FINANCE
• JP Morgan, Lehman, and Merrill are in talks with developers to build new trading floors in Manhattan. [Bloomberg]
• Donald Trump set a new low last night, defeating WWF owner Vince McMahon in a “Battle of the Billionaires.” [AP via Yahoo]
• The SEC celebrates April Fools’ Day with a prank press release about new disclosure rules. [Financial Times via MSNBC]
MEDIA
• The Tribune Company will sell to Sam Zell, a Chicago real-estate billionaire with no previous media experience. The Cubs aren’t part of the deal, though. [Chicago Tribune]
• Newsweek correspondent Michael Hastings, whose girlfriend was killed in Iraq in January, sold his story to Scribner for $500,000. His proposal was on agent Andrew Wylie’s desk just three weeks after her death. [FishbowlNY/Mediabistro]
• An unflattering Microsoft memo on Wired’s Fred Vogelstein was accidentally sent to the reporter: “Fred’s stories tend to be a bit sensational, though he would consider them to be balanced and fair.” [NYT]
LAW
• Will law firms ever be publicly traded? The IPOs might happen sooner than you’d think. [Law Blog/WSJ]
• One of the defendants in the “Squawk Box” insider-trading scandal was separately indicted for his part in a $30 million Queens gambling ring. [Law Blog/WSJ]
• Associates with leveraged-buyout experience are ditching firms to go to private-equity companies. Will there be enough lawyers? [The American Lawyer]
FASHION
• Rumors about Hedi Slimane’s departure from Dior Homme suggest it was the designer’s decision to leave. [Fashionista]
• Beyoncé won’t have to pay a former employee who wanted money for a fashion deal he brokered. [NYDN]
• Parisian boutique Colette celebrates its tenth birthday. [IHT]
