Wachovia Corp

As ailing Wachovia Corp. waits to see whether it will be acquired by Wells Fargo & Co. or Citigroup Inc. -- possibly with taxpayers paying the tab for hundreds of billions of dollars in bad loans -- some of the company's top brokers are preparing to depart Saturday for an all-expenses-paid cruise of the Greek Isles. The weeklong trip for up to 75 employees of brokerage A.G.

First Union Corp. said Monday it will buy rival banking company Wachovia Corp. for about $13.1 billion in stock to form the nation's fourth-largest bank and cut costs at both North Carolina-based banks, countering falling profits as the economy slows. Investors greeted the deal with skepticism because First Union has a checkered record of integrating big acquisitions. First Union's stock initially fell as much as 7.6% but bounced in late trading to close down 72 cents, or 2.3%, at $31.

Irvine-based finance company Westcorp Inc. on Monday agreed to a $3.9-billion takeover by banking giant Wachovia Corp., in a stock-swap deal that would make Wachovia a national player in the auto-loan business and give it an initial foothold in the California bank market. A deal between the two firms had been rumored for weeks. Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia, the fourth-largest U.S.

Wachovia Corp., the fourth-largest U.S. bank, will stop making mortgage loans through its own branch offices in 19 states, as the fallout from its 2006 acquisition of Northern California's Golden West Financial Corp. persists. The bank will cut 125 jobs as part of the move, spokesman Don Vecchiarello said Friday. The Charlotte, N.C., company, which ranked seventh among U.S. home lenders last year, still offers mortgages nationwide through Internet, telephone and direct-mail service.

Wachovia Corp. will pay $25 million to end a 28-month probe involving accusations of potential conflicts of interest between its stock analysts and investment banking business. The settlement with the bank's Wachovia Capital Markets unit was announced Wednesday by the North American Securities Administrators Assn., a group of state regulators. It is related to the settlement in 2003 and 2004 by 12 other banks with state and federal regulators, led by New York Atty. Gen.

Wachovia Corp. reported a 13% increase in third-quarter earnings Monday on gains in business and automobile lending, but its stock fell on weak revenue and worries over its $24-billion purchase of Oakland mortgage lender Golden West Financial Corp., the parent of World Savings. Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia, the fourth-largest U.S. bank, said profit was $1.88 billion, or $1.17 a share, up from $1.67 billion, or $1.06, a year earlier. Revenue climbed to $7.04 billion from $6.

Hewlett-Packard Co. said Friday that it had named Wachovia Corp.'s chief executive to its board, filling one of the vacancies created by the computer and printer maker's board leak scandal that prompted the departure of three directors. Separately, HP said Securities and Exchange Commission regulators had elevated an investigation into the company's probe of boardroom leaks. Ken Thompson is the ninth member of HP's board of directors and its seventh outside director, the company said.

Wachovia Corp., the No. 4 U.S. bank, said its retail brokerage was being investigated over payments from mutual fund companies, and its broker-dealer unit might face charges over alleged conflicts between stock research and investment banking. The Charlotte, N.C.-based company said the Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating how well the brokerage, Wachovia Securities, disclosed revenue-sharing arrangements with fund companies.

Wachovia Corp. is buying competitor SouthTrust Corp. in a $14.3-billion deal that would make it the biggest bank in the Southeast. Wachovia said it planned to close 130 to 150 branch offices and eliminate about 4,300 jobs after the merger, announced Monday, is completed. Many of the job cuts would be done through attrition, said Ken Thompson, Wachovia's chief executive, chairman and president.

Edgar Bronfman Jr. has lined up about a $9-billion commitment from a group headed by Wachovia Corp. to help finance a possible bid for the U.S. entertainment assets his family formerly owned, a source familiar with the deal said. Merrill Lynch & Co. also has agreed to help finance debt as Bronfman attempts to buy back much of the entertainment assets his family's Seagram Co. sold to Vivendi Universal in 2000 for $34 billion, sources said.

