BREAKINGVIEWS-John Thain checks into career rehab at CIT

By Robert Cyran

NEW YORK | Mon Feb 8, 2010 10:22am EST

NEW YORK Feb 8 (Reuters Breakingviews) - This looks a good match. After its spell in bankruptcy, the U.S. lender needs a motivated technocrat, not an expert in the art of corralling bankers with big egos. The job also plays to the former Merrill chief's strengths -- and offers him a deserved chance at redemption.

A considered view will be published shortly.

CONTEXT NEWS

-- CIT (CIT.N) has selected John Thain as its new chief executive. Peter Tobin stepped down as interim CEO, but will remain on the mid-market U.S. business lender's board.

-- The former Merrill Lynch chief will receive $500,000 in cash and $5.5 million of restricted CIT stock annually. Thain is also eligible for a 2010 incentive award of up to $1.5 million.

-- CIT emerged from bankruptcy in December.

-- The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own --

-- For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on [CYRAN/]

(Editing by Rob Cox and Martin Langfield)

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Comments (4)
AREukidding wrote:
Great another high level bandit will lay waste to another company leaving a wake of destruction and waste behind him and will cost how many people jobs? Of course that’s of no importance as long as the shareholders get their immediate gratification and the he can move on & lay waste to some other company, hopeful not mine. Good luck CIT & those who count on a paycheck from there!

Feb 08, 2010 11:12am EST  --  Report as abuse
HilaryLo wrote:
The rich melt-down perpetrators are all still not in jail, still have jobs, nice cars, private schools for their kids and economic security. How do you like that? Working-class people are disposable. Rich guys can do whatever the hell they want and still be rich and free while we lose our jobs, our homes, our health, our EVERYTHING!

Feb 08, 2010 12:00pm EST  --  Report as abuse
Yo-yo-yo wrote:
Nice to see Ol’ Boy Club is alive and well in our great American plutocracy. Hey — maybe Thane can pull off a ‘Bob Nardelli feat’ by running two companies into the ground like Nardelli did with Home Depot and Chrysler. No doubt that Bob is member of ‘The Club’ too — so, he’ll surely be going for ‘The Hat Trick’ with yet another company to wreck in the future. And why not ? As they say, “Membership has its privileges”. Frankly, I’m not even sure why either these guys bother. With their golden parachute compensation from past adventures (and just having a pulse) they already don’t have to work for 6000 life times. What a great country we live in….

Feb 08, 2010 2:33pm EST  --  Report as abuse
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