James Gorman - An Empire Builder At Shareholders' Expense

PURCHASE, New York (Reuters) - Anti-Wall Street protesters upstaged Morgan Stanley's annual meeting on Tuesday, lobbing tough questions at Chairman and Chief Executive James Gorman and shouting negative comments over a bank official who was attempting to read a tally of shareholder votes.

Pop quiz: which of the following 3 questions is most important in acing your interviews? A. What’s the difference between Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a restructuring? B. How do you decide to finance a company with debt vs. equity? C. How do you take into account the competitive advantage of a firm in a valuation? Got it? 30 seconds more to think if you’re still struggling… Ok, time’s up. The answer: Unless you made up your own response and said, “D. None of the above,” you were wrong.

After Morgan Stanley's Q4 earnings report beat expectations this morning, CEO James Gorman sat down with Bloomberg TV's Erik Schatzker to answer the question that's been on everyone's mind — is the bloodletting at

This week Wall Street's big investment banks will report on how they did in Q4 2012, and while they won't be reporting the train wreck numbers that made the financial crisis so... exciting, there are a few stories to watch that could make a major impact on the world of finance.

For employees at the biggest Wall Street banks, 2012 brought a humbling post-crisis reality of job cuts, lower pay and tarnished reputations. For investors, it was a happier story. The 81-company Standard & Poor’s 500 Financial Index is up 27% this year, its largest annual increase since 2003, led by a 104% gain in Bank of America Corp. The index beat the broader S&P 500 Index for the first time since 2006. There is a level of angst this year that is just unprecedented. It’s just a profound sadness and dissatisfaction