Morgan Stanley CEO Says He Had Coronavirus, Now Recovered (1)

Morgan Stanley Chief Executive Officer James Gorman told staff he contracted coronavirus and has since recovered.

Gorman had flu-like symptoms last month and tested positive, he said in a message to the bank’s employees. He was never hospitalized, self-isolated in his home and has been cleared by his doctor. A spokesman for the bank confirmed the disclosure to staff.

James Gorman, chief executive officer of Morgan Stanley.

Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

Gorman, 61, informed Morgan Stanley’s board after his test came back positive and continued to run the firm. He’s no longer symptomatic. Gorman has been CEO of the New York-based firm for the past 10 years and is also its chairman.

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New York has emerged as one of the global epicenters of the coronavirus pandemic, which has sickened about 150,000 and killed more than 6,000 in the state. New York-based Jefferies Financial Group Inc. said late last month that Peg Broadbent, 56, the longtime chief financial officer of its main subsidiary, died from complications tied to coronavirus. It was one of the first deaths among senior Wall Street executives from the pandemic.

Morgan Stanley rose 4.6% to $41.18 at 9:41 a.m. in New York, compared with a 5.4% increase in the 24-company KBW Bank Index.

(Updates with details of illness starting in third paragraph.)

To contact the reporter on this story:
Sridhar Natarajan in New York at snatarajan15@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net

Daniel Taub, Steve Dickson

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