The billionaire is retiring and closing his firm, Duquesne Capital. The fund returned returned 11 percent in 2008 and 10 percent in 2009 but apparently Stan can’t take the “interim drawdowns” (they’re down 5 percent so far this year) anymore. Also, he just wants to golf. Continue reading »
Archive for August 2010
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MBAs
Financial Services Rep Not Aware Putting His DNA In Co-Worker’s Water Was Something His Office Frowned Upon
By Bess Levin
These days, if you work on Wall Street and want to let people know that underneath that button down shirt and black pants beats the heart of an absolute freak, you’ve got to step up your game. If you’re going to get your name out there, it’s not enough to simply sexually assault a female colleague– you’ve got to manhandle her breasts with your feet. It’s not enough to sodomize an underling, you’ve also got to piss in his mouth. And if you’re going to “release an offensive material in a public space”– in this case, the material your semen– that space must be your co-worker’s water bottle. Twice. Michael Kevin Lallana knows what we’re talking about. Continue reading »
Ex-H-P CEO Receives Job Ideas (WSJ)
Hurd told acquaintances this week that he has been approached with suggestions of new jobs, including a call about a new job the day after he left H-P. Mr. Hurd told acquaintances that he next wants to do something that he’s “passionate” about. He didn’t indicate who had approached him, but a person familiar with the situation said the calls have been from a range of companies, from publicly traded to private equity firms. Mr. Hurd, 53, also told these people that he’s in a period of “mourning” about leaving H-P, likening his departure from the Palo Alto, Calif., technology giant to the end of a marriage or the death of a family member. “It’s an emotional issue,” he told these people.
London Finance Job Vacancies Climb 7% (Bloomberg)
The number of openings in the City, as London’s main financial district is known, rose to 6,048 in July from 5,645 in June, U.K. recruitment consultant Morgan McKinley said in a statement today. The number of people looking for work fell 16 percent in July, according to the survey.
George Soros Slashes Exposure To US Equities (Telegraph)
Gone are Soros’s investments in Petrobras, Brazil’s oil giant, with investments in bellwether stocks such as Wal-Mart, JP Morgan Chase and Pfizer drastically reduced, cut by 99pc, 97pc and 95pc respectively. Of those equities that do remain, the fund’s holding in a gold exchange traded fund constitutes his largest investment, some 13pc of the equity portfolio, worth $638m.
Barclays Follows Citigroup With Court Rejection of U.S. Accord (Bloomberg)
A federal judge refused to endorse a settlement between the U.S. and a bank for a third time in a year, calling a proposed $298 million fine of Barclays Plc for trading with Iran, Cuba and Sudan “a sweetheart deal.”
‘Vultures’ Saved Troubled Homeowners (WSJ)
Anna and Charlie Reynolds of St. George, Utah, were worried about losing their home to foreclosure last year. Then they got a lucky break—from an unlikely savior. Selene Residential Mortgage Opportunity Fund, an investment fund managed by veteran mortgage-bond trader Lewis Ranieri, acquired the loan at a deep discount and renegotiated the terms with the Reynolds. The balance due was cut to $243,182 from $421,731, and the interest rate was lowered. That reduced the monthly payment to $1,573 from $3,464, allowing the family to stay in their home despite a drop in Mr. Reynolds’ income as a real-estate agent. “It was a miracle,” says Ms. Reynolds. Continue reading »
Rebellion Research’s Computer Named “Star” Reduced International Exposure “Before A Lot Of The Problems Came About In Greece”
By Bess Levin
Just an FYI for any potential investors on the fence about breaking themselves off a piece of this. Continue reading »
Back in February, Jennifer Aniston announced that she was done going out with celebrities and was looking to be set up with “a wealthy businessman.” We suggested fellow Greek Jim Chanos, Arki Busson, and Warren Buffett but not being a dating service, failed to follow-up. Continue reading »
Guy Accused Of Stepping On Trading Admin’s Rack May Have Gotten Pawsy With Other Female Employees, Supposedly Has Massive Feet, Interesting Moves On The Dance Floor
By Bess Levin
Here’s one you might not have seen coming: Marcus Bolton, the head of Tullett Prebon Americas Corp, who’s being sued for $20 million by employee Jessica Franqui for allegedly forcing her to dance with him on the trading floor and then stepping on her chest for the grand finale, which he claims was no big deal as her breasts were “too big to feel anything,” has “pending sexual harassment charges brought on by two female brokers from the company.” Also: “He has a size 14 foot,” Franqui’s attorney said. “He steps down on her breast hard, and then he pumped his fists in the air as if to say, ‘Look, I’m the man.’” [Gothamist]
