I only ask because apparently you can still pursue a career at Lehman Brothers!
Admittedly they have put a little blurb on their front page: "As Previously Announced, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Filed Chapter 11; No Other U.S. Subsidiary or Affiliate, Including Its Broker-Dealer and Investment Management Subsidiaries, Was Included in the Filing."
Right next to: "Lehman Brothers, an innovator in global finance, serves the financial needs of corporations, governments and municipalities, institutional clients, and high net worth individuals worldwide. We maintain leadership positions in equity and fixed income sales, trading and research, investment banking and investment management."
Er...
It really is great/scary/amazing how quickly things go south. According to their "Who We Are" page, in 2007 Lehman's was ranked "#1 'Most Admired Securities Firm' by Fortune. Achieved record net revenues, net income and earnings per common share (diluted) for the fourth consecutive year based on record results in all three business segments." They also achieved "record net revenues, net income and earnings per share for the third consecutive year based on record results across all business segments and regions" in 2006.
They even created, in 2007, "the Lehman Brothers Center for Global Finance and Economic Development at Spelman College, the #1 ranked institution among historically black colleges and universities by U.S. News & World Report ...... and the Council on Climate Change to bring together leaders from industry, policy and academia to facilitate constructive dialogue regarding climate change policy formulation and its impact on business."
Shame. It's all gone poof now.
Merrill Lynch was also bought by BoA yesterday for 50 billion - all stock deal. I have two questions. Where does BoA get 50 billion from in this environment? And why the hell do it all in stocks? If Merill needed a buyer quick quick, surely safe money says their stock is going to keep drowning in all that bad debt they bought (along with Bear Stearns, Lehman, Fannie and Freddie, Northern Rock, and countless other banks that were supposedly too big to fail).
They say financial markets are imperfect. They are. Because they involve people. And people are morons.
1 comment:
Yup, people are idiots, and in the financial services sector everyone believes otherwise. That's why the whole sector can misprice risk, and why a fuck up like this can happen.
Just to add to your Lehman stats, you'll be glad to know that in March this year the CEO got paid out a bonus of $22mil because they had just recorded record profits.
The international markets were murder today and yesterday on this news. All eyes on AIG now....
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