Until early September of this year, Solomon Lederer rode the B train from his apartment in Brooklyn up to Morgan Stanley’s offices in midtown without interacting with his fellow commuters. But he wanted to. Underneath his blue shirt and black pants beat the heart of a guy with a dream. Namely, to “make the commute more interesting and productive.” His idea was to link up riders who needed favors with other riders willing to perform them (for example, Lederer needed someone to help him with “a fun little script-writing project” and in exchange offered anything from dog watching, closet organizing; a woman needed her soiled guinea pig cages cleaned, and in return she was offering to do anything “within reason and the confines of legality”). Mostly though, he was just about the people connection. Mixing things up. That kind of stuff. So he printed up some flyers, stuffed them in his man satchel and set out to do just that.
Then the Journal got wind of it and decided to write a piece about Lederer which he figured could only help business. Unfortunately, he did not count on the higher-ups at Morgan Stanley not wanting to be associated with the whole charade (NB: they are fine with employees selling candy on the subway or performing 5-man dance routines, in case anyone is wondering if their day job is at risk). Lederer says he doesn’t mention that he works for Morgan Stanley in his morning pitch, but was identified as an employee in the article. A director “sent Lederer a text message shortly after the story appeared” and several days later, perhaps having conferred with John Mack on the matter, gave him the boot. So, Leds is looking for a job (MS gave two weeks severance), in case anyone has a home for the guy. (Do know he plans to “continue as strong as ever” with what he was doing on the subway.)
Maybe Mack and Gorman should focus on their ridiculous stock price and stop picking on employees for no reason. Don’t they have anything better to do like RUNNING THE COMPANY!!!! Hello, McFly!!!!!
“a fun little script-writing project” …silly me, I thought this was in reference to computer coding
He should have known that helping others is a violation of company policy at Morgan Stanley.
“The guy calls his bag a purse. I can’t tolerate that kind of faggery.”
Mack’d
Props to Duh FTW! Genius!
I thought Morgan Stanley was bought out by Primerica and Jefferies.
“Morgan Stanley is dedicated to making a positive contribution to society through our focus on the environment, our people, responsible business practices, community investment and strengthening the next generation of citizens.”
http://www.morganstanley.com/about/careers/
Does he also clean parrot cages?
If so I may have something for him.
email me: tomh@dublooncapital.com
We don’t want non-douchebags in our firm.
-MS
This is a violation of OBA FINRA Reporting requirements. Had he alerted the company to his activities we would have been totes cool with it. But, as it turns out, we were bored and hadn’t fired anyone in a while, so we gave the new guy in HR with an itchy trigger finger a little somethin’ somethin’ to do.
Living in Brooklyn and bartering with subway commuters is the NKI.
Duh 2012!
What about falcon roosts?
-HP
I can see it now: “Subway Bank”!!
-The Guy Who Can “See It Now”
OK, not really worth getting fired over, but it is a pretty lame. It’s not even ridiculous enough to be funny. He should have just asked his friends for help writing his script.
Anyone hear the bonus numbers for 1st year Commuter Annoyers? Consensus around the office is a bag of dog shit, 4 loogie’s on the back, and 6 uncomfortable evil eyes.
Who do these amateurs low balling you think they are dealing with? 25 signing bonus? BL doesn’t even ride face for 25. Start a bidding war, then Carney can interview you on CNBC for “The Decision.”
c’mon people, we’ve seen this before. this is just how dr. hannibal lecter got his start. I applaude MS for being proactive.
Odds of this guy winding up in some Pulp Fiction-like sex dungeon after Zed offers some help with the “fun little script-writing project”: 8:1
Bess Levin is 120% of Dealbreaker’s worth>>>> these douches have to give Bess a no-strings-attached low-7 figure check, and the DB site can be obtained from godaddy for 6.99 post-reg expiration.
MS is just trying to stop the spread of STD’s. Had he worked for GS, we wouldn’t be having this convo.
Like SNL, the NY Observer doesn’t hire women, Bess: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sjiJtyKOtg
Link to the story dude. : http://www.businessinsider.com/the-new-york-observer-is-close-to-buying-dealbreaker-but-bess-levin-is-holding-everybody-hostage-2010-10
“the NY Observer doesn’t hire women”
Except that that’s exactly what they’re trying to do, shit for brains, and that woman is saying no?
She shouldn’t even be talking to them until they throw a Zamboni into the mix.
Bess has some good leverage here – considering she has her own contacts and connections. I guarantee you if they lowball her she will just start her own blog. IF they buy it and she leaves 80% of the sites followers will migrate to her site.
Also, I’m surprised it’s so hard to sell ads on this site considering some very powerful people read it. I mean, fuck, I’ll bet Bonobo pants are now the standard pant in financial services.
Bess is everything to this site…. EVERYTHING!!!
If The Observer does not give Bess what she’s looking for, thus she leaves… their investment will be shot and Bess… your audience will follow you.
Hold out for big money and do not sign any non-competing clause unless they give it to you.
Obviously they are: Dennis Kneale went out and bought 20 pairs to wear while furtively hanging out around the corner from Bess’ apartment. Charlie Gasparino now works out wearing nothing but Bonobos and Drakkar Noir. Steve Cohen has a pair entombed in Lucite on his wall while Jamie Dimon is having himself painted larger than life-size for the foyer of his new apartment. The tailor is adjusting Lloyd’s pair right now to add a little more room in the crotch. And Warren Buffett bought the company.
