CIBC World Markets analyst Meredith Whitney
Duncan Mavin, Financial Post
Published: Friday, November 02, 2007
CIBC World Markets analyst Meredith Whitney, an outspoken television pundit who is married to a professional wrestler, delivered a body slam to the U.S. banking sector this week that has sent stocks reeling in markets around the world.
The champion stock-picker even talks a bit like Rowdy Roddy Piper.
"No one had the moxie to put in print, what I put in print," Ms. Whitney said yesterday.
She had earlier hit Citigroup with a downgrade when it was already hurting from weak profits.
"Is Citigroup's dividend safe?" she demanded in a tough report that followed a 57% drop in third-quarter earnings at the world's largest bank.
Ms. Whitney said Citigroup, one of the world's largest banks, is US$30-billion short of enough capital to keep up with payments to shareholders and its plans for growth during the current credit crunch.
Bank stocks fell sharply. Her report triggered the steepest tumble in Citigroup shares since September 2002, and it's not done falling yet, according to Ms. Whitney.
U.S. stocks were dragged down, with the Standard & Poor's 500 Index losing 2.6% on Thursday, destroying $369-billion in market value.
In Canada and elsewhere, bank stocks also fell. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Ms. Whitney's own employer, has seen 4% slashed off its stock price since her report was issued.
The CIBC analyst said yesterday that she has been inundated with attention from media and investors since making the call in a report issued in New York on Wednesday evening.
A spokesman for CIBC in Toronto said the bank has also had a high number of requests to get in touch with Ms. Whitney or to see her report.
"It's a very controversial call despite being a very straightforward call," Ms. Whitney said in an interview.
"I took this extremely seriously. The report is very thorough. But in my 14 years as an analyst this is the most straightforward call that I've made. It's black and white."
Despite her assuredness, the downgrade is widely seen as bold move. But as a regular guest on Fox News, Ms. Whitney has made a name for herself with forthright views.
On a Fox panel discussing the U.S. sub-prime mortgage crisis in July, she said, "I don't feel sorry for the teacher who's making $40,000 a year who squeezed herself into a $2-million dollar home and can't afford it."
On the same show, the 37-year old analyst said, "You have to have creative destruction to have a capitalist society. You have to let people fail."
Those words could also now be ringing in the ears of Citigroup chief executive Charles Prince, whom Ms. Whitney blames for the bank's declining fortunes.
"There's no question he has to leave,'' said the New York-based analyst.
Ms. Whitney is currently number two in Forbes magazine's ranking of capital markets analysts. She graduated with honors from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and married John "Bradshaw" Layfield in Key West in 2005.
Mr. Layfield is a former World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. champion and author of "Have More Money Now: A Common Sense Approach to Financial Management."
Known to his fans as JBL, Mr. Layfield apparently models his character after J.R. Ewing from the television show Dallas. His signature wrestling move is the 'Clothesline From Hell,' and his WWE Smack Down website profile warns, "Never challenge John Bradshaw Layfield to a street fight -- especially on Wall Street, or when he's offering valuable investment pointers to help bulk up your portfolio."
Like his wife, Mr. Layfield is a regular contributor to Fox News.
Ms. Whitney said her twenty-three page report on Citigroup which downgraded the bank from 'sector perform' to 'sector underperform' has been vindicated by an 11% drop in the company's stock price in the past two days.
"I had a lot of support [before issuing the report] from my firm and I've got a good track record. I lay the case out, they think about it and they trust me."
Analysts in the U.S. tend to be more aggressive with their ratings than their counterparts here in Canada, said Mario Mendonca, financial services analyst at Genuity Capital Markets in Toronto.
It is very unusual for Canadian bank analysts to give bank stocks a "sell" recommendation, though Mr. Mendonca was among a handful of his peers who did downgrade Bank of Montreal earlier this year. When he switched his recommendation on the stock to "sell" from "hold" based, the reaction to his downgrade was mixed.
"If you don't downgrade you are criticized for being too soft on the banks and if you do downgrade then people say you are wrong and missing the point of bank stocks," he said.
Meanwhile some observers in the U.S. have reacted in opposition to Ms. Whitney's report.
David Hilder, an analyst at Bear Stearns & Co., wrote in a note that "concerns about Citigroup's capital position and dividend policy raised by a competitor are over-stated."
Mr. Hilder, based in New York, maintained his 'outperform' rating on Citigroup and said the shares may climb to US$58 by the end of next year.
Anton Schutz, who oversees US$270-million as president of Mendon Capital Advisors in Rochester, New York, said the bank has too much cash to cut its payout.
"I don't believe that to be true, that they will need to cut the dividend," said Mr. Schutz, who owns Citigroup shares and said he has been buying as prices declined. "There's no doubt that there's a lot of uncertainty here, but overall this company generates a ton of capital and can certainly weather a storm."
