a decade. Loomis resigned on Oct. 24 "to pursue other interests." Says one senior part-ner: "We all supported Bill. He was say-ing the right things, and we felt it was going to work." But under Loomis,rnLazard's woes wors-ened. Fights broke out over the profit split among New York, London, and Paris, and frustration mounted over the re-luctance of imperious Chairman Michel David-Weill to share control. Now, the question is whether the discord will push David-Weill, 69, to create a viable suc-cession plan.