Chairman & CEO of BGC/Cantor Fitzgerald Howard Lutnick spoke exclusively with FOX Business Network’s Liz Claman live from BGC Partners’ 7th Annual Global Charity Day. Lutnick said that despite the market gyrations and uncertainty, “Cantor and BGC are going to go on a huge hiring spree right now.” He went on to say that he would “definitely” hire anyone laid off from Bank of America (BAC) in the coming weeks, and said the S&P downgrade “didn’t spook me; it made me laugh.” Excerpts from the interview can be found below, courtesy of Fox Business Network.
On how they are reacting to the market gyrations:
“These markets are very tough. What you are going to see is Cantor and BGC are going to go on a huge hiring spree right now. Is it the smartest thing for the next week? No. But is it the smartest thing for your business? Absolutely.”
On whether he would take Bank of America employees who are being laid off:
“Definitely. Call me.”
On the S&P downgrade:
“It didn’t spook me; it made me laugh. We have the greatest economy in the world, a printing press, and the greatest military and we are lower than France? France doesn’t even borrow in their own currency. They could go broke, we can’t.”
On how the company is doing since the devastation it suffered on 9/11:
“We hired a thousand people in these offices in 2004, 2005, and 2006. We only have about 100 people left who worked for the firm in New York after 9/11 and 1400 new people; it’s on the shoulders of those new people on which we have really come back so strong.”
On when Cantor Fitzgerald will go public:
“If the markets were a little better maybe it would be more fun. These employees of Cantor Fitzgerald took care of the families that we lost. And then we took BGC public to take care of those employees and eventually, we are going to take Cantor public to take care of the employees here now who joined us recently and help drive us. That’s the way we take care of them back.”
On whether he is bullish on the dollar:
“I love the dollar.”
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