Financial Post with files from Bloomberg News
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Sunday, November 04, 2007
Monday, September 03, 2007
Chris Benoit death leads to steroid crackdown - news.com.au - 2nd September 2007
WORLD Wrestling Entertainment has suspended 10 of its most popular stars for violations of a policy that tests for steroids and other drugs.
WWE said yesterday that it issued suspension notices based on information from the prosecutors investigating illegal steroid sales.
The clamp-down on performance enhancing drugs - which are believed to be widely used by wrestlers to bulk up - was prompted by the murder-suicide of star Chris Benoit.
Benoit killed his fellow-wrestler wife and seven-year-old son before hanging himself in June, in a murder-suicide believed prompted by his prolonged steroid use.
He and several other WWE wrestlers had been clients of Signature Pharmacy of Orlando, Florida.
Under a WWE drug-testing policy introduced last year, wrestlers face a 30-day suspension without pay for a first violation, a 60-day suspension for a second violation and dismissal for a third. The company has about 160 wrestlers, and they are tested at least four times a year.
Actor and former wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson said yesterday he hopes the company continues to lay the smackdown on performers who are using muscle-building drugs.
Sports Illustrated's website listed 14 wrestlers who were sent drugs through the mail. Three of those performers - Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and Brian Adams - are dead. Ten are still with the WWE, which is facing congressional scrutiny following Benoit's death.
Johnson said he wasn't happy to hear that the industry in which he thrived before shifting his acting skills to Hollywood still struggles with steroids.
"These guys have to be armed with the knowledge and understanding of how bad these drugs are and the dangers of mixing these drugs with the lifestyles they lead," he said.
Johnson wrestled in the WWE earlier this decade at the same time as Benoit.
"I was blown away," Johnson said of the tragedy.
"I had a chance to work with Chris on many occasions. He was a great guy and I knew his wife very well. "The guy I knew wasn't the guy who committed these heinous crimes.
"I've stopped trying to figure it out because Chris had wiring that allowed him to do that where anybody who was sane couldn't fathom doing that."
Profiles
WWE
WWE said yesterday that it issued suspension notices based on information from the prosecutors investigating illegal steroid sales.
The clamp-down on performance enhancing drugs - which are believed to be widely used by wrestlers to bulk up - was prompted by the murder-suicide of star Chris Benoit.
Benoit killed his fellow-wrestler wife and seven-year-old son before hanging himself in June, in a murder-suicide believed prompted by his prolonged steroid use.
He and several other WWE wrestlers had been clients of Signature Pharmacy of Orlando, Florida.
Under a WWE drug-testing policy introduced last year, wrestlers face a 30-day suspension without pay for a first violation, a 60-day suspension for a second violation and dismissal for a third. The company has about 160 wrestlers, and they are tested at least four times a year.
Actor and former wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson said yesterday he hopes the company continues to lay the smackdown on performers who are using muscle-building drugs.
Sports Illustrated's website listed 14 wrestlers who were sent drugs through the mail. Three of those performers - Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and Brian Adams - are dead. Ten are still with the WWE, which is facing congressional scrutiny following Benoit's death.
Johnson said he wasn't happy to hear that the industry in which he thrived before shifting his acting skills to Hollywood still struggles with steroids.
"These guys have to be armed with the knowledge and understanding of how bad these drugs are and the dangers of mixing these drugs with the lifestyles they lead," he said.
Johnson wrestled in the WWE earlier this decade at the same time as Benoit.
"I was blown away," Johnson said of the tragedy.
"I had a chance to work with Chris on many occasions. He was a great guy and I knew his wife very well. "The guy I knew wasn't the guy who committed these heinous crimes.
"I've stopped trying to figure it out because Chris had wiring that allowed him to do that where anybody who was sane couldn't fathom doing that."
Profiles
WWE
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Pro wrestler, wife and son killed, by Dylan Welch - 26th June 2007 - The Sydney Morning Herald
Pro wrestler, wife and son killed, by Dylan Welch - 26th June 2007 - credit: The Sydney Morning Herald
The death of one of professional wrestling's most famous stars, Chris Benoit, is already proving as fantastic and bizarre as the world of pro wrestling itself.
There were no signs of gunshot or stab wounds, but the "instruments of death were located on scene'', Tommy Pope of the Fayette County Sheriff's Department told an American broadcaster. Police were now considering it a "possible double-murder suicide'', he said.
US television station WAGA reported that investigators believe Benoit killed his wife and son over the weekend, and then himself sometime on Monday.
According to WAGA, the bodies were found in three different rooms.
Some however, would not accept that he may have harmed his family.
"He was very happy with his wife and he loved his son Daniel," Ross Hart, a friend of Benoit and member of the Hart wrestling family, told the Edmonton Journal.
