Market Deals Hefty Losses to Wall St. Money Men

Wall Street’s fattest cats are sharing in the pain of the stock market slump.

Chief executives of major financial companies saw their net worth skyrocket during the bull market, but the value of their company stock holdings and options has plunged by hundreds of millions of dollars in the last 2 1/2 months.

The Dow Jones industrial average has dropped 18.3% from its peak July 17 by the close of trading Thursday. The impact on some of America’s most powerful money men in that same period was much more drastic, according to a study by Compensation Resource Group Inc., a Pasadena-based consulting firm.

Travelers Group chief Sanford Weill took the biggest hit in dollar terms of the 13 chief executives sampled, with the value of his company stock and options dropping by $785 million, or 50.1%. His merger partner, Citicorp’s John Reed, lost $196.5 million, or 50.6%, on paper.

In percentage terms, the hardest hit was Richard Fuld Jr. of Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc., who lost 66.3%, or $130.2 million.

The least affected in dollar terms was Hugh McColl of NationsBank Corp. (now BankAmerica Corp. as the result of the merger), who lost $36.9 million, or 35.2%. In percentage terms, the smallest drop was 11.4%, or $229.2 million, suffered by Charles Schwab, head of discount brokerage Charles Schwab & Co.

Among the losses suffered by other CEOs included in the sample:

* Philip Purcell of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co.: $193.7 million, or 58.7%.

* James Cayne of Bear Stearns Cos.: $191 million, or 52.2%.

* David Komansky of Merrill Lynch & Co.: $164.7 million, or 58.1%.

* David Coulter of BankAmerica Corp. (CEO until NationsBank merger, now president): $121 million, or 44.3%.

* Walter Shipley of Chase Manhattan Corp.: $77.8 million, or 45.6%.

* Donald Marron of PaineWebber Group Inc.: $74.2 million, or 43.9%.

* Harvey Golub of American Express Co.: $58.1 million, or 36.5%.

* Douglas Warner III of J.P. Morgan & Co.: $51.8 million, or 38.9%.