June 2, 2008 - Today, Wachovia CEO Ken Thompson became the latest to be shown the door. The bank anounced that its board forced Thompson to retire from the company he has run for eight years. The move comes just 24 days after Thompson lost his job as chairman. Lanty Smith, the man who succeeded Thompson as chairman, will become interim CEO. So what happened? The simple answer: An acquisition gone bad. Thompson, it would seem, was brought down by the ill-timed acquisition in 2006 of Golden West Financial, which caused Wachovia to post steeper-than-expected losses in April.
Wachovia CEO G. Kennedy Thompson stepped down, weeks after losing his chairman role and roughly two months after raising $7 billion.
