$$$ "The U.S. government is close to committing billions in additional aid to Bank of America as the nation's largest bank by assets tries to digest its Jan. 1 acquisition of Merrill Lynch, according to people familiar with the situation." [WSJ]
$$$ Shoot Bernie [Cityfile]
$$$ 12 private jets, a helicopter and $30m worth of art [FT Alphaville]
$$$ Madoff now traveling in bullet proof vest, as though there are people who want him dead. [Daily Intel]
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 5:31PM
first!
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 5:34PM
Have we still not sold out of the "Don't Short Me Bro" mugs?
I bet our ABL lender is getting nervous...
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 5:42PM
While the BAC news sent Dylan Ratigan apoplectic for the second time today (the first time being an on-air beat-down of CNBC technology correspondent Jim Goldman), I don't know that the US taxpayer is surely getting fucked with the additional aid to BAC.
Ken Lewis, clearly driven by the inner demons, did Treasury and the US taxpayer a solid by absorbing those two nightmares, Countrywide and Merrill.
While we are still fretting about Citi, at least Countrywide, Nat City, and Merrill have been taken off the front page and we can deal with them now as part of solvent financial institutions.
If Treasury has to slide a few extra tens of billions over to BAC to finish absorbing those two disasters, it's cool by me. I just wish Kenny had paid a lot less for CFC and MER.
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 6:02PM
BofA was going to pull out of the ML deal, and Govt didn't want that to happen. So, they've been discussing this for a month now.
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 6:49PM
4 737's? What the fuck were they used for?
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 6:56PM
Take note: Ken Lewis put the same clowns who bankrupted Merrill in charge of sales and trading in the new combined company. The only two senior BofA boys who made it were the guys who ran their businesses into the ground and lost billions each. The federal band aid changes nothing. This thing is a turd.
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 7:29PM
what happens when Lehman is out of bancuptcy? Article almost makes it sound like they will still be around in some shape or form...
Posted by Seaman Bodine , Jan 14, 2009 7:31PM
Can somebody explain to me why fucking HIV infected Steve Jobs is news at all? Who gives a fuck about his dysentery (spell?) ass?
Tarp II is comeing, C is going under zero, and BAC is sucking down another 20bn, and I'm supposed to care because Steve Jobs, the VP of marketing at Apple, with all of 2% of the computer market (and 100% of the walkman market) is taking time off to get his meds right.
What the fuck?
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 7:47PM
The 737's were likely owned by LEH to lease to airlines. MS, CIT, GE, and GATX all do a brisk little business here. It used to provide some serious tax benefits, but I think that's dead now.
These might be unleased jets, not in active use.
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 7:47PM
By the way, Citibank right now has the same market cap as Bank of Nova Scotia.
That's right, the Sandy Weill's dream and payer-of-$115mm to Robert Rubin, the US financial supermarket, carries the same valuation as the 3rd-largest Canadian bank.
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 8:08PM
@ 9
Correct.
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 8:20PM
@9 & @11
Thanks for the info. I was wondering whether they were used to haul all those VP's and senior guys&gals to the Bahamas :-)
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 8:21PM
@8 please do us all a favor and go back to stocking the shelves at Staples. You obviously are ignorant that Jobs rejuvenated a dead Apple, is a totally charismatic guy, and is trying to provide you with working computers unlike oligopoly Microshit Vista.
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 8:25PM
Hands up all that work in finance that have an Apple on their desk at work.
....
I didn't think so.
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 8:28PM
Annabel Vartanian
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 8:39PM
Only idiots watch CNBC.This is financial TV network that lacks ethics.
Better be safe and knowledgeable with what's going on by watching Fox Business Channel or Bloomberg.PBS and CNN gives even an insightful news about what's going on in financial market than CNBC.
Where can you find business talking heads with nannies?
Only in CNBC.
Posted by Investorcluzo , Jan 14, 2009 8:50PM
why the fk is ken lewis still employed? that guy has been a destroyer of capital second only to kung fu pandit (of those still employed). seriously, break the bofa up stat! charlotte is good for nothing more than regional banking.
while kenny boy's acquisition of cuntrywide may be lauded for deal of the year, let's not forgot why he did it in the first place. the hillbilly was knee deep in it already. he was trying to average down the price he paid for that SPODE (no offense to the DB poster).
anyone can overpay for stock - as evidenced by anyone who bought bac in the past 6 months. let's get someone in there who can actually manage as opposed to a joker who is intent on empire building to cover up poor operating skills.
