Harvard MBAs: Dooming Wall Street With Their Enthusiasm?For a while now, our friends at DealBreaker.com (and the banking expert Ray Soifer) have been telling us that the rate at which Harvard Business School graduates are taking jobs on Wall Street may be a contrary indicator of how the market will do. “When 10% or less of a graduating class take Wall Street jobs, it’s a long-term buy signal,” they explain. “When 30% or more take Wall Street jobs, it’s a big flashing sell signal.” How many Harvard MBAs took jobs on the Street this year? 44 percent. That’s combined with an altogether decrease in the amount of work experience among the grads. Yipes! Not that we needed this indicator to tell us we’re all fucked in the coming year. But at least it’s nice that now we have such a deliciously scape-able goat.
Even More Harvard Business School Students Ruining Wall Street [DealBreaker]
company town
Editors Give Zinczenko Bombast an ‘F’MEDIA
• Participants at the American Magazine Conference revolted against “The Magabrand Revolution,” the ostensible theme name cooked up by Men’s Health editor David Zinczenko. One editor commented, “I usually have to use ‘magabrand’ with a modifier in front of it, and that modifier starts with the letter ‘F.’” [Mixed Media/Portfolio]
• Jeff Zucker can’t stop denying those NBC sale rumors. Wethinks the lady [Reuters]
• When they ran into each other at the Jessica Seinfeld book party, Rupert Murdoch asked Arianna Huffington how many hits HuffPo was getting. Huffington told him 3 million a month; Murdoch politely noted that MySpace, which he owns, ran closer to 70 million. [Fortune]
in other news
Suburban Moms Sound the Death Knell of the MBA
You know once affluent, middle-aged moms get into something, it’s over. We mean, no offense to the ladies, but look what happened with, say, Juicy Couture, Norah Jones, and La Esquina. Now, apparently, this crowd has set its sights on the MBA. In a shrewd new step in their ongoing effort to ensure that no one ever goes to b-school again, the Times business section today has a trend story about Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business “Back in Business” program, which caters to mommies who want to muscle their way back into the workforce. Simultaneously, the Brazen Careerist has a column listing all the reasons why the MBA has become obsolete. Coincidence? We think not. Also, it’s kind of funny how it’s called the Tuck School, which reminds us a little bit of plastic surgery. MBAs! They’re the new Botox.
M.B.A. Programs Pay Off for Women Seeking a Return to Wall Street[NYT]
B-School Confidential: MBAs May Be Obsolete [The Brazen Careerist]