FINANCE
• And the First Annual Alan Greenspan Award for Meddling With the Affairs of a Successor goes to Jack Welch. [WSJ]
• Despite Merrill Lynch’s $1.96 billion losses, investors believe that CEO John Thain can restore the firm’s profitability and help the bank grow. Meanwhile, the firm is growing, in another sense: They’re throwing $9 million toward saving a tropical forest in Indonesia. [Fortune, WSJ]
• Citigroup reported $5.1 billion losses. Sad face. [DealBook/NYT]
MEDIA
• Moderators Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos are receiving gargantuan amounts of criticism in the postmortem of Wednesday night’s presidential debate. [NYT]
• Katie Couric may write a memoir! [NYP]
• “What’s it like being the face of Louis Vuitton?” Christina Ricci mused, considering the question BlackBook’s George Gurley asked her. “Well, I’m not anymore. I was one of four actresses that they used in a campaign once and it was really fun. I liked it. I would like to be the face of Louis Vuitton. I am not, however. You know who is? Scarlett Johansson is the face of Louis Vuitton. Wrong interview.” [WWD]
LAW
• Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who is investigating February’s auction-rate market mess, has subpoenaed eighteen institutions, including some of Wall Street’s biggest firms. [WSJ]
• The debate is heating up over whether Trisha Walsh-Smith hurt her pending divorce case making a YouTube rant about her husband’s dirty laundry public. [MSNBC]
• Attendees at the American Bar Association’s ABA Techshow in Chicago have declared social-networking sites over. [Law.com]
REAL ESTATE
• A homeless man found the Freedom Tower’s blueprints in a garbage can. Seriously. [NYP]
• This is what handing over a cool $45 million for a condo at the Plaza will get you. [Curbed]
• Six cranes have been shut down for safety violations at last month’s collapse on 51st Street.[NYO]