Posted by Investorcluzo , Jan 14, 2009 8:50PM
why the fk is ken lewis still employed? that guy has been a destroyer of capital second only to kung fu pandit (of those still employed). seriously, break the bofa up stat! charlotte is good for nothing more than regional banking.
while kenny boy's acquisition of cuntrywide may be lauded for deal of the year, let's not forgot why he did it in the first place. the hillbilly was knee deep in it already. he was trying to average down the price he paid for that SPODE (no offense to the DB poster).
anyone can overpay for stock - as evidenced by anyone who bought bac in the past 6 months. let's get someone in there who can actually manage as opposed to a joker who is intent on empire building to cover up poor operating skills.
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 8:53PM
Way too much makeup on the CNBC chicks. Ugh, Boorstin looks like a moll right now.
Posted by Investorcluzo , Jan 14, 2009 8:56PM
apologize for the double post, time warner continues to have issues keeping people online for longer than 5 minutes at a time...
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 9:00PM
CNBC made me gay.
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 9:07PM
Where are all the visionaries who were on this site just after the BoA/ML deal was announced saying that BoA would dominate the world as a result of the deal? You've been quiet and for good reason. You were just stupid for saying so at the time but hopefully you're now embarrassed as well if you've learned anything. Only someone who works in corporate strategy or at a rating agency is capable of failing to grasp the obvious - if you put someone in a commercial banking environment, regardless of their background, at the end of the day you get a commercial banker.
- Fixed Income
Posted by Investorcluzo , Jan 14, 2009 9:16PM
@fixed income - agreed, where are all those charlatans from charlotte? they were all talking about hillbillies ruling the financial world. where are they? I’ll tell you – wearing camouflage hoping they don’t get smoked out when wideclops comes in with her knee highs sipping her morning cup-o-joe...
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 9:19PM
If the gubmint gives any more dough to those crooks and idiots at B of A, I'll stop paying taxes.
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 9:27PM
@14 yes, but I am not going to disclose their names. finance goes with shit that works; Bloomberg, broker pages, Intex some of the time, Capital IQ, etc. It's only a matter of time before the low-cost provider (Linux/MAC) wins out. It has taken too long as is.
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 9:53PM
Annabel Vartanian made me GAY
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 10:00PM
CNBC made me sterile and impotent.
Posted by Seaman Bodine , Jan 14, 2009 10:04PM
@25
The only reason Mac works is cause it's built on BSD...not the finance kind, but the Unix variant.
And it certainly has nothing to do with that pillow biting HIV infected dipshit. The idea that someone who can actually have the little bitch from ER play him in a made for TV movie somehow has priority on the news cycle over a urine drinking paki (who kicked my dog) who's managed to sell 15,000 pikers to that lebanese douche and still lose market cap, well that's fucking crazy.
Go sync your fucking ipod, tool.
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 10:07PM
Madoff is now a hero because of CNBC.
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 10:08PM
BofA is toast. This time around if the feds inject capital, they are going to extract a lot more. Shareholders were lightly toasted earlier. Now they will be burnt. Sell now and atleast get 9 bucks. The financial supermarket era is over. Too bad KL is too focused on saving his ego at all costs. KL will go down like mozillo in the next 3 months.
Posted by Seaman Bodine , Jan 14, 2009 10:11PM
@30
you think anyone on this fucking board is long BAC?
ain't no chris angel mindfreak david blaine horseshit jumping off here
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 10:18PM
The "C" School at Washington and Lee University prepared me well for this challenging environment. Suck it CNBC.
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 10:26PM
So wait. Paulson let Lehman fail as he didn't want to commit government funds and thus set off the shitstorm. At the same time, BAC paid a PREMIUM for MER and now Paulson if backstopping the deal after the fact??????
Really, what the fuck DID Dick Fuld do to all these Goldman folks. Every single firm other that Lehman has been bailed out till date!
Posted by Phobos , Jan 14, 2009 10:26PM
Mac OS X runs on a derivation of BSD called FreeBSD, which is more stable and better built than Linux.
If I were building the backside of a Fund of any sort I would use FreeBSD; the initial setup would be more difficult but the payoff in stability, administration, and development opportunity on it would be worth the effort.
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 10:42PM
I hope Steve Jobs getts better.
I wonder which ex Merrill guy (Flemming, McCann?) leaked the story to the Journal???
I am going to try to get Ken Lewis to buy my POS property on the UES for a 70% premium...it is a much better investment than Merrill.
Cheers B1tches,
Tanned Banker
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 10:48PM
@17 - Amen.
