Congressman to Mozilo: Donate your $$$

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Good morning. Random angles and insights on this morning’s ‘takeunder’ of Countrywide by Bank of America. (Takeunder? That’s when the buyer offers less than the stock price at the time of the deal. That’s what B of A did, and that’s why Countrywide shares are down a buck and change today.)

My favorite morning angle is Rep. Barney Frank’s free financial advice to Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo: ‘I am calling on Angelo Mozilo, who will be profiting from this transaction personally, to donate a substantial portion of the $150 million he has collected over the last several years to nonprofits and other institutions that are helping us deal with the problem he helped create.’

Links:

-- L.A. Times coverage of the deal itself, in which B of A is offering $7.16 per share for Countrywide. The stock closed at $7.75 Thursday, hence, a takeunder.
-- Kathy Kristof lays out the $115-million severance package for Mozilo. Many of you are wondering if the package will cover country club dues. Yes, covered. Use of a corporate jet? Yes, covered. Try to think of something you might spend money on. Are you thinking of that thing? It’s covered.

The Mozilo debate is one-sided, but for the purposes of this post I will make it two-sided:

JamesW wrote, ‘As a former employee I have no problem with this. Mozilo was not a hired gun, he was a co-founder of the company and spent countless hours of his useful years making riches for himself, employees and shareholders. He deserves all the money he can get.’

Big Fella wrote, ‘Angelo Mozilo, the Ken Lay of 2008. The fat cats keep getting fatter and the rest of us pay for it, again and again and again.’

Thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com.