Last night was the third Pink Slip Party. We sent Kashmir Hill, associate editor at Above the Law, to survey the scene. Here are her findings.
The third Wall Street Pink Slip Party had the air of desperation of a singles’ mixer. And indeed, most of the attendees were recently separated… from their Wall Street employers.
Approximately 400 people turned up at the Public House in midtown Manhattan last night. The room was packed when we arrived circa 7 p.m. and started to clear out around 8. At the door were reps from the Ronald McDonald House gathering a suggested $20 donation, and handing out glow stick bracelets: pink for the laid off/looking for work, green for the hiring/recruiters, and blue for “neutral.” Judging from the blue-bracelet wearers we encountered, “neutral” translates to “hoping to pick up desperate ex-Wall Street babes.”
Most of those in green bracelets were recruiters. At the first two parties, there were more in-house HR folks; hiring freezes kept many away this time around, said organizer Rachel Pine of Fastbook.
The Public House was chosen as the venue for the monthly series of Pink Slip parties because one of its owners is a Philadelphia Stock Exchange trader who’s sympathetic to those who have moved from the stock market to the job market. Many attendees spent the evening huddled around the long bar. “The best value in coming to the event is the $2 Bud Light special,” said one 23-year-old layoff from a buy-side firm, who hadn’t talked to many people in green bracelets over the course of the night, but was having success getting fantastically drunk.
The more serious job seekers hovered near booths where two green-braceleted financial services headhunters sat conducting intense one-on-one interviews, reviewing resumes, and handing out cards. Which was out of place and bizarre in the middle of a jam-packed bar, but these are bizarre times. One grey-suited, pink-braceleted 32-year-old, jettisoned by Barclays three months ago, was waiting his turn in line at one of the booths, with a leather portfolio in hand, rather than a drink. There aren’t a lot of better options for finding work, he said. “Unless you make this personal connection with the headhunters, they won’t look out for you.”
Amen. But to make more of a connection, maybe he should try handing them a vodka tonic along with his resume.
Photos, after the jump.
parties
From: [redacted]
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 4:33 PM
To: Gabelli All
Subject: Holiday Party at The Water Club
Due to market volatility, we are shortening the cocktail hour. It will start promptly at 7:00 PM and end 7:30 PM. Please be there at 7:00 PM sharp.
One of the reasons we love the Swiss is that they live beyond their means, without apology. While some of the other banks negatively affected by subprime, someone’s drug problem, etc. are scaling back their holiday parties (for instance, Bear is holding its main event at the Sizzler and the plan is to skip out check), UBS is saying “$10 billion and counting writedown be damned, 2007′s winter solstice shall be the grandest of them all.” This year’s wealth management funfest will begin at 7 pm on the evening of the 17th at the Museum of Natural History. Now, I know some of you want to say, “Well, 2006′s party was at Rockefeller Center so, relatively speaking, this is a downgrade,” but you’re wrong. Whale beats tree. It’s that simple. Upgrade. (UBS’s IBD get together is tonight at 583 Park, which isn’t a bad venue for a unit maybe worth negative 22 billion dollars.)
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Hedge Funds
It’s Entirely Possible That Gary Busey Was At Last Night’s SAC Holiday Party
By John Carney
In a terrific display of holiday togetherness, the employees of SAC Capital convened in Stamford last night to bask in the mediocrity and obscurity of the past year. To create the perfect atmosphere for such an event, the holiday gala was held in a plastic tent behind the company’s headquarters. Despite their better efforts, however, everyone seemed to have a good time, fueled by a live reggae/soul band (interesting choice) and several PMs dispensing bonuses by raining hundreds from a platform over the crowd (no one is really sure whether this was actually their bonus or if they will still be receiving one today). The whole night was summed up in the inspiring, albeit slurred, drunken cry overheard as people piled into taxis outside of the after party: “I can’t believe we fucking work at SAC. I mean, I’m a total idiot, you saw me tonight. And yet here I am.” A breakdown by the numbers:
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Posted in:
Bank of America
Stevie Cohen Making Us Jump Through Hoops To Score Female Hormone Pills
By John CarneyTonight’s parties are Citi at Paramount Bar (6 pm), BNP Paribas at South Street Seaport (7 pm), Jay Goldman & Co. (7:30 pm) at Del Posto, and Choice Energy at Bruno Jamais (5:30 pm) but WAY MORE IMPORTANTLY: SAC Capital in a tent behind the Stamford headquarters. We really feel like we should go but Jesus fucking Christ, Stamford? Additionally we don’t want go make the trek by ourselves and our roommate can’t go, even though we impressed upon her that this party is more or less her Everest. (The weak excuse? Tonight she has a date and afterwards will be knee-deep in planning her “big birthday orgy. Entry fee is waived for anyone who can prove yearly net income over $500,000. Oh, and Anal_yst is invited. And that guy from Hamilton.”)
In other news, the Lehman review:
“fid got off to a slow start. equities got started fast, then got too drunk to keep going. admins danced until the music died. damn dj. and then it emptied out to the after parties. fid was starting up at around 8 but then died fast too. everyone’s nervous about bonuses. equities thinks they’re gonna subsidize fid. fid is resigned to their fate. oh and no live band this year.”
