WASHINGTON — Sallie Mae chairman Albert Lord acknowledged that he was facing a potentially hostile bunch Wednesday when he addressed shareholders for the first time since his effort to sell the student-loan company collapsed.
But what began as an effort to soothe his constituents ended in a moment of profanity. By the end of the day, investors had driven Sallie Mae’s stock down 20.7 percent to $22.89.
Before the conference call ended, Lord said he had “very, very specific goals” for the company’s future, but he provided few if any specifics.
The purpose of the call, Lord told investors at the outset, was “to reacquaint myself with you, and you with me and try to create some transparency by me as CEO.”
Last week, Lord’s bank liquidated 96.6 percent of the Sallie Mae shares he owned outright. The nearly 1.3 million shares were in a margin account, which allowed Lord to make other investments by borrowing against them — and allowed the bank to seize them via a so-called margin call if such investments soured.
The call got tense when William Kavaler, a managing director of the French bank Societe Generale, pressed Lord repeatedly for insights about the interest in securities backed by Sallie Mae loans.
“We’re trying to figure out what your stock is going to be worth, and you’ve got to give us some guidance, you’ve got to give us some numbers,” Kavaler said.
“You should give Steve a call,” Lord said, an apparent reference to head of investor relations Steven McGarry, who was also on the call.
“But you’re the CEO. You’re the guy who just took over the company,” Kavaler said.
“Yeah, I’m the, that’s exactly right. I’m the CEO. You should give Steve a call. Next question,” Lord replied.
Lord said he will be prepared to take all questions in January, when he plans to address investors in New York.
“And I would suggest maybe you get there early, because I can assure you, you will be going through a metal detector,” he said, in what seemed a facetious reference to the hostility he expects.
After only half the time allotted for the conference call, and after only four of the 400 people listening to the call had asked questions, the operator asked for more. There was a pause.
“How good is this?” Lord said, in an apparent aside that could be heard on the call. “Steve, let’s go. No questions. Let’s get the (expletive) out of here,” he said.
Then, speaking to shareholders, Lord said, “Goodbye. Thank you.”