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 10:50PM
@13 your insults lost their vigor when you claimed macs are "working computers"... who again do they work for? oh that's right sorority girls and gays...which one are you? do you browse dealbreaker and interior design blogs while you're at starbucks? keep regurgitating mac commercials... you're coming off really bright.
- h'06
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 10:52PM
It is fucking insane that dumbass Ken Lewis buys a dying company, then overpays for another, and finally gets bailed out by the taxpayers. Now he's out for more money? When do you spank the preschooler and set some boundaries? When they grow up to be wild teenagers driving drunk down the highway with their Girl-Gone-Wild sluts?
I am so fucking pissed by how we're getting screwed by morons.
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 11:08PM
Washington & Lee C School Grads Unite and save this economy in its time of struggle!!!
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 11:09PM
Meanwhile bofa/merrill managament has given its people in sales and trading robust growth targets for the new year, apparently not realizing that their own customers/counterparties, out of their own risk management interests, intuitively must reduce their trading/exposure with the newly combined entity. And this announcement is hardly a confidence building exercise.
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 11:16PM
Makes me wonder if Madoff is CNBC.com chief editor or maybe it's also outsourced to India.All the news are garbage.
Posted by guest , Jan 14, 2009 11:20PM
Messy Bessy wanted me to pass on to everyone that DB swag, "Don't Short Me Bro", is now 30 percent off. Hit me up with an email for the required checkout code.
SPODE@dealbreaker.com
Posted by guest , Jan 15, 2009 12:00AM
slap chop made me gay
Posted by e_anthony58 , Jan 15, 2009 1:00AM
"CNBC makes me feel this!"
"CNBC makes me feel that!"
GIVE ME A BREAK! DON'T WATCH THEM THEN!
If that's how you feel, imagine how worst you will feel by watching Fox Biz. Broadcasting from a bar with a fake, talentless, only-on-TV-for-her-ego "anchorwoman" goes to show how Fox Biz thinks how stupid their viewers are. Now let me say this:
CODY IS THE FUTURE OF FOX BUSINESS NEWS!!
Those who hate cnbc will agree.
Posted by guest , Jan 15, 2009 1:50AM
22 and 23 - where do you work? EVERY firm has taken tarp money. BofA and JPM were arguably the only two that didn't need it the first time around, and it looks like they took it this time at the request of the government rather than walk away from ML. The ML deal only closed a couple weeks ago. Whatever they discovered I guarantee you it was long before that and they could have invoked a MAC, paid a breakup fee, risked a lawsuit, etc. So STFU.
Posted by guest , Jan 15, 2009 9:31AM
What about cleaning expenses for the Clearwater Florida Merrill Lynch Branch office?
CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) - Wildlife officials said a rhesus monkey known to throw feces when mad is on the loose in Tampa Bay. Authorities have been trying to capture the primate since Tuesday afternoon, but it managed to evade a bucket truck and tranquilizer dart.
Gary Morse with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says the adult male is thought to have escaped from an unlicensed source. It was last seen in Clearwater.
The monkey is not considered dangerous.
Posted by Investorcluzo , Jan 15, 2009 9:53AM
@45 - I don't work at a tarp fund baby, so you stfu...whiney little b1tch. try the advisory side - eat what you kill without risking the firm's capital. unlike traders some of us only get paid for "success". and if you think bofa didn't need tarp money the first time around, I suggest you get someone to teach you how to read a 10k - not that glossy annual where kenny boy likes to wax poetic...
btw, where's m whitney now? she's had a perform rating on bofa all the way down from the mid 20's...
Posted by guest , Jan 15, 2009 11:06AM
@47 good point about Whitney. Wishing she was on the chopping block over at Oppy as well. Between David Rosenberg at ML and Meredith screwing their own firms, and by everyone else, I am not sure who's head I want more for predicting doom and gloom and promoting the power of negative thinking.
If some of these guys would get off their self righteous horse and see the harm that their negative drum beats have caused, perhaps we might turn this ship around a bit.
Not the cure all but atleast a start. Wish CNBC would no longer give these two any airtime. We need positive constructive thinking.
Posted by guest , Jan 15, 2009 9:20PM
@45 - Sorry your reading comprehension skills suck. I never mentioned TARP. I only pointed out that the culture between the two firms wasn't a fit and anyone who thought there was going to be a happy ending was either stupid or delusional. Too bad your firm is on welfare but if you can't comprehend simple ideas, perhaps you're found a good home. By the way, my firm didn't need or take welfare. Sucks to be you.
- Fixed Income