Lehman Goes Bust

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May 2009
- Companies Hobbled by Fewer Wall St. Analysts
  
  Wall Street Journal | May 26, 09 11:00 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The turmoil on Wall Street has left fewer analysts covering companies of all sizes, the Journal reports, leaving smaller operations struggling to connect with investors. Since September, there have been more than 2,200 instances of analysts formally dropping coverage—nearly a quarter of all research. That plunge has been accelerated because of the demise of Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, both major analysis purveyors. More »
- Lehman Weighs Spinning Off $45B in Assets
  
  Wall Street Journal | May 14, 09 7:52 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Bankrupt Lehman Brothers is preparing to spin off a grab-bag of assets worth $45 billion in their current state but as much as $400 billion at "nondistressed" prices, the Wall Street Journal reports. The planned sale of shares in the unit—the biggest move yet to unwind the failed investment bank—"would be a bridge to a better time," said Lehman's chief restructuring officer. "Today's market is an aberration. We don't think it will stay like this." More »
April 2009
- Lehman Bankruptcy Nets Record Fees for Lawyers
  
  Wall Street Journal | Apr 15, 09 8:47 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy filing is a gold mine for lawyers. One New York firm asked a bankruptcy judge this week to authorize a $55 million payment—the largest quarterly fee ever for a bankruptcy case, the Wall Street Journal reports. When all is said and done, this firm alone—Weil, Gotshal & Manges—is likely to rake in $200 million, another record for debtor counseling. More »
February 2009
- Wall Street's Hottest Jobs? Lehman Bros
  
  Wall Street Journal | Feb 2, 09 7:00 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Wall Street's hottest jobs in 2009 are coming from its biggest disaster of 2008—Lehman Brothers, the Wall Street Journal reports. Lehman still has billions of dollars in assets and contracts to untangle and restructure, and Wall Street's legions of laid-off execs are keen to get a piece of the action. Even reviled ex-CEO Dick Fuld is quietly toiling in the ashes of his empire. More »
January 2009
- Wall Street Loses Sex Appeal as Big Guns Struggle
  
  New York Times | Jan 27, 09 12:34 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The gravitational pull of Wall Street on the nation's best and brightest students has weakened dramatically, Andrew Ross Sorkin writes in the New York Times , as ridiculous pay packages and the thrill of risk-taking give way to layoffs and anxiety. "The whole cult and ethos of Wall Street, which lured so many bright minds, is in retreat," he writes. More »
- Lehman CEO Sells Mansion to Wife—for $100
  
  Reuters | Jan 26, 09 6:44 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - The housing market is weak, but the $13 million mansion of fallen Lehman CEO Richard Fuld on the Florida coast fetched just $100 last November, reports Reuters. So who forked over the C-note for the seaside property? Fuld's wife Kathleen, famous for carrying her Hermès purchases in generic shopping bags. "This is the oldest trick in the books," said one Florida lawyer, who thinks Fuld is divesting his assets in case he faces civil suits for his role in Lehman's collapse. More »
- Downturn Threatens 100K Charities
  
  Wall Street Journal | Jan 24, 09 2:45 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The economic crisis isn’t just hurting Wall Street executives—it also spells dark times for the charities they once supported, the Wall Street Journal reports. The number of US nonprofits climbed from about 750,000 a decade ago to more than a million today, but watchers say 100,000 could drop off in the next year. And those that don’t shutter are facing heartbreaking cutbacks. More »
- Lehman Collapse Leaves Goats in the Lurch
  
  Wall Street Journal | Jan 24, 09 6:15 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Lehman's collapse has left creditors from Caribbean laborers to the world's biggest banks fighting for a share of what little cash remains, the Wall Street Journal reports. One California business that hires out goats to munch shrubs was shocked to learn that it may face ruin because of the bankruptcy of a bank they had barely heard of. More »
- Lehman to Spin Off $4.5B Private Equity Arm
  
  Wall Street Journal | Jan 9, 09 8:29 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Lehman Brothers, bleeding out but not quite dead, will spin out its private equity arm into an independent firm, which will take on new investment from a South African billionaire investor, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Lehman estate will retain a small interest in Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking, which manages $4.5 billion and holds stakes in a dozen companies. More »
December 2008
- Sloppy Lehman Bankruptcy Killed Billions in Value
  
  Wall Street Journal | Dec 29, 08 1:40 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Had Lehman Brothers been more careful in its bankruptcy filing, it could have held on to as much as $75 billion that was destroyed in the process, the firm’s head restructuring agents say. A better-planned filing would have allowed the sale of some assets outside of court proceedings and would have afforded Lehman more time in unwinding its derivatives portfolio, the Wall Street Journal reports. More »
- Hirst Is Art World's Lehman
  
