Investment Banks

Goldman Sachs is the Yankees, Citigroup is the Mets

There’s a delicious irony about New York baseball and New York banks that I think is worth discussing in light of the imminent Yankees World Series victory. As baseball fans throughout the nation piss and moan about the fact that the Yankees have the wealth of NY to draw upon when pricing tickets, broadcast rates and payroll…

Merrill Lynch, Apparently, Committed Suicide

Thanks to my pal The Epicurean Dealmaker‘s incredible Supermassive Black Hole post, I learned a great deal more about why some investment banks survived the credit meltdown and others didn’t.  My key takeaway from this must-read piece is that Merrill Lynch had a Death Wish. See that crazy-ass blue line really going for it through…

Hot Links: McDonaldland

Stuff I’m Reading this Morning… A Fed official talks about the potential for aggressive interest rates hikes when necessary.  (Bloomberg) Trader Mark on the Julian Robertson Armageddon interview.  (FundMyMutualFund) Yes, Twitter is worth 74 kajillion dollars, haters.  (NYP) Rumors of a Blackstone LBO for Sea World.  Somebody warn Shamu!  (LOLFed) Jesse is still agnostic on…

One Year After Lehman: We Don't Love These Bros.

No one misses Lehman Brothers. Yeah, I said it. On September 15th 2008, the investment bank filed for bankruptcy after 6 months of protestations by Dick Fuld, Erin Callan and the rest of the brain trust that all was well at 745 Seventh Avenue in Times Square. Enough has and will be written about the…

Life After Wall Street?

What becomes of the broken bankers when their services are no longer required?  Does a man still look for work on Wall Street when even the guy who fired him has been let go as well?  Is there any incentive to even want to put in a 15 hour day now that the entire compensation…

Graduating in a Bear Market? Wall Street's Not Hiring.

With graduation approaching for the Class of 2009, college seniors are scrambling to find jobs by the spring. Let’s hope they don’t have their hearts set on Wall Street. By the time the big unwind is through, Wall Street (and peripheral sectors) will probably have lost more than a quarter of a million jobs. Unlike ’87 or ’01-’02, most of these jobs won’t be coming back.