Wasserstein And The CEO Health Disclosure Issue (NYSE:LAZ)

Bruce Wasserstein, the CEO of Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) and by far its most important employee, became ill over the weekend, with heart problems. He died on Wednesday. The company described his condition as serious but stable when it released news about his illness on Sunday.

Wasserstein was stricken while travelling in his private car according to WSJ.com. He driver called for help. There is no way to tell, at least for now, what the Lazard board knew about Wasserstein’s illness or whether it should have disclosed more about his health. Lazard’s stock did drop on Monday and many investors probably assumed he would recover. There was certainly nothing in the public disclosure that would show otherwise.

Steve Jobs of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is the signature case of a CEO who may be too ill to function. The Apple board played cat-and-mouse with both the media and investors as Jobs took time off earlier this year and secretly had a liver transplant. A number of public company disclosure experts believe that Apple should have been more forthcoming in its statements about Jobs. He lived and is back at work, so the effects on Apple may be academic.

Wasserstein was as important to the fate of Lazard as Jobs is to Apple’s Wassertein may have died suddenly on Wednesday or he may have been critically ill when he reach the hospital on the weekend. Lazard’s stock traded “in the dark” the day after Wasserstein was stricken. That might not have been necessary.

Douglas A. McIntyre