MEDIA
• Print organizations make like Survivor: The New York Times, Hearst, Tribune, and Gannet form an alliance to back a new online company called quadrantONE. [USAT]
• Star magazine makes no apologies for paying sources for scoops. In fact, “right underneath [Candace] Trunzo’s editor’s note in the current issue is an unbridled pitch with dollar signs around the edges.” [NYP]
• Bad blood is brewing between Barron’s and CNBC after the publication ran a critical story about Mad Money’s Jim Cramer. [CJR]
FINANCE
•Note to investors: Long-term bonds don’t always function like ATMs! Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, and Merrill Lynch tell clients that their auction-rate securities are frozen — along with their cash. [NYT]
• Quite a week for Warren Buffett. After offering to save the market on Tuesday, the Oracle of Omaha now reveals that his Berkshire Hathaway is Kraft Food’s biggest investor. [7B784C1460-8525-4B41-A1AE-79F8D7ADB242%7D”>MarketWatch]
• As Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke delivers the glum news that economy is going to slow down if the credit crunch continues, Wall Street weathermen predict a 50 percent chance of a recession. [NYT]
LAW
• A developing criminal investigation is looking into last summer’s collapse of internal Bear Sterns hedge funds. [WSJ]
• Law firms report record-breaking growth in 2007, including at Manhattan’s Weil, Gotshal & Manges, whose revenue increased to $1.175 billion. [Law.com]
• New York Law School lectures can now be downloaded for free on iTunes U, giving students absolutely no reason to get out of bed in the morning. [NYLS]
FASHION
Sadly, we will no longer be running fashion links in Company Town. For your full fix of news, gossip, and pictures, hop on over to our newly permanent fashion blog, The Cut.