"This would be very uncharacteristic of Chris to do anything self-destructive. I find it very hard to believe that he would end his life or his family's."
Benoit was scheduled to perform at a pay-per-view title fight on Sunday night in Houston, Texas, but was replaced at the last minute because of a "family emergency''.
It is now understood that his employers, worried about Benoit, asked police to check in on the former world heavyweight champion.
The bodies of the 40-year-old wrestler, his wife, Nancy Benoit, 43, and their seven-year-old son, Daniel, were discovered by police at their Atlanta, Georgia, home at about 2.30pm local time on Monday (4.30am Tuesday Sydney time).
According to the Edmonton Journal, the house is in a secluded neighbourhood set back about 60 yards off a gravel road, surrounded by stacked stone wall and a double-iron gate. On Monday night, the house was dark except for a few outside lights. There was a police car in front, along with two uniformed officers.
"The details, when they come out, are going to prove a little bizarre,'' Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballarde told local paper the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Benoit, 40, was a former world heavyweight champion for World Wrestling Entertainment as well as a intercontinental champion and held several tag-team titles.
A Canadian native, he maintained a home in Atlanta from the time he wrestled for the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling.
His wife was a former wrestling valet who wrestled under the name "Woman''.
In a further twist, this week's live Monday Night RAW program was supposed to have been a whodunit into the fictional death of Chairman Vince McMahon, whose limousine burst into a fiery explosion moments after he stepped into it after a bout two weeks ago.
That storyline was quickly scrapped and Vince McMahon instead appeared to explain about the death of Benoit. The company then aired a three-hour tribute to Benoit.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Lovestruck: Wrestling's No. 1 Fan, by George Palathingal - The Sydney Morning Herald - 5th April 2007
A portrait of an otherwise ordinary Melbourne woman whose devotion to the sport has had a profound effect on every aspect of her life.
Before non-fans of wrestling shift their attention elsewhere, it is important to note that this documentary is not really about that most ludicrous excuse for a sport. At its big heart, and as a more careful look at its title says, Lovestruck: Wrestling's No. 1 Fan is a portrait of an otherwise ordinary Melbourne woman whose devotion to the sport has had a profound effect on pretty much every aspect of her life.
Sue Chuter was in her 40s when the director Megan Spencer met her, by chance, in the mid-1990s. This was before Spencer acquired a certain level of fame as the eloquent, passionate film critic on Triple J and on SBS's revamped but ill-fated The Movie Show. Some might think Spencer's career may have added to the time it could have taken to make this film, but the 10 years following Chuter around quickly prove the key to her tale.
Chuter is, as you'd hope, a fascinating human being. Her diminutive stature, underdog aura and lack of glamour and pretension immediately draw you to her, along with her unmissable natural quirkiness. (One of the film's funniest, and most startling, moments involves a young wrestling fan apparently wearing the wrong T-shirt.)
We spend parts of the film meeting many of her wrestling heroes, as she makes numerous trips exclusively to see them all over the country and, via Chuter's own video diary, around the United States. However, it speaks volumes about her that these colourful, extravagantly named and dressed beefcakes are rarely as interesting as she is - especially when the film gets personal. The look into her life outside wrestling, especially at her relationships with friends and family, not only ensures she doesn't come across as some one-dimensional stereotype, but it also gives the film an important emotional centre.
With Lovestruck: Wrestling's No. 1 Fan, Spencer has put together a classy, insightful doco. The gorgeous title sequence over archival wrestling footage (courtesy of her Movie Show alumnus Marc Fennell), Philip Brophy's alternately moody and tender desert-country soundtrack, and Spencer's astute interviewing and real interest in her subject, are each as impressive as those seen or heard in more celebrated documentaries. But there are flaws, too.
As is often the case with dedicated fans of anything, viewers may have liked to know how Chuter can afford to indulge her obsession to such a degree, which brings us to a more obvious shortcoming - "short" being the operative part of the word. At 52 minutes, there was clearly time to at least mention the subject's financial situation and maybe expand on, or talk about, other things, but the film seems to come to an abrupt halt.
That said, when too many films seem to be half an hour longer than they need to be, maybe time isn't really an issue. On the whole, Spencer does justice to Chuter's story, packing in lots of compelling stuff without giving viewers a chance to get bored.
On The Ropes, by Genevieve Swart - The Sydney Morning Herald - 13th April 2007
It took Megan Spencer 10 years to make Lovestruck: Wrestling's No. 1 Fan. The result is a documentary with a punch to the heart as skilfully executed as anything The Rock might deliver.
"It's full of wrestling and testosterone," the director says, "but it's almost like a legitimised chick flick for men because I've had men walking out at the end of the film just bawling their eyes out."
