It's Showtime for Morgan Stanley

摘要

Morgan Stanley, which shifted strategy last year to rely more on its 18,000 brokers and less on debt-fueled risk taking, is still struggling to prove the new model works. The company failed to ride a surge in equity and bond markets in 2010, and its stock underper-formed its industry average. Shortly after taking the top job last January, Chief Executive Officer James P. Gorman said 2009 was a "year of transition" and that 2010 would be the "year of execution." Things didn't play out that way: Last October, Gorman, 52, said Morgan Stanley, the sixth-largest U.S. bank by assets, was still in a "transition period" and "remains a work in progress." While Gorman declined to comment for this story, his October remarks didn't go unnoticed.