INTERVIEW-Waterhouse exec got an E*Trade bear hug
By Jack Reerink
Monday July 26, 7:18 pm Eastern Time
NEW YORK, July 26 (Reuters) - It took Frank Petrilli one weekend to decide to quit as president of Internet brokerage TD Waterhouse Group Inc. (NYSE:TWE - news) and jump ship to rival E*Trade Group Inc. (Nasdaq:EGRP - news).
E*Trade's bright prospects, the unbridled enthusiasm of its chief executive, Christos Cotsakos and an unspecified stock option package swayed him, Petrilli said in a telephone interview on Monday.
``Christos put a bear hug on me on Friday,' Petrilli said. ``It happened very quickly.'
Cotsakos, who built E*Trade from a small discount broker into the No. 2 Web broker, has earned a reputation as a fast deal maker. The executive late May invited online bank Telebanc Financial Corp's (Nasdaq:TBFC - news) Chief Executive Mitchell Caplan to stop by for lunch. A week later, E*Trade announced it would buy Telebanc for $1.8 billion in stock.
Petrilli, 48, will help E*Trade digest that acquisition as well as work to expand the Menlo Park, Calif-based broker's trade-processing and asset-management operations, he said. Petrilli's official title is president of E*Trade Securities, a position held previously by the group's current president, Kathy Levinson.
``I've now joined forces with the leader in our industry, the firm that is really reinventing the industry,' Petrilli said. ``They have been investing in a powerful brand name and making some very aggressive acquisitions.'
Petrilli, a former American Express Co (NYSE:AXP - news) executive, joined Waterhouse Investors Services in 1995. When the broker's parent company, Canada's Toronto-Dominion Bank (Toronto:TD.TO - news) spun off part of Waterhouse in a stock offering last month, Toronto-Dominion veteran executive Stephen McDonald became Waterhouse's chief executive.
In response to a question, Petrilli denied he left Waterhouse, which is the No.3 Web brokerage, because he did not get the top slot.
``I wasn't looking for a job, so that should answer that question,' Petrilli said. ``If you're unhappy, you're looking for a job, right?'
Petrilli declined to say what he had left on the table by quitting Waterhouse just after the initial public stock offering (IPO), nor did he detail his stock compensation at E*Trade.
``I've taken the position that I know that E*Trade is going to be wildly successful, and having an equity position through options satisfied me,' Petrilli said. ``I'm putting my money where my mouth is.'
TD Waterhouse shares on Monday closed at a low of $18.25, down 13 percent on the day and down almost one quarter from their IPO price. E*Trade's stock lost 5 percent, or $1.75, to $30.25. |
