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Gorman, 64, said the board has identified three strong candidates to succeed him and that he will become executive chairman once a new CEO is chosen.
Shares of Morgan Stanley slipped 1.02% to $84 premarket on Friday.
COMMENTS:
STUART COLE, HEAD MACRO ECONOMIST, EQUITI CAPITAL, LONDON:
“Gorman has been at MS for a long time now, and was very much behind the purchase by MS of E*Trade Financial (NASDAQ:ETFC) Corp and Eaton (NYSE:ETN) Vance Corp, both of which have been very successful for MS. Under his leadership MS stock has been one of the best performing financials, so I expect investors will be disappointed he is leaving and will see him as a hard act to follow.”
JOHN GUARNERA, SENIOR CORPORATE ANALYST AT RBC BLUERAY ASSET MANAGEMENT:
“James Gorman has taken a lot of effort to bolster the leadership ranks and to train and promote potential successors there. He’s been pretty clear in terms of establishing a bench that would be there to be able to support him when and if he chose to leave. So, I don’t anticipate any major change in strategic direction, and I would think that the transition would be relatively orderly.
PHIL BLANCATO, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, LADENBURG THALMANN ASSET MANAGEMENT, NEW YORK:
“I would applaud James Gorman here for taking the right time to step down. The guy has done an excellent job navigating the bank. It’s a company that has done quite well for itself in the midst of a time when other banks have not.”
ART HOGAN, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, B RILEY WEALTH, BOSTON:
“James Gorman has done a masterful job of transforming Morgan Stanley into the model that most major banks want to be, with a focus on asset management, financial advisors, and a road map to get to $10 trillion in assets under management.”
