Did anyone listen? Apparently, guidance stayed the same, but somebody got on the line and started cussing out the CEO and CFO. Here’s the excerpt… : Hi, Christina, you are going to jail – your name is – you and hell with Scheirman, and you are going to pay for the corruption. You buy judges, you buy everybody. Your task [ph] is just to collect information on people, and I am going to name you and shame you, you [indiscernible], and all of the people surrounding you, especially David Schlapbach, and you know all your guys with you. So get ready, you bought a judge against you, you bought a prosecutor, you bought the case, but I am going to [indiscernible] you legally, legally. Did you get it Christi? Christina? I’d love to hear the background on this if anyone is privy …
Western Union Apologizes After Impostor’s Tirade (Update2) Share | Email | Print | A A A By Peter Eichenbaum July 21 (Bloomberg) – Western Union Co. apologized to Piper Jaffray Cos.’ Robert Napoli after a man posing as the analyst infiltrated the money-transfer firm’s conference call and cursed at Chief Executive Officer Christina Gold. Today’s call discussing Western Union’s second-quarter earnings had been under way for almost 52 minutes when a man identified as Napoli came on the line and delivered an expletive-laden tirade spanning about 40 seconds. “That was not me,” Napoli said in a telephone interview, adding he usually refers to himself as “Bob” and not “Robert.” Napoli said Western Union “sent an e-mail to me and apologized for the person using my name.” The caller also threatened David Schlapbach, general counsel for Englewood, Colorado-based Western Union. Spokesman Tom Fitzgerald said Western Union regrets the incident and is working to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Fitzgerald said the call stems from a “long-running harassment case” involving the man that dates back to when Western Union was owned by Greenwood Village, Colorado-based First Data Corp. “It’s been going on for quite a while.” ‘So Much For That’ A pause of about 40 seconds followed the tirade before SunTrust Robinson Humphrey Inc. analyst Andrew Jeffrey asked about Western Union’s long-term earnings potential. No one answered. “So much for that,” he said about 20 seconds later and hung up. Gary Kohn, a vice president for investor relations, came on the line two minutes later to apologize “for that rude interruption” and turned over the call to Gold for a minute- long closing comment. Net income at Western Union, the world’s largest money- transfer business, slipped to $220.2 million from $231.5 million. Earnings per share were unchanged at 31 cents. “We would characterize Western Union’s second-quarter results as uneventful, except for the nettlesome, to put it mildly, caller who essentially terminated the question-and- answer session,” Dave Novosel, an analyst with corporate bond research firm Gimme Credit, said in a note.
What kind of spineless management team lets this harassment “go on for quite a while” without doing anything about it?? If this was Jay-Z’s conference call the caller would already be hanging upside down off a highrise balcony.
Seriously – They should have Suge Knight moderate all corporate earnings calls. Instead they always get some mousy-sounding girl who’s probably a secretary or something. And how did the “imposter” even gain access to the call?
I thought this was going be about diversifying your bonds… nigga’.