In a basement at 200 West late last night, Lloyd Blankfein named the firm’s new partners. Blindfolded and naked, they pledged their devotion to the firm and promised to share in its huge-ass profits. At the stroke of midnight, as a baby seal barked in the corner, they were inducted into the Brotherhood of the Sach. If you see one of the following people on the street, setting off metal detectors within a 5 mile radius with the gold rods in their pants, ask them if they need anything– be it a mint, a fluffer, a mouth to stuff and discard bills in denominations of less than 100 in or a body to walk across so they needn’t dirty their shoes by letting them touch the street. And for god’s sake, BOW DOWN– you are in the presence of greatness. Continue reading »
Archive for November 2010
The bank claims it wants its new casino, The Cosmpolitan, to be a success and yet… Continue reading »
Stung By Critics, Fed Officials Reply (WSJ)
Charles Evans, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and a strong supporter of the Fed’s easing policy, noted in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the weak economy and low inflation warranted the Fed’s action and that more such purchases might be needed in months ahead if the economic outlook doesn’t turn. “I would continue to want to apply accommodative monetary policy until I had some confidence that that situation was changing,” Mr. Evans said, noting that $600 billion is a “good place to start” the easing program.
Buffett Praises ‘Dear Uncle Sam’ Despite Slow Recovery (CNBC)
“There were the dominos of corporate America lined up, but there were three hundred million American dominos lined up right behind them—money market funds, 401(k)’s, jobs, income, all of those things were going to topple like no one had ever seen,” Buffett said during an impromptu call-in interview. “Somebody had to stop the dominos from toppling, and government was the only one that could do it. Fortunately, they came through at that time.”
Deutsche Bank To Be Casino Owner (WSJ)
In a few weeks, a group of Deutsche Bank bankers will become unwitting casino moguls when the bank unveils a glass-facade, 3,000-room casino called the Cosmopolitan. Deutsche was originally just funding the project, pumping in a loan of $1 billion to build the soaring two-tower development. But its original developer, Ian Bruce Eichner, defaulted on Deutsche loans in 2008. Unable to find new partners or investors, Deutsche decided to take on the Cosmopolitan itself, putting in its own money to finish it. Changing Mr. Eichner’s original plans, Deutsche hired its own gambling and real-estate experts, interior designers, architects and engineers to build the group’s own vision of a world-class casino. The final product includes a a three-story crystal-strewn bar meant to evoke the inside of a chandelier and national TV ads that feature a trouser-less bellboy and the tagline: “Just the right amount of wrong.”
GM Increases IPO Size as Treasury, UAW Sell More Shares (Bloomberg)
The IPO was expanded by 31 percent to 478 million shares, GM said today in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, a day after boosting the offer price to as much as $33 a share. An overallotment and an offering of preferred shares may increase the total amount raised to about $22.7 billion.
Osborne Says UK Ready To Help Ireland (WSJ)
“It’s in Britain’s national interest that the Irish economy is successful and that we have a stable banking system,” Mr. Osborne said. “So Britain stands ready to support Ireland in the steps it needs to take to bring about that stability.”
IRS Withdraws Tax Probe of UBS Over Secret Accounts (Bloomberg)
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service dropped its demand for the identities of Americans who hold secret offshore bank accounts at UBS AG, after concluding it will learn the names of more than 7,500 names of the bank’s customers. IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman said the agency was withdrawing its “John Doe” summons against the Swiss bank. Shulman said the IRS investigation has prompted voluntary disclosures by 18,000 Americans, including thousands with accounts at other banks. About 3,000 Americans have come forward in the year since the IRS ended an official program to grant some leniency for voluntary disclosures, Shulman said in a statement. Continue reading »
$$$ Roger Altman , founder of Evercore Partners Inc. and a former deputy treasury secretary, has emerged as a leading candidate to replace Lawrence Summers as director of President Barack Obama’s National Economic Council [Bloomberg]
$$$ Jerome Kerviel: ‘I Was Merely a Small Cog in the Machine’ [Spiegel]
$$$ G.M. Raises Offering by 31%, Further Cutting U.S. Stake [Dealbook] Continue reading »
Michael Steinhardt says yes. Continue reading »
Absolute Return reports that Shumway Capital Partners will be allowed to submit redemption requests until December 3, due to a restructuring that will see founder/Tiger Cub Chris Shumway handing over the role of CIO to Tom Wilcox (Shumway will become CEO). The $8 billion firm’s flagship, SCP Atlantic, was down 3.55% through Septemeber. [AR]
Luis Caselles Peréz, pictured, is a Spanish-born business student who recently set up a website in order to share a dream, which he states plainly:
“As a Master student, I feel that the environment evolving from this and the resulting new paradigms of the industry offer many learning opportunities. Being in my last year of Business School education, I have a great opportunity to become the man I always wanted to be: an Investment Banker.”
Wherever that may be–the Xerox room, the little conference room near the kitchen, your apartment, the laundry room or the ATM in the building across the street! Continue reading »
When Brian Moynihan took over as CEO of Bank of America, i.e. the job no one wanted, he knew he wouldn’t have the prestige or money associated with running Goldman Sachs, or the groupies that come with heading up JPMorgan. But at the time, he probably figured it’d at least be better than being the CEO of Citigroup. Sure, he’d have to clean Ken Lewis’s vomit stains out of the rug and spend a bunch of late nights making this thing work, but odd are he didn’t anticipate every waking hour being a scene out of torture movie, like it is these days given the whole mortgage mess gift Lewis and Angelo Mozilo left for him as a surprise. An Irish Rock, however, ’til now he hasn’t shown many signs of cracking. Today, feeling like he was in the company of friends at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Banking and Financial Services Conference, Bri-Moy unloaded about how much this job sucks.
“There’s a lot of people out there with a lot of thoughts about how we should solve this, but at the end of the day, we’ll pay for the things that Countrywide did,” said Moynihan. “It’s a day-to-day, hand-to-hand combat.”
As we care about the guy and just want to make sure everyone’s prepared with a shoulder to cry on, let’s just guesstimate now, so we can be ready, how long before Moynihan: Continue reading »
Ireland Might Get A Little Money To Tide Itself Over, If Country Can Swallow Its Pride
By Bess LevinThe Journal reports that “European finance ministers working on an international aid package for Ireland want the U.K. to make bilateral loans to Dublin as part of a larger aid package that could total up to €100 billion ($136 billion) and include credit from the euro zone and International Monetary Fund,” according to people familiar with the matter. The deal for the banks would be around €45 billion to €50 billion, while “a broader package designed to restore confidence in Ireland’s public finances as well could range from €80 billion to €100 billion.” However, we’re not there yet, as some people are too proud to take a handout. Continue reading »