Wells Fargo & Co. said Tuesday that it would close 122 California bank branches as a result of its takeover of Wachovia Corp. last year, mostly Wachovia offices that are smaller and less prominently located than nearby Wells Fargo branches. The closures are scheduled to occur in April as San Francisco-based Wells Fargo puts its name on the Wachovia locations in the state that are to remain open. A casualty of decaying mortgage loans, Wachovia was teetering near collapse in October 2008 when Wells Fargo agreed to buy the Charlotte, N.C., company in a deal brokered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Wells Fargo & Co. posted a record third-quarter profit by limiting loan defaults and wringing costs from Wachovia Corp. The quarter included gains from hedging, leading analysts to question whether the profit would continue, and the stock dropped 5.1%. Net income almost doubled to $3.24 billion, or 56 cents a share, from $1.64 billion, or 49 cents, a year earlier, the San Francisco bank said. Wells Fargo has been trying to quell doubts about potential losses on Wachovia's home loans and the company's concentration in California, where home prices fell 17% in the 12 months that ended in August.

An investment fund owned by Wells Fargo & Co. has agreed to pay $40 million to settle federal charges that it inflated the value of a mutual fund that invested mainly in securities tied to home mortgages and only selectively told shareholders about the fund's problems. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the settlement with Boston-based Evergreen Investment Management Co. Wells Fargo of San Francisco acquired Wachovia Corp., Evergreen's parent company, in a $12.7-billion deal that closed Jan. 1.

Benjamin Edwards III, 77, who presided over A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. as it grew from a regional brokerage firm based in St. Louis to one of the largest in the nation, died of prostate cancer Monday at his home in Naples, Fla. The great-grandson of the company's founder, Albert Gallatin Edwards, he joined the firm in 1956, became managing partner a decade later and president in 1967. Under his leadership, A.G. Edwards grew from 44 offices with 300 financial consultants in 1965 to nearly 700 offices and 7,000 financial consultants by the time he retired in 2001.

Wells Fargo & Co., which received $25 billion in government aid, said Wednesday that it was cutting spending on the Wachovia Championship golf tournament in April amid criticism from U.S. lawmakers about banks' expenses. The San Francisco bank, which acquired Wachovia Corp. in December, has a sponsorship contract with the PGA Tour through 2014, spokeswoman Mary Beth Navarro said.

Wachovia Corp., the bank purchased by Wells Fargo & Co., will pay more than $4.5 million to settle a brokerage regulator's claims that it failed to ensure that clients received discounts on investment trusts and mutual funds. From 2001 to 2006, the bank's Wachovia Securities subsidiary let customers pay $2.7 million in "additional and excessive" charges, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said in a settlement.

Wachovia Corp. shareholders Tuesday approved its sale to Wells Fargo & Co., one of the final steps toward ending the independence of the sixth-largest U.S. lender. Wells Fargo's Oct. 3 acquisition agreement granted the San Francisco-based buyer 39.9% of the voting power in the transaction for Wachovia, whose roots date from 1879. A shareholder lawsuit aimed at blocking the deal, which plaintiffs' lawyers described as unprecedented, was dismissed by a North Carolina judge Dec. 5.

Wachovia Corp. reported a $23.9-billion third-quarter loss Wednesday, the largest loss at any bank since the financial crisis began, reflecting the company's terrible timing in acquiring California-based mortgage lender Golden West Financial Corp. two years ago. Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia, which is being taken over by Wells Fargo & Co. after nearly collapsing last month, reported a host of problems. By far the biggest contributor to the loss was an $18.

Wachovia Corp. is seeking at least $358 million in a lawsuit against six home builders including KB Home, Toll Bros. Inc. and Lennar Corp. over a failed Nevada development. Wachovia Bank, a unit of Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia, sued in Manhattan federal court. Wachovia said land developer Focus Kyle and eight builders, two of which weren't sued, defaulted on guarantees to develop a planned community in Las Vegas. The $565-million development was to be called Kyle Canyon Gateway, with 16,000 homes on 1,710 acres, according to Commercial Property News Magazine.

The Federal Reserve on Sunday approved Wells Fargo's $11.7-billion acquisition of Wachovia Corp., removing the deal's last major regulatory hurdle. The Fed's move comes after federal antitrust regulators also moved swiftly to back San Francisco-based Wells Fargo's deal to buy the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank, approving it on Friday. Citigroup Inc.