Earlier: The Secret To SAC’s Success?
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Posted in:
Blackstone
BLACKSTONE. GLOBAL M&A. TONIGHT. METROPOLITAN CLUB. CRABS. CRABS. CRABS. SO. MANY. CRABS.
By John Carney
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Posted in:
parties
More Holiday Parties You’re Not Invited To But Are Encouraged To Attend: Lehman, Goldman, Carlyle, Citi, Etc.
By John Carney• Lehman Brothers: Tonight, 7 pm, Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers. Our tipster seems to think this means “there won’t be any writedown that the Street keeps talking about coz [sic] the bonuses will be announced before the party and I’d be pretty dumbstruck if those will be cut today—they had plenty of time to announce and prepare us for the worst!”
• Goldman Sachs (derivatives): Tonight, 6 pm, the Volstead
• Carlyle: Tonight, 7 pm, Central Park Boathouse. Would’ve been infinitely cooler if it were the Boat Basin but whatevs, live and let live.
• Citi (FIG): December 13, 6 pm, 583 Park Ave. Fun fact: this sometime party venue is a Christian Science church, which rents itself out for special events. The Scientists get a percentage of the revenue from each party, and still worship there during the week. “Christian Science” is inscribed in huge letters on the outside, and creeps us out every time we walk past it on the way home. We’ll be going, if only because Hank Paulson is rumored to be DJ’ing the event, and it’s been a while since we saw someone palm a basketball.
• Some firm called MJX Capital Advisors: December 14, 6 pm, Plataforma. There will apparently only be 7 people there but go anyway, hilarity will ensue.
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Posted in:
Holiday Party
Holiday Party Watch:There Will Be Unlimited Mike’s Hard Lemonade At The Morgan Stanley IBD FIG Holiday Party
By John CarneyWhich is taking place tomorrow at Lotus. Yes, Lotus. The festivities begin at the usual time, but apparently the “real party is starting around ten,” which is when John Mack will be showing up, after having pregamed with us at Tortilla Flats, because, you know, when in Rome. Anal_yst will be TiVo’ing “Gossip Girl,” and he doesn’t even work at Morgan, so you know the expectations are high.
Among the more amusing items in our inbox this morning was an invitation to a party in Williamsburg, Brooklyn sporting the theme “Wall Street Circa 1987.”
“Two dark events are upon us: the end of my 20s and the beginning of the recession,” the woman throwing the party writes. “Let’s fight both Brooklyn style with a giant dirty bomb of a party.”
We’re taking this as a hopeful sign. If Steve Schwarzman’s lavish $5 million birthday party rang the bell at the top of the credit driven leverage buyout boom, a party thrown by Williamsburg hipsters build around downbeat market sentiment might be a sign of the bottom.
Dow Jones’s Evelyn Juan reports that Winthrop Smith Jr., son of the Merrill Lynch founding partner of the same name, is planning a little party next month for firm alums in New York. Mostly because he’s spent the last couple of years holed up in Vermont (running Sugarbush) and “really, really needs to get out” but also because it’s time to start reminiscing about the days when Merrill still gave out bonuses and wasn’t a stupendous failure. John Thain’s been invited, as has most of Citi (in order to make the MER guests look good), but guess who’s name is decidedly not on the list? Starts with an ‘S’, ends with a ‘tanley O’neal’ (also: starts with a ‘t,’ ends with an ‘ech sector,’ and a ‘J,’ ‘ohn Carney,’ though he plans on crashing and I may even come with, because I love the Time Square Doubletree). The burn isn’t really that surprising, considering that Stan got the job Smith wanted, but it nonetheless chafes, according to a receptionist from the office of O’Neal proctologist, who violated a host of ethics rules when she snuck a peak at his chart and called us with the results. Stan is said to be planning his own Merrill reunion for the same night, to be held in the office space the board’s letting him use for the next 3 years. Who will go where? We guess it really comes down to a matter of preference—Smith will have a piñata, Stan will be jumping out of a cake naked and serving Chex MixTM. Which one would you attend?
Record bonuses for a good cause (the Keith Richards blood infusion program) From the Huffington Post:
THE ROLLING STONES played an intimate gig for 500 bankers in Spain – and were paid $5.4 million (GBP2.7 million) for their private stage show. The rockers’ two year A Bigger Bang tour is said to be one of the longest and highest grossing ever, having pulled in over $436 million (GBP218 million) to date. But that didn’t stop the musicians supplementing their income with an 80-minute set at a party organised by Deutsche Bank in the Catalan National Art Museum in Barcelona, Spain last week (12Jul07). And frontman Mick Jagger admitted he was delighted to be earning so much from the wealthy bankers. He told the crowd, “Thank you for having us. The best part is, it’s coming out of your bonuses.”
I guess someone had to clean up after the band, and bankers, after the set (and by this we mean all the underwear DB bankers threw on stage). Beautiful economic gears in motion…
Rolling Stones Play Private Deutsche Bank Gig, Paid $67,500 A Minute [Huffington Post]
