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How Gene Ludwig Forced the Countrywide Sale
by Felix Salmon
Jan 29, 2008
Jan 29, 2008
Why did Countrywide sell out to Bank of America? Because it had to. That's the message of a very good WSJ piece today, which explains that Countrywide, before its takeover by the Charlotte giant, was essentially throwing itself upon the mercy of the US government - and that the government wasn't feeling very merciful.
We already knew about the enormous sums of money which were being lent to Countrywide by the Federal Home Loan Banks: more than $50 billion, by the end of the third quarter. News to me, however, was Countrywide's next step: selling federally-insured certificates of deposit at interest rates of more than 5%. Reports the WSJ:
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