  Bloomberg | Dec 22, 08 12:21 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - With the collapse of Lehman Brothers having opened an “anxious new era” in financial circles and among consumers at large, the auction that brought artist Damien Hirst $166 million on Sept. 15—the very day Lehman went bust—clearly marks the division, Martin Gayford writes for Bloomberg. By year’s end, sales and auctions had plummeted and the crash had begun. More »
- SEC: Ex-Lehman Broker Stole Inside Info From Wife
  
  Associated Press | Dec 19, 08 7:54 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - A former Lehman Brothers broker was charged yesterday in a $4.8 million insider trading scheme built on his PR-exec wife’s knowledge of upcoming mergers, the AP reports. Matthew Devlin passed information to friends and associates (including former Playboy model Maria Checa), and won cash, luxury goods, and tuition for a Porsche driving school in return, the SEC said. His antics earned the couple the nickname “the golden goose.” More »
- Feds Let Lehman Fail—Then Loaned It $138B Anyway
  
  New York Times | Dec 16, 08 9:20 AM CST
  
  (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 »
- New Yorkers Fight Crisis With Pills
  
  Crain's New York Business | Dec 15, 08 8:24 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - At least there's one market that's booming in New York—the market for pills for your sleeplessness, anxiety, and depression, Crain’s New York Business reports. The meltdown in the financial industry has caused a surge in prescriptions: In September, as Lehman Brothers was collapsing, and AIG and Merrill Lynch were being rescued, sleep-aid prescriptions jumped 11% and anti-anxiety and anti-depressant drug prescriptions climbed 9% compared to a year before. More »
November 2008
- Wall Streeters Question Geithner's Role in Crisis
  
  New York Times | Nov 25, 08 8:51 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Markets surged yesterday when Barack Obama announced that Timothy Geithner would become treasury secretary as part of an all-star economic team. But Wall Street actually harbors some skepticism about Geithner, writes Andrew Sorkin in the New York Times . As chair of the New York Fed, Geithner was the point man during the critical days when Lehman Brothers collapsed, which many on Wall Street say exacerbated the crisis. More »
- CEOs Took Billions Off the Table Before Bust
  
  Wall Street Journal | Nov 20, 08 8:55 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Investors have lost some $9 trillion since last year’s stock market peak, but at the center of the maelstrom, CEOs of some of the worst-performing companies are sitting pretty. Fifteen financial services and homebuilding CEOs have accumulated more than $100 million each in the past 5 years in cash compensation and stock sales, the Wall Street Journal reports. That includes the heads of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, and other nearly bankrupt or deeply damaged companies. More »
- Obama Follows Path Laid Out by Reagan
  
  Wall Street Journal | Nov 10, 08 10:51 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Barack Obama's election was an affirmation, not a rejection, of Ronald Reagan’s principles, writes pollster Scott Rasmussen in the Wall Street Journal . Both espoused platforms of hope and tax cuts during administrations that disgusted voters with economic mismanagement. Obama's challenge now is "attempting to govern with a message that resonates with most voters but divides his own party," Rasmussen predicts. More »
- Disgraced Lehman CEO Fired
  
  New York Daily News | Nov 6, 08 3:13 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Lehman Brothers boss Richard Fuld, who led the giant 158-year-old Wall Street brokerage firm into bankruptcy, has been abruptly terminated. The 62-year-old Fuld, who earned $484 million from Lehman over the last eight years, won't receive a bonus or severance payments, but will keep his salaried post on the board of directors when he leaves as CEO the end of the year, reports the New York Daily News . More »
October 2008
- Wall St. Bonuses Are Down, but Hardly Out
  
  Forbes | Oct 22, 08 9:29 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Wall Street bonuses could top $23 billion this year despite the woes of the global economy, Forbes reports. Indeed, that figure is down some 30% from last year’s $33.2 billion, but a smaller pool of employees, competition among companies to keep top performers, and the effects of mergers will help ensure many of the Street’s stars still walk away with millions. More »
- Times Tough for I-Bankers, in 'Marie Antoinette' Kind of Way
  
  New York | Oct 20, 08 3:26 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - With Wall Street in free fall, many of its elite I-bankers are seeing the status quo turned upside-down, Vanessa Grigoriadis writes in New York . Once at the top of the heap, working for companies that praised them as smartest people out there, some are fighting to survive on the Street, while others have reversed course, taking jobs with—gasp!—the government. More »