| 21 January 2010

He's in, he's out, no he's in, okay... he's out. We told you before this story was going to give us whiplash but now the diagnosis is complete. At least we know resolution is upon us. Well, we think anyway.

Just last August Fidelity's President, Rodger Lawson, proclaimed, "I will stay with the company, in one way or another, as long as the company needs me, even if it’s 10 years." But today we learn that the back and forth is about to conclude. Apparently the company, in fact, doesn't need him. We only hope Lawson doesn't turn out to be the Billy Martin of financial services. Fidelity needs to stay the course a while.

To be fair, Lawson was brought in the help the company in 2007 and has done, by all accounts, a mixed job in a tough environment. And he plans to stay on as an advisor to the firm. Assets for the firm dropped 25% in 2008. The company just announced on Wednesday a 20% gain in assets in 2009. As is usually the case with such short-term stays, much of Lawson's effort are only now starting to bear fruit.

There is no word who will succeed Lawson, and as always these departures raise questions about Edward Johnson III, the elder statesman Chairman of the very private company.

E*TRADE (ETFC) recently went through it's own bit of executive shuffling,  replacing its CEO, Donald Layton, with a member of its board, Robert Druskin. The temporary placement helped fuel the rumors that E*TRADE was the target of a potential takeover from firms like TD Ameritrade (AMTD).