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That's Angelo Mozilo, chairman and CEO of Calabasas-based Countrywide Financial, and the question has been batted around since the nation's largest mortgage lender unexpectedly announced that its president, Stanford Kurland, had left. He will be replaced by David Sambol, who had been in the No. 3 spot.
No one is explaining the turn of events (Countrywide announced the change in a press release that went out Thursday at midnight). Some had considered Kurland to be the heir apparent to Mozilo - and Wall Street was nudging the well-coiffed Mozilo to finalize succession plans. Perhaps Kurland was pushing Mozilo, too (recent scuttlebutt had Mozilo becoming non-excecutive chairman, Kurland running the shop and Sambol being second in command).
Mozilo is one of those larger than life guys. He co-founded Countrywide with David Loeb in 1969 (it was called Countrywide Funding). Over time, the company rode the wave of a financial services industry that was becoming less constrictive and allowing businesses like Countrywide to offer more products. By the late 1990s, Countrywide began paying more attention to new homeowners, not just folks looking to refinance. Anyway, it's huge business - last year revenues were $10 billion.
For the last couple of years, Mozilo has indicated that he wanted to step down CEO when he turns 68, which happens Dec. 16. About a year ago, a NYT profile put it this way:
Mark Lacter created the LA Biz Observed blog in 2006. He posted
until the day before his death on Nov. 13, 2013.