Marketwatch has a good FAQ for Washington Mutual clients wondering if their money is still there. Short answer: it's all good. Unless you're a shareholder. Shareholders are screwed--officially, whenever what's left of WaMu declares bankruptcy. Alan Fishman, WaMu's 3-week CEO, is not screwed, though it may be difficult for him to find another job that pays $18 million per month. WaMu depositors precipitated the bank's failure by withdrawing $16.7 billion in a little over a week. The only silver lining is that buyer "JPMorgan Chase will absorb at least $31 billion in losses that would normally have fallen to the F.D.I.C." more ›

It seems like only days ago that we were being told that WaMu's incoming CEO, Alan Fishman was ready to turn lead into gold: "I do think I have the skills to take it to the next level." But the next level sounds like drumming up curb appeal for the beleaguered savings and loan. Today the New York Times says that WaMu's shopping for buyers. Goldman Sachs is playing matchmaker, and has sounded out Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and HSBC. Good luck with that. WaMu closed today at $2.01, rising slightly in after hours trading. more ›

WaMu's bargain-basement stock dropped almost 30% today--it's currently rallied to $2.60 from a low of $2.30--after a 20% fall yesterday. So the market doesn't seem impressed with the WaMu Board's tardy ejection of Kerry Killinger from the executive suite. Bloomberg says: "Credit-default swaps on WaMu are now trading at a price that implies a greater than 90 percent chance the company will default within five years." New accounting rules make selling WaMu and its subprime-mortgage battered portfolio much harder--any acquirer would have to put up extra capital against default--but incoming CEO Alan Fishman says he doesn't even want to sell anyway. So that's lucky. more ›

At long last, struggling Washington Mutual acceded to the inevitable and showed CEO Kerry Killinger the door. Thanks to our local newspapers' canny investments in business coverage, we're hearing about immensely important local news the day after the Wall Street Journal reported on Killinger's exit. The Seattle Times is running an AP story, and the P-I made its whole business staff (i.e., Bill Virgin) come in over the weekend and write something up. The Times did get a special from Jon Talton that recaps the WaMu/Killinger situation, and it's worth reading. If incoming head Alan Fishman's job is to work on WaMu's curb appeal, Seattle may be about to take a hard hit. more ›