Best known for her role as a film critic on Triple J and SBS's The Movie Show, Spencer, 40, has come full circle with this documentary - from filmmaker to critic and back again. And not without some anxiety about how her latest effort will be received by the media.
"But all's fair in love and film criticism,'' she says, laughing.
Lovestruck is about obsession, fitting in and family. It stars Sue Chuter, a 55-year-old Melbourne fan who has spent 35 years cheering pro wrestlers, from Australian strongman Mario Milano to Memphis wrestler turned commentator Jerry "The King" Lawler.
Chuter has posters all over her home, more than 4000 wrestling videos and DVDs, has several big stars as friends and phones idols in the US to wish them happy birthday.
It's not Spencer's first foray into the world of obsessions - she also directed Heathens (1994), about St Kilda supporters, and Strange Hungers: Mistress Ursula (2001), about a dominatrix.
Spencer was working at a Melbourne CD store while studying media arts at the then Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 1995 when Chuter walked in. It was "Lovestruck" at first sight.
"She was wearing a T-shirt with a big wrestler on the front of it and I just pointed at it and said, 'Who's that?' And it was bang, instant."
The next week, Spencer arrived at Chuter's house to start filming.
Chuter is aware some people regard her obsession as "weird" but describes herself as "eccentric", Spencer says.
"Sue is a highly devoted fan and wrestlers recognise that. Jerry Lawler certainly does. They value her friendship, her expertise and knowledge - and the fact she is the greatest ambassador for wrestling that has ever walked the planet."
Spencer has some insight into wrestlemania: at age four, she began watching World Championship Wrestling on Channel Nine. She also collected about 30 muscle-bound wrestling dolls.
Her 52-minute doco was cut from about 60 hours of footage filmed over a decade, as well as archival material.
Lovestruck screened at last year's Melbourne and Perth film festivals and is on at the Chauvel. And it's not just for wrestling fans, Spencer says.
"I think Sue's story is universal.
That's ultimately the role of documentary: to give us a window on people's lives who we think are different to us. In the end, the good ones show we're pretty much forged from the same cells."
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Media Man Australia Wrestling Media Update
The Media Man Australia Wrestling Profiles and WWE Profile sections has been updated.
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Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia
Best Regards
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia
Friday, November 24, 2006
Wrestling featured on Network Nine 'What A Year'
We were delighted to be involved on the pitch to Network Nine's 'What A Year'. A great showing by our friends and associates, wrestling legends, Ron Miller and Mario Milano.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Wrestling Media update
For more information on Wrestling Media contact:
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia
e: greg@mediaman.com.au
e: greg.tingle@hotmail.com
w: www.mediaman.com.au
a: PO Box 4055 Maroubra South NSW 2035 AUSTRALIA
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia
e: greg@mediaman.com.au
e: greg.tingle@hotmail.com
w: www.mediaman.com.au
a: PO Box 4055 Maroubra South NSW 2035 AUSTRALIA
Saturday, September 03, 2005
International Media support updates
Media Man Australia is delighted to offer international media and new media support to the following:
Wrestling Then & Now - Evan's Ginzburg's company
Interview
Bobby Riedel & Ted Dibiase
Interview
New Era of Wrestling - Chris Yandek's company
Interview
Australian Sports Entertainment continues to support the wrestling industry as a whole. See
Wrestling Portal
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Stay tuned for more on our projects with John Seru, Greg Smit, Steve Rackman, Ron Millier and Mario Milano.
Thanks for your support.
Best Regards
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia
Australian Sports Entertainment
e: greg@mediaman.com.au or greg_tingle@hotmail.com
Wrestling Then & Now - Evan's Ginzburg's company
Interview
Bobby Riedel & Ted Dibiase
Interview
New Era of Wrestling - Chris Yandek's company
Interview
Australian Sports Entertainment continues to support the wrestling industry as a whole. See
Wrestling Portal
Australian Pro Wrestling Directory
Stay tuned for more on our projects with John Seru, Greg Smit, Steve Rackman, Ron Millier and Mario Milano.
Thanks for your support.
Best Regards
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia
Australian Sports Entertainment
e: greg@mediaman.com.au or greg_tingle@hotmail.com
Saturday, June 11, 2005
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Media Man Australia
IWA
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Media Man Australia
Mega Pro Wrestling blog
For more information contact:
Greg Tingle
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Media Man Australia
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Media Man Australia - official website of publicist, Greg Tingle
Media Man Australia - interviews
Australian Sports Entertainment - wrestling portal
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Friday, June 11, 2004
Wrestling Media Blog
Welcome to the Wrestling Media Blog
Check out the website
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e: greg@mediaman.com.au
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Check out the website
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Best Regards
Greg Tingle
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Media Man Australia
e: greg@mediaman.com.au
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