CEO’s Retirment Could Signal Bankruptcy For CIT Group

josh hunter

• October 14 2009
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Jeffrey Peek

According to reports from Reuters this morning, CIT Group Inc. CEO Jeffrey Peek has announced his retirement despite recently having his contract extended a year. CIT has been involved in the action sports industry as a financier for several years. Read our related CIT news here.  Whether Peek is leaving to work on his golf swing or he’s been listening to Kenny Roger’s “The Gambler” on repeat is purely speculative at this point, but here’s what Reuters reported this morning:

From Reuters: CIT said last month that it extended Peek’s contract for a year, and the rapid change of heart seems to imply that bigger change is afoot for the company, experts said.

Here’s the full story:

NEW YORK, Oct 13 (Reuters) - CIT Group Inc (     CIT - news - people ) Chief Executive Jeffrey Peek, whose plans to turn the sleepy commercial lender into a Wall Street player were laid low by the credit crisis and management missteps, is retiring in the latest sign the company is closer to filing for bankruptcy.

CIT said last month that it extended Peek’s contract for a year, and the rapid change of heart seems to imply that bigger change is afoot for the company, experts said.

‘There are only so many a lives a company at this stage has left, and it’s more and more and difficult for a CEO to stay in charge as the company runs out of lives,’ said Richard Lipstein, a managing director at recruiting firm Boyden Global Executive Search in New York.

A person familiar with the matter said Peek decided to leave CIT sometime last week, and told regulators and the board of directors of his plans over the weekend. He now plans to retire at at the end of the year.

The company said its board of directors is forming a committee to search for a successor.