Lehman’s Voice Has Changed, Hair Spotted on Chest
"We came close to the edge. People were walking into my office and asking if they should still go ahead and buy the new house they wanted. I told them there was nothing to worry about.” This flashback to October 1998 when the SEC was forced to step in at Lehman was related last week by Lehman internation head Jeremy Isaacs. Far from destroying the firm, it proved to be a critical inflection point (you know, “That which doesn’t kill me only makes me stronger” kind of stuff) that has propelled it in recent years into the top tier. “That year was incredibly important. It crystalised our culture. It made us recognise our core values. It also made us believe we were fighting against the system,” Isaacs said. Uggh, who the hell really buys into that corporate culture brainwashing crap anyway?
Lehman Plans to Join Big Boys [London Times]
MS Tumbles in Deal Rankings
It looks like the mass exodus from 1221 Avenue of the Americas 1585 Broadway may be putting a dent in Morgan Stanley’s ability to get deals done. After finishing second in the M&A rankings last year, the white shoe bank has dropped to seventh place to date in 2006. CEO John Mack whines “No Fair!” in reference to the massive ATT/BellSouth deal that generated ginormous fees for just about everyone but Morgan.
MS Says Falling M&A Not a Trend [Bloomberg]
Jamie Dimon: Type A as in Asshole
Man, we had no idea Jamie Dimon was such an asshole! The pugnacious banker is the subject of a long profile in Fortune this week that’s full of the kind of anecdotes that create legends: Shouting in meetings, insulting people, air-boxing. We also learn that the gazillionaire is such a tight-wad that he screams at his family members for throwing out a jar of ketchup before every last drop has been used. He also puts his daughters on a ration of one towel a week. What a guy! We’ve got one word for advice for his wife: Divorce. What good is all that dough if you have to put up with an egotistical control freak to enjoy it.
In This Corner! The Contender [CNN Money]
Da Bear Takes $250 Million Hit on Fund Timing
A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down--in the movies maybe but not on Wall Street, judging by the market’s reaction to Bear Stearns’ news of strong earnings and a big-ass SEC fine yesterday. Bear gave back about half of its $514 million first quarter profits to settle long-standing charges by the SEC that the firm was complicit in the mutual fund trading scandal that broke in 2003. What exactly did they do? “Bear Stearns made it possible for hedge funds and brokers to submit orders long after the 4:00 p.m. EST cut-off,” Mark Schonfeld, director of the SEC’s Northeast regional office, said in a statement Thursday. “Bear Stearns made it easier for the hedge funds and the brokers to engage in market timing, and harder for the mutual funds to detect and stop it.”
BS Fined $250 Million [Wall Street Journal]
