Too Big to Fail - Andrew Ross Sorkin [308]
“Dick Fuld is Lehman”: “Lehman’s $2.8B Loss,” George Ball, Squawk Box, CNBC, June 9, 2008.
“Are you saying ‘I told you so’”: “Lehman’s Q2 Loss,” Carl Quintanilla, Squawk Box, CNBC, June 9, 2008.
an e-mail to Fuld from Benoît D’Angelin: See “Lehman Brothers Email Regarding Lack of Accountability,” House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s investigation, http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=2208.
So she sent Fuld a two-sentence e-mail: Read to author by confidential source.
Fuld met with the investment bankers for lunch on Wednesday, June 11: Previously referenced by Steve Fishman, “Burning Down His House,” New York, December 8, 2008, as well as Susanne Craig, “Lehman Shuffles 2 Key Jobs In Bid to Restore Confidence—Finance Chief Is Demoted; ‘Wall Street Wants a Head,’” Wall Street Journal, June 13, 2008.
Gasparino hectoring Lehman’s spokesperson: Dealbreaker.com posted a series of Gasparino’s taped voicemail messages to Kerrie Cohen. “Charlie Gasparino Leaves The Greatest Voicemail(s) of All Time,” September 22, 2008. http://dealbreaker.com/2008/09/charlie-gasparino-leaves-the-g.php.
“Our credibility has eroded”: Yalman Onaran, “Lehman Drops Callan, Gregory; McDade Named President,” Bloomberg News, June 12, 2008.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Lehman is not a Bear Stearns situation”: “BlackRock’s Fink Says Lehman Not Another Bear-CNBC,” Reuters, June 11, 2008.
Fleming had helped broker a 2006 deal to merge Merrill’s $539 billion asset-management business: On February 15, 2006, Merrill Lynch agreed to sell its investment managers business to BlackRock in exchange for a 49.8 percent stake in the combined company. “Given its complexity, the transaction was put together quickly, helped by the close friendship that Mr. Fleming, who took BlackRock public at a price of $14, and Mr. Fink enjoy.” Landon Thomas Jr., “On the Menu for Breakfast: $1 Trillion,” New York Times, February 16, 2006.
“Everyone is shrinking their balance sheet”: Joseph A. Giannone, “Merrill CEO Wants Ongoing Fed Access, Rules Reform,” Reuters, June 10, 2008.
“We all have concerns about what we read in the papers”: Joe Bel Bruno, “Merrill CEO Sees More Industry Consolidation,” Associated Press, June 10, 2008.
Merrill’s shares down 32 percent for the year: Tenzin Pema, “Merrill Lynch Outlook Cut at JP Morgan,” Reuters, June 11, 2008.
who was sometimes referred to as “I-Robot”: “Stiff, cerebral and intimidating, John Thain is not a ‘people person.’ Behind his back his nickname is ‘I Robot.’” See Dominic Rushe, “The IRobot Rides In to Sort Out Merrill Lynch,” Sunday Times (London), November 18, 2007.
Fink, ironically, had lead the exchange’s search committee that selected him: Kate Kelly, Greg Ip, and Ianthe Jeanne Dugan, “For NYSE, New CEO Could Be Just the Start,” Wall Street Journal, December 19, 2003.
shutting the wood-paneled Luncheon Club and firing the exchange’s barber: Asked about his firing of the NYSE barber, a kindly old man who made $24,000 a year, Thain said: “The barber was a very nice guy who’d been there for a very long time…. [I]t’s difficult to argue that a publicly traded company needs to have its own barber.” Gary Weiss, “The Taming of Merrill Lynch,” Portfolio, May 2008.
when he interned at Procter & Gamble: Justin Schack, “The Adventures of Superthain,” Institutional Investor—Americas, June 14, 2006.
“When he made conversation”: Lisa Kassenaar and Yalman Onaran, “Merrill’s Repairman,” Bloomberg Markets, February 2008.
“Would it hurt you to suck up to me once in a while?”: Ibid.
“So, I think you said before that you’re comfortable”: Deutsche Bank analyst Mike Mayo, asked Thain during a conference call. “John A. Thain, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer–Merrill Lynch, to Participate in a Conference Call Hosted by Deutsche Bank on June 11—Final,” Fair Disclosure Wire, June 11, 2008.
“At the end of last year when we were looking to”: Ibid.