Morgan Stanley’s James Gorman Picked a Good Time to Leave

James Gorman guided Morgan Stanley through years of superlow interest rates and booming stock markets. His successor, Ted Pick, might have to come up with some new ideas for a new era.

Gorman, who will step down at the end of the year after almost 14 years as chief executive, bet big on wealth and asset management by absorbing all of Smith Barney and later buying E*Trade and Eaton Vance. He certainly had the right strategy in the market’s eyes: Since the start of 2010, when he became CEO, the firm’s 8.6% annualized total return has been second only to JPMorgan Chase’s among the U.S. global banks, according to FactSet data. And by valuation, Morgan Stanley has often been the leader of the pack, generally trading at a higher price-to-book ratio than even JPMorgan since the start of last year.