Bad Timing Award
You can’t keep a good, quotable man down, even one accused of wrongdoing.
Back on June 26, Beverly Hills investor Jay Goldinger, one of the nation’s most frequently quoted stock market strategists, was accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of insider trading.
The SEC alleges in a civil suit that Goldinger passed on information about Thrifty Corp.’s 1986 takeover that four other people used to make $518,100 in illegal profits. Goldinger denies the SEC charges, maintaining that he never advised anyone to trade stock illegally.
Now, the July 15 issue of U.S. News & World Report highlights Goldinger’s tips on where people should invest their money. His advice for someone with $20,000: invest defensively with a portfolio that emphasizes liquidity.
Photo Opportunity
It’s fourth and long for Chuck Chenes in his efforts to get rid of his 14-foot by 50-foot picture of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana.
Today is the final deadline set by Chenes, chief executive of Continental Savings of America, to sell the mural-like photo hanging in Continental’s San Francisco main office. Montana is Continental’s former spokesman.
Chenes announced in February that he was putting the photo on the market, asking $25,000 for scholarship money and $5,000 to cover the costs to remove the photo. He’s extended the deadline repeatedly but is so discouraged that he’s about to sack the plan.
“We’ll probably have to make arrangements to take it down and store it. Maybe it will be worth more money later,” he said.
One of Chenes’ employees is especially disappointed. Montana’s mother, Theresa, works for the thrift.
. . . New Photo Opportunity
NCNB, the big regional bank in North Carolina, wants to change the face of banking by working out a merger with Southeastern rival C&S;/Sovran to create the nation’s second-largest bank.
NCNB also wants to change the face people see when they pick up a newspaper and spot a photo of the bank’s chief executive, Hugh L. McColl Jr.
NCNB recently sent news organizations across the country a fresh portrait of McColl, known in the banking industry for having a healthy ego, with an accompanying note saying bank officials would appreciate “purging your files” of any other photos.
Briefly . . .
Limited Chief Executive Leslie M. Wexner, who made two unsuccessful tries to buy Carter Hawley Hale, is quoted in the latest Fortune magazine as saying “we wouldn’t take it for free” now that the Los Angeles retailer has sought bankruptcy court protection . . . Take the money: Market sources say billionaire Marvin Davis, who was pressuring First Interstate Bancorp just last December to find a buyer, sold his undisclosed stake in the Los Angeles bank earlier this year after its stock took a jump in price . . . The Resolution Trust Corp., the federal agency that controls the assets of failed savings and loans, lists in its holdings $7.5 million in notes, common stock and preferred stock issued by Eva Gabor International, the wig maker named for the former “Green Acres” actress.
