| Small Businesses Face Dual Crunch - Charlotte Business Journal |
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Dan Roselli gathered his staff Monday morning to share a simple message: Don’t panic. The chief executive of marketing firm Red F wanted to reassure his employees who are witnessing the demise of one of their biggest clients – Wachovia Corp.
With the bank’s fate at the mercy of competing bids from Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc., Roselli doesn’t have a lot of answers. “We gathered for our weekly huddle and I told my team, ‘This is quite possibly the hardest economic situation we’ve seen in our lifetime. That’s reality.’ ”
It’s a sudden realization that many Charlotte small businesses are dealing with as they await word on what will happen to Wachovia. How many jobs will be lost and the possible side effects looming are largely unknown until a deal is closed.
But businesses such as Red F, which view Wachovia as a major client, all the way down to corner restaurants and dry cleaners, which bank on Wachovia employees for revenue, all have something to lose. |
