Reverse Spin: Sorry, this job doesn’t pay enough

Maybe they think NYSE is an acronym for “New York’s sadistic executives.”

The board at the New York Stock Exchange is scrambling to find a replacement for chief executive Richard Grasso, who quit last Wednesday amid fierce controversy about his $139.5 million pay package.

Already, a number of executives have told the board they wouldn’t touch the job with a 10-foot pole. Among them are NYSE lead director H. Carl McCall and William McDonough, who runs the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board in Washington.

Donald Marron, formerly PaineWebber Inc.’s brokerage head, and former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, now chairman of Citigroup Inc.’s executive committee, also said no to the job. So did Frank Zarb, the former chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market Inc., according to published reports.

Until a successor is re- cruited, day-to-day exchange operations are being run by co-chief operating officers Robert Britz and Catherine Kinney.

It’s been real

* Don’t let the door hit you on your way out.

New York’s Citigroup Inc. on Tuesday said Sanford I. Weill would step down as chief executive of the world’s largest financial services company on Oct. 1, three months ahead of schedule.

He will be succeeded by Charles Prince. The move, say analysts, probably reflects the company’s efforts to get on with the inevitable.

“It looks as if they decided to reassure investors by moving forward a little more quickly,” said Michael Holland, chairman of Holland & Co. LLC, a New York-based money management firm that owns Citigroup shares.

“Whenever Sandy Weill walks out the door, he will continue to have influence, but the passing of the baton takes some of the uncertainty out of the stock.”

Not budging

* It looks as if interest rates aren’t going to climb higher anytime soon. Federal Reserve officials on Tuesday elected to keep interest rates at 45-year lows.

Rates are likely to stay low, they said, until the economic recovery gets going full-swing. And that looks like it could take a while.

“The risk of inflation’s becoming undesirably low remains the predominant concern for the foreseeable future,” the Federal Open Market Committee said.

“In these circumstances, the committee believes that policy accommodation can be maintained for a considerable period.”

The Fed’s dour tone came as a surprise to some, especially since data have recently emerged that suggest the economy is improving.

“The biggest surprise was that the tenor of the statement did not change much at all,” Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial in New York, reportedly said. “The Fed is making it clear they are not bothered by … growth and there is no intention of raising rates.”

Pricey lady

* Isabel came and went, but not without racking up quite a bill.

The bill for the hurricane, which ravaged the mid-Atlantic coast last week, is expected to cost insurers anywhere between $1 billion and $4 billion, according to industry executives.

“It is too early to tell how big Isabel will be, but it is certainly going to put a capital strain on many companies,” Martin Sullivan, vice chairman and co-chief operating officer of American International Group Inc. of New York, the world’s largest insurer, told a meeting of insurers in London Friday.

Like our spin? E-mail comments or suggestions to Frederick P. Gabriel Jr. at [email protected].

Closing Quote

“We have enough reality TV going on right in our offices without having to go out and do things like eating cockroaches.”

– Ross Levin, principal at Accredited Investors, on his objection to the industry becoming part of reality television Page 23