Golden West Financial

Golden West Financial, which operated branches under the name World Savings Bank, was the second largest savings and loan in the United States.

The business was a small savings and loan in the San Francisco Bay area when it was purchased in 1963 for $4 million by Herbert and Marion Sandler. By the time Wachovia announced its acquisition, Golden West had over $125 billion in assets and 11,600 employees. The Herb Sandler and Marion Sandler agreed to remain on the board at Wachovia. In 2006, Golden West Financial was named the "Most Admired Company" in the mortgage services business by Fortune magazine. [cite web |title=Fortune: America's Most Admired Companies 2006 |publisher=CNNMoney.com |url=http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/mostadmired/snapshots/574.html |accessdate=2007-07-18 ]

Wachovia agreed to purchase Golden West Financial for a little under $25.5 billion on May 7 2006. [cite press release |title=Wachovia To Acquire Golden West Financial, Nation's Most Admired and 2nd Largest Savings Institution |publisher=Wachovia Corporation |date=2006-05-07 |url=http://www.wachovia.com/inside/page/0,,134_307%5E1344,00.html |accessdate=2007-07-18 ] This acquisition gave Wachovia an additional 285-branch network spanning 10 states. Wachovia greatly raised its profile in California, where Golden West held $32 billion in deposits and operated 123 branches.cite news |title=Wachovia acquires Golden West Financial |publisher=Associated Press |date=2006-05-08 |url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12680868/from/RSS/ |accessdate=2007-07-18 ] Marion Sandler and Herb Sandler bought Golden West Savings and Loan, from it's founder and created Golden West Financial Corporation, a company which was once hailed like an endearing mom-and-pop shop, but later vilified as a ruthless home lender. [http://money.aol.ca/article/house-prices/368000/ Business News] ] By October 2 2006 Wachovia had completed the acquisition of Golden West Financial Corporation. The integration process is scheduled to be completed mid-2008. [cite press release |title=WACHOVIA COMPLETES GOLDEN WEST MERGER |publisher=Wachovia Corporation |date=2006-10-02 |url=http://www.wachovia.com/inside/page/0,,134_307%5E1403,00.html |accessdate=2007-07-18 ] Golden West Financial was finally sold in 2006 for $24.3 billion to Wachovia Bank. Wachovia picked up about $122 billion in option adjustable rate mortgages when it bought the California company and its thrift, World Savings. [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008231282_wachsandler060.html Court fight for ailing Wachovia escalates] ] Wachovia was forced to take billions of dollars in write-downs because of failed mortgages and mortgage-backed securities that have also decreased in value. Wachovia is among the banks whose billions of dollars in losses from bad mortgages led to the $700 billion plan of the United States government to buy bad loans and assets to bail out the financial industry. Critics say Marion Sandler and Herb Sandler through Golden West Financial, helped destroy Wachovia and contributed to the financial decay that led to the U.S. government's $700-billion rescue plan to buy rotten mortgages.

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