company town

Jonathan Franzen’s Latest (Unsurprising) Target Is Michiko Kakutani

MEDIA
• Jonathan Franzen says “the stupidest person in New York City is currently the lead reviewer of fiction for the New York Times.” [NYO]
• Is the 31-year-old New York Times’ editor Andrew Ross Sorkin being eyed for the Wall Street Journal managing editor gig? [Gawker]
• “The whole kiddie porn prurient angle seems to be worryingly sour grapes from other magazines that didn’t get a picture like this,” says Vanity Fair’s Michael Roberts over the whole Miley Cyrus circus. [WWD]

FINANCE
• Is BlackRock chairman and chief Laurence Fink, who brought home $41.87 million last year, disappointed by his 27 percent pay increase? [DealBook/NYT]
• The Carlyle Group has raised more capital than any other private-equity firm in the last five years. The Goldman Sachs buyout arm is the runner-up, then TPG. [PEI via DealBook/NYT]
• The troubled Meriweather hedge fund is offering some investors the opportunity to pull their money now versus being forced to wait until June. Meanwhile, ten New York–based Meriweather workers have been axed. [NYP, Times UK]

REAL ESTATE
• The superintendent at 100 U.N. Plaza has been mail-ordering batches of baby chickens and stashing them away in the basement of the building. “I’m raising chickens because I plan to retire,” he says. [NYP]
• A Wall Street tycoon plans to turn three Upper East Side landmark homes into one McMansion, and his neighbors aren’t pleased. [NYT]
• Stuy Town residents held a hoedown as a kickoff to launch their landmark campaign. “The landmarking effort in Stuy Town is based on its unique configuration and contribution to the social history of New York City,” one reveler said. [NYO]

LAW
• A former hedge-fund portfolio manager slapped a lawsuit on a former employer at Contrarian Capital Management. The plaintiff claims he was stiffed on his compensation when he needed cash to care for his 11-year-old son who had a brain tumor. [NYP]
• The city faces lawsuits up to about $190 million in the Turtle Bay crane collapse. [NYDN]
• Does being a lawyer make you fat? Or is it law school? Help these guys figure it out. [Above the Law]

Jonathan Franzen’s Latest (Unsurprising) Target Is Michiko Kakutani