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September 3, 2010: There were filings from the Equity Committee and the Trust Preferred Security group this week, in advance of the hearing this coming Tuesday, September 7. Please see the News and Updates page for more information.

August 26, 2010: There were a couple of events of interest at this past Tuesday's hearing in bankruptcy court. Please see the News and Updates page for more information.

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Washington Mutual Shareholder Rights is a grassroots effort to inform shareholders of Washington Mutual, Inc. (WMI) about their rights as the owners of WMI and the actions they can take to exercise those rights and protect their equity ownership interest in WMI. The web site was created by volunteers who are themselves WMI shareholders, with the additional support of hundreds of individuals who have been researching and sharing information about WMI's Chapter 11 bankruptcy case as it has developed in Delaware Bankruptcy Court over the past 18 months.

This web site contains information, derived mostly from public documents related to WMI's bankruptcy proceedings, intended to help educate WMI shareholders about their rights. In addition, the web site will be used to inform shareholders of actions they can take to protect their interests as shareholders, and will be updated with new information as it becomes available.

We, the shareholders and owners of WMI, are very fortunate that a similar effort which began in mid-2009 recently resulted in the appointment of an Official Equity Committee in WMI's bankruptcy proceedings. The Equity Committee's sole mission is to represent the interests of equity - we the shareholders - in WMI's bankruptcy proceedings. This representation is turning out to be of critical importance because, as you can read on this web site, WMI, under the leadership and guidance of its Board of Directors, does not appear to be truly representing the interests of its shareholders.

WMI announced in bankruptcy court on March 12, 2010, that it had reached a proposed settlement agreement with its two main adversaries, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The details of this proposed settlement agreement make it clear that WMI is not trying to maximize the value of its estate for the benefit of shareholders. Instead, the agreement appears to be an almost complete abandonment of WMI's shareholders. One group of WMI shareholders has called the proposed settlement agreement an "unprecedented surrender".

On March 26, 2010, WMI filed a proposed Plan of Reorganization with the Bankruptcy Court. This Plan incorporates the March 12 proposed settlement agreement, already objectionable from a shareholder's point of view, and adds additional details which are completely unsatisfactory for shareholders. Please see our objections to WMI's proposed Plan of Reorganization for more details.

What can shareholders do about a situation where the Board of Directors has chosen a course which abandons its fiduciary duty to those shareholders? In filing a motion to compel WMI to hold a shareholders' meeting for the purposes of electing a new Board of Directors, the Equity Committee has provided an answer. If the Equity Committee is successful in forcing WMI to hold a shareholders' meeting, then we, the shareholders and owners of WMI, can vote to replace the current Board of Directors with a slate that actually understands its fiduciary duty to the shareholders.

Please note that this web site is not associated with the WMI Official Equity Committee and that information presented here is solely in the opinion of the site's creators. This web site is not intended to be construed as providing investment advice nor should it be used in that way.

Questions? Contact us: wamuequityrights@gmail.com

WaMu, or Washington Mutual Bank (WMB), was placed into a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) receivership on September 25, 2008, and then immediately sold to JPMorgan Chase (JPM) for $1.9 billion dollars. JPM acquired WMB assets and its deposit liabilities, but left other liabilities, such as over $10 billion in debt obligations, with the FDIC. An FDIC press release stated that the failure of Washington Mutual Bank and its subsequent sale to JPM was done at zero cost to the deposit insurance fund.

According to the Office of Thrift Supervision, Washington Mutual Bank had: total assets of $307 billion; total deposits of $188 billion; 2,239 retail branches in 15 states; 4,932 owned ATMs; and 43,198 employees. The morning after WaMu (WMB) was sold to JPMorgan Chase, its parent holding company, Washington Mutual, Inc. (WMI), filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware. It listed $8 billion in liabilities and $32 billion in assets, but about $26 billion of the assets were its stock ownership of WMB, which the receivership rendered worthless.

Washington Mutual, Inc., the holding company, has three different stocks (equities), one common stock and two preferred stocks, which still trade on the open market. The common stock of WMI, CUSIP 939322103, now has the symbol WAMUQ. The $25 face value preferred stock of Washington Mutual, Inc. has the symbol WAMKQ, CUSIP 939322830. The $1000 face value preferred stock of Washington Mutual, Inc. has the symbol WAMPQ, CUSIP 939322814. Both preferred stocks of WMI now trade at a small fraction of their face value.