Davos Day 3: Sitting Down With JPMorgan, Nissan and NYSE CEOs

It's day three in Davos. Interestingly, the tone started to change just slightly today. While the Forum continues for another couple of days, this is my last day of reporting live from Davos. I am thrilled with what we accomplished. Today I interviewed everyone from Muhtar Kent at Coca-Cola to Jamie Dimon at JP Morgan Chase. What a day!



Muhtar Kent told me about their plans for 2009 including some new innovations. Be on the look out for new ways to dispense their products. Right now you can find a soda machine with six different soft drinks. Imagine a world where you can have a hundred different types of drinks in one machine that allows you to create your own architecture (your own mix). I hear the famous Ferrari designer is designing the machines. One other thing. Did you know that Muhtar Kent does not appear on any other publicly traded boards? He decided to decline any offers to appear on any other companies board for at least two years. He said it was crucial that he focus all of his attention on his company, his board, his shareholders and his suppliers. Isn't that refreshing?



Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan, was equally as fascinating. A year ago we talked about energy efficient cars. The domestic auto makers were beginning to lose significant ground to Japanese competitors. I asked him a year ago if he would take advantage of their weakness. He said a weak U.S. player wasn't good for him nor the industry. This year the mood has changed. His company is on the cusp of their first quarterly loss since he became President. He is trying to preserve cash, focus on his lines of cars and prepare for a rough year.

While Ford CEO Alan Mullaly just days ago said on the Ford conference call that he predicts 11.5 to 12.5 domestic vehicles vehicles sales in the U.S. in 2009, Carlos is estimating 10.4. He's very matter of fact, very on point, incredibly bright and frankly, very impressive. He is the only one that I have talked to who sounds like he's in touch with the world we're living in. Before he sat in the seat Honda reported a 90% drop in profits. At the end I asked him about a cross-border deal. At first he said he needed to conserve cash, cut costs and hunker down. Then he said he needed to balance the risk that car sales don't resume normalized sales levels for another two years with looking ahead to the future and being prepared for a turnaround. Bottom line, he said the door is still open to possible U.S. acquisitions or partnerships.



Next up, Shay Agassi, the CEO of a Better Place and a Global Young Leader at WEF. His company created a network (a grid) that allows electric cars to run on batteries. It allows you to charge and switch batteries from home to work and is apparently affordable and convenient. You only pay for the amount of miles you use on the battery just as you do to fill up your tank of gas. As he called it, it's the "electricity-powered mile instead of the gasoline-powered mile." It's a pretty cool idea that has garnered support from the likes of Israeli President Simon Peres and Nissan Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn. Just prior to arriving in Davos, Shy's company received a $135 million to build a network of recharging stations in Denmark.



As Shay completed the interview he told me a little about a global leadership group that Klauss Schwabb, the founder of WEF, created. It's a group of young leaders 40 and under that Klauss deems the future leaders. It was created so that young leaders could talk with each other as opposed to many of the elder statesman who talk at each other. An interesting concept!



After we stepped off the balcony of our suite and into our workspace the room was hopping. Rick Goings, the CEO of Tupperware, his wife and Stephen Pagliuca, managing director of Bain Capital, and part owner of the Boston Celtics arrived. It was a lot of fun. Somehow we all got into a conversation about our kids. Shay has two boys, Rick for four boys and Stephen has three boys and a girl. We were sharing war stories. On that topic, one thing that I very much respect is the number of executives who said I can't wait to get home to my kids and family.  Sometimes we put them on a pedastal, sometimes we unfairly bunch them into one category, sometimes we allow prevailing opinions to dominate our point of view, it's important not to forget that they are human beings just like you and me.



Stephen Pagliuca of Bain Capital was really nice. We talked about the proposed bad bank and what he suggested is upwards of $300 to $400 billion of private equity money sitting on the sidelines waiting to invest. The concept of a revenue share on the purchase of toxic assets with the government didn't sound very appealing. If they can buy them on the cheap, keep all the upside, they'll consider buying toxic assets. He said now is the time to buy assets that are bleeding like companies that sell boats and snowmobiles. There's little demand now, but there will be demand when the economy is on stronger footing. An interesting thought.

As for the Celtics, follow-up on my Stefan Marbury interview and blog (he's on the Knicks payroll even though he wants out of the last year of his contract), they want him. Watch out!!!



Ann Veneman, UNICEF Executive Director and Former Secretary of Agriculture, Robert Schiller, Yale Professor and founder of the Case-Schiller Home Price Index, Howard Lutnick, Cantor Fitzgerald CEO and Robert Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard joined me. Bobby (Kotick) didn't get Led Zepplin as he hoped. Remember when I interviewed him a year ago? He said "Stairway to Heaven" was one of his favorite songs and the one artist he hoped to make a deal with was Led Zepplin. He's not losing sleep, he did a deal with Vivendi which gave him access to Universal's list of artists including Bono and U2, Rheanna and Duffy. He was most excited about DJ Hero due out in October. This game sounds amazing!



Before Bobby left I asked him if anyone was talking about Bernie Madoff. Ironically, he told me he grew up with Bernie's son Mark. They went to nursery, grammar, high school and college together. He couldn't believe what happened and said that while he's not in touch with Mark, he could not have known. He was the nicest guy. He said Bernie Madoff was not a topic of discussion in the hallways or meetings.



Next up James Turley, CEO of Ernst & Young, David Barse, President & CEO of Third Avenue Management (who went to school with Bobbie Kotik and Mark Madoff.....strange coincidence), Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JP Morgan and finally, Duncan Niederauer,  CEO of NYSE Euronext, a personal favorite and an all around great guy.



Jamie Dimon did what he does so well, he answered every question honestly and without restraint. No canned responses. I asked him about the failure to coordinate a response to the events of the past year, talk of nationalization, lending, risks to specific asset classes, mortgage modifications and why the actions of a few greedy executives and bankers hurts the reputation of all Wall Street bankers and banking executives. His response to the last question was perhaps the most telling. He said, "You know I wish people, I think there are a lot of legitimate complaints about bad things happening in banks and investment banks. But not all bankers are the same. Not all reporters are the same. Not all doctors are the same, the lawyers or people in Congress. And so, there are legitimate complaints.

I think it's perfect now to say it was too much and so you've really got to look at this specific circumstance and presumably boards and the management team do their job."

Jamie Dimon has the weight of the world on his shoulders. I think he's frustrated that he was forced to take TARP funds but perhaps a very, very small part of him wants to have it as a cushion if the consumer deteriorates further. He clearly wants coordination and a group of policy makers, executives and lawmakers to sit in one room and draft a plan that works. He's unhappy with the nationalization conversation. He said, "I think too much loose talk of nationalization hurts everybody. It confuses the market and it makes it harder to raise private capital if you want to do that. So I hope they come up with a plan with a clear vision, a clear mission statement and execute it." I am going to post the interview on my next blog. Take a look at what he's doing to refinance mortgages and quell speculation that his bank and others are not lending.