Barclays to Buy Parts of Lehman's Brokerage

Oracle of Omaha missed message that may have saved Lehman Brothers

(NEWSER) - If Warren Buffett knew how to use his cell phone, the financial world might be in better shape, blogs Karen Tumulty of Time. Just before Lehman Brothers collapsed last year, a Barclays executive attempting to rescue the firm with an assist from Buffett left a message on the Oracle of Omaha's phone. Problem is, Buffett never got the message—until 10 months later, when he noticed the blinking indicator and asked his daughter to figure it out. More»

$25M-a-year banker outraged over comments to son's class

(NEWSER) - One of Wall Street's highest paid executives is pressing to have his son's teacher axed for insulting the banking world. Hugh McGee, who makes $25 million a year as Barclays' global head of investment banking, says the teacher told his son's 11th-grade history class last year that "all investment bankers were 'sleazeballs' and dishonest," causing his son to tearfully stand up and defend his dad's job. More»

(NEWSER) - An insider trading case has exposed the potentially problematic relationship between PR companies and corporate clients, and it could have dire consequences for at least one firm, Reuters reports. A Lehman Brothers employee is charged with leaking merger information he got from his wife, a partner at the Brunswick Group PR firm, which has suspended her. “Our reputation is our business,” said a competitor. More»

Paulson & Co. say cash was to 'facilitate orderly wind-down' of trades, but questions persist

(NEWSER) - After refusing to bail out Lehman Brothers, the Federal Reserve funneled $87 billion to a subsidiary through JPMorgan Chase on Sept. 15, then another $51 billion the next day. The feds say they aimed to “facilitate an orderly wind-down” of Lehman’s broker-dealer operations, Andrew Ross Sorkin writes in the New York Times, but their changing explanations, and other issues, continue to muddy the waters. More»

European workers, unsure of salaries, furious at payout

(NEWSER) - Some 10,000 New York Lehman Brothers employees will share bonus pay of $2.5 billion, sparking anger among the investment bank’s European workers and critics of unfair compensation in the imploding finance arena, the Independent reports. The money was arranged before Lehman declared bankruptcy. Lehman’s British staff, who are bracing for the loss of jobs or pay rates, called the bonus pay a “scandal.” More»