Thursday, July 3, 2008

I Am CNBC Wilbur Ross Transcript

CNBC: Why did you decide to specialize in bankruptcy?

WILBUR ROSS: It was happenstance. After Harvard Business School and the army, I went to the street. The firm I was with, Wood, Struthers, and Winthrop is a very conservative firm, so they fired the guy who was running the venture fund. I was the newest kid and they gave it to me to liquidate.

CNBC: So, it was just luck that you got involved bankruptcy?

WILBUR ROSS: Yes, back then a lot of those companies weren't so good so I started doing that. Then later on I went to work for the Rothschild family. The first thing they gave me to do was; Federal Express was about to go bankrupt. It was one of their big investments. I had to convince Citibank not to do it and a year later it went public, so it was serendipitous.

CNBC: That was quite a turnaround, Federal Express.

WILBUR ROSS: Yes, it became a wonderful company. Then I just started doing it more and more.

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