5 Dumbest Things on Wall Street: Feb. 12

Schwartz Signs Off

All we can say is: What a twit.

Sun Microsystems (Stock Quote: JAVA) CEO Jonathan Schwartz, who took the top job in 2006, announced his resignation on Twitter late last week. And not just any old tweet, Schwartz let his followers know his plans to step down via the Japanese poetry form known as haiku.

"Financial crisis, Stalled too many customers, CEO no more," wrote Schwartz.

Oh grow up, Jon would you?

We wrote off the ponytail and academic look as Silicon Valley chic. We rolled our eyes at the lengthy fireside chats on "Jonathan's Blog." And we generally left you alone as you jumped from savior to savior — IBM to Hewlett-Packard and finally into the arms of Oracle — when it was clear you weren't taking your company anywhere by yourself.

But after the thousands of firings at Sun that preceded the $7.4 billion buyout, the least you could do is to act with a modicum of corporate decorum before exiting with your $12 million severance package in tow. Trust us, your legion of 9,000 Twitter followers would not dismiss you as a corporate sellout had you signed off like a normal executive, with a normal statement.

Your decision to leave in such an offhanded, blasé manner, however, was more jerky than quirky. More fool than cool.

How's that for poetry?

Dumb-o-meter score: 75 -- Now that the Sun has set, Jon has plenty of time to grow up.