As previously mentioned, against all odds, Zoe Cruz has officially started her own firm. They said she could no longer hustle, that people would be turned off by certain unfortunate “stuff” that occurred on her watch at Morgan Stanley but surprise! In the last nine months, the Missile raised $200 million for Voras Capital Management, which is the name of “a mountainous area near the town in Greece Cruz was born,” and is comprised of two separate funds (one, a credit opportunities fund run by former MS exec Ellen Brunsberg, the other a global macro fund run by the lady of the hour). How has the investing community taken to the news? Continue reading »
2 Zombies To Tolerate For A While (NYT)
Andrew Ross Sorkin: “Representative Barney Frank was furious. The Massachusetts Democrat had been watching a morning news program that had me on, and soon afterward he was calling my cellphone to fume about that morning’s discussion. The topic? Why it has taken the government so long to address the fate of the zombie mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. His response was counterintuitive — and as unsatisfying as it may sound, he’s right. ‘There is no urgency,’ he told me. ”
Geithner: No Going Back for Fannie and Freddie (Reuters)
“We will not support returning Fannie and Freddie to the role they played before conservatorship, where they took market share from private competitors while enjoying the perception of government support,” Geithner said. “We will not support a return to the system where private gains are subsidized by taxpayer losses.”
Jain May Be Lost in Translation as Deutsche Bank Seeks Chief (Bloomberg)
After earning a Master of Finance degree in 1985, he started out as an analyst at Kidder Peabody & Co., before moving to Merrill Lynch three years later. These days Jain, trim and greying, projects the poise and confidence of a seasoned investment banker, and his speech, direct and precise, still carries a faint Indian accent. A cricket player and golfer, colleagues say he’s competitive in both work and sport, and relishes opportunities to prove his doubters wrong. He held a stake in the Mumbai Indians, a cricket team, until selling it last year. Failing to offer Jain the top job risks driving out the “best candidate” and disappointing analysts and investors, said Peter Thorne, a London-based analyst at Helvea Ltd. “If the German powers-that-be can’t see he’s the best man for the job, that’d be a sad day for Deutsche Bank and the German finance industry as a whole,” Thorne said. “I couldn’t conceive of anyone who wouldn’t want Jain to be CEO.”
Barclays Settles US Charges (WSJ)
The bank agreed to pay $298 million to settle charges by U.S. and New York prosecutors that the U.K. bank altered financial records for more than a decade to hide hundreds of millions of dollars in payments flowing into the U.S. from Cuba, Libya, Iran and other sanctioned countries.
Mindich’s Eton Park Leads Hedge Funds Joining Paulson Gold Bet (Bloomberg)
Eton Park bought 6.58 million shares of SPDR Gold Shares in the second quarter, according to a regulatory filing yesterday. The investment was valued at $800.3 million as of June 30, making it the hedge fund’s biggest holding.
JetBlue attendant Steven Slater parties hard (NYP)
The JetBlue flight attendant who cursed out a planeload of passengers before he slid down the chute enjoyed bottles of Budweiser and shouted, “Fly United!”
Carl Levin Hit In Face With Pie In Big Rapids (Detroit News)
In a statement, Levin said he wasn’t hurt in the pie-throwing incident and welcomes civil discourse with constituents. Continue reading »
$$$ Judge Won’t Approve Citi-SEC Pact [WSJ]
$$$ Buffett’s push for pledges lands in Chicago [Chicago Tribune]
$$$ Call for Careful Overhaul of US Mortgage Lending [FT]
$$$ Dinner At The House That Ate The Hamptons [WSJ]
Interesting Theories: Goldman Sachs Execs Starting To Give A Rat’s What People Think About Them
By Bess Levin
In the wake of the SEC charges, the bank is reportedly doing some serious “soul-searching” and “heading down a spiritual journey,” which may lead to some sort of “revolutionary announcement.” What could it be? That the prop team being “spun off” into a separate hedge fund will actually spend its days in a rented office space on Third Avenue working on a letter writing campaign to bring back Zubaz, Lloyd Blankfein’s preferred choice of pant? Stay tuned. [Reuters]
From the mailbag: Continue reading »