Also? 80% is low. I bet it would be in the mid-90s. I suspect Bess’ voicemail is filling up right now with messages from VC firms sensing a gold mine.
I bet that “management” thinks they can bring back Z-Cherry Cow and Shazam to run the site if Bess walks. #fail #turds #bigsteamingkouwe
Leds should pass some markers with his pitch page. Now the man is outa job, he’s more than welcome to come by Ping Cap to get a bunch of them markers. He’s also get a demo how to use
them properly while he’s here.
- P. Jiang
What’s all this talk I hear about panting in financial services?
- Guy who fired DebraLee for being too sexy
We are interested, but only for a lunch-date, maybe pho.
- Nguyen Nguyen Phuoc Tran, VC
Sure, the readers will follow. But will the advertisers? One would assume that readers = ads. But do any of us really click the links? Doubtful.
There’s no deal if Bess doesn’t do it. Hence nothing being finalized.
Who’s Zed?
In my country there is problem?
So we should be clicking the links for Bess?
Zed’s dead baby, Zed’s dead…
I only read this site for the news
nameless/faceless competing reporter
Bess is Zordon and the NYO is definitely that gold-plated Lion badguy. Or Ooze.
-IT guy no one talks to and will someday “break into” IBD
Bess is Zordon and the NYO is definitely that gold-plated Lion badguy. Or Ooze.
-IT guy no one talks to and will someday “break into” IBD
Is that first tier or second tier?
Guinea Pig > Mick Boor
Look, they value all of Dealbreaker at $500,000 to $1 million. Bess can get at most that. Over three years we are looking at $167,000 to 333,334 per year. Not much room for 7 figures here…
Agreed–mid-90s. Anyone who’s paid any attention to Dealbreaker will go to Bess’s site within 5 minutes of realizing she’s no longer on DB.
I’m bullish on Bess. Lots of potential for a surprise on the upside.
Shazanus just told me he has a great little piece for DB on the low short-term bond yields. Anyone want to read it?
Bess- I heard the director was wearing the compliance-mandated “fuck me” boots when he fired this guy. Can you confirm?
Why are you responding to me? Disturbedbythenews is who you want.
P.S. You might want to crunch the numbers there again buddo. Breaking Media will surely want a cut considering they provide the infastructure.
I WILL FOLLOW BETH TO THE DEATH!!
I said *at most* that.
Dealbreaker shutting down would be a bit like CaymanNetNews.com shutting down – the beginning of the end – baby
Uh….Bess…I am concerned about Alexa’s “High Impact Search Queries for Dealbreaker.com”, especially item #3 in that list as defined.
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/dealbreaker.com
-Concerned Dealbreaker Contributor
So its true then? This is the end of DB? The doors, the windows, everything?
“The site has been online for 9 years.”
That Alexa must really know what it’s talking about.
That all depends on whether the couple of hard, pipe-hitting n***** went to work on the homes there with a pair of pliers and a blow torch. Just saying…
Dealbreaker is like a fishing boat…After expenses are paid from the catch (advertisers), the boat gets a share and the Captain gets a share. I think Bess is more captain than crew of Dealbreaker. She might be related to the Hilstrands. Maybe Moy, though.
INFESTATION!!!!
-Phil Davison
Stark County, OH
Holding up sale of website is NKI!
Falcone roosts?
I saw this guy on C line one morning. New Yorkers don’t get chummy on the subway – he was a cross between pathetic and creepy.
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/10/i-bid-100000-plus-equity-for-bess-levin/
Why not give Bess some amount for each click at the new site? It would be a win-win situation.
-Guy Who’ll Now Apply to DE Shaw With that Intellectual Capital Display
because they need to give her an attractive enough (cash) bonus to do the deal at all, prior to going to the new management, not based on what happens over there.
Had he worked for GS, we’d be having this convo 3 days after his initiation.
you’re a bunch of goldman obsessed, condescending warts.
By 2050, they will be a Chinese owned financial brothel peddling bonds to the peasants.
Crackpot IT people annoying all of new york… excellent idea. Because there isn’t enough lib nonsense while taking the subway around NYU.
Not necessarily; would you rather take $50k up front in the form of one-time comp or would you take a profit sharing arrangement that could (potentially) net you more over time? If she believes that new management would fix IT issues, put in support staff who aren’t awful, i.e. make moves that would drive traffic to the site it might make sense to push for a profit sharing arrangement over x number of years.
SMS messages are totally inappropriate for firm business communication.
Aw no, Does that mean Iwanta Pushher will be writing little blurbs now and then? I can’t bear it. Maybe the brother Eric has a bettter sense of humor. She’s too robotic.
Ivanka get more than $50k a year in shoe money. C’mon! Don’t chisel!
50k isn’t her salary, it’d be the “signing bonus.”
-guy who begs you to acquire some reading comprehension
It was all over when you said “blue shirt and black pants.”
Dude was probably trying to get in a position where he could plant hidden spy cameras.
If he was just doing to for social reasons, he ought to have done what I did when I was just out of college in Chicago and working in IT at an investment bank and didn’t know anybody in town outside of work: I got a P/T job washing dishes at the hip coffee house type place near my apartment.
i heard the bankers are wearing Arbitrage shirts too…figures….
Living in Brooklyn and bartering with subway commuters is the NKI.