MEDIA
• John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of the Economist, says that not having bylines is part of the magazine’s brand, and though they “look with great envy upon those publications that have big pictures of 50-year-old journalists staring out from their columns,” they have no plans to change it. Wait, the Economist has an editor-in-chief? We always assumed it was run by machines. [Mediabistro]
• Ben Silverman, the NBC exec who catapulted to the top by stealing foreign shows like The Office and Ugly Betty, called his competitors Steve McPherson at ABC and Kevin Reilly at Fox “D-girls,” apparently some weird TV slang for cute young development execs with little power. Huh. We just call those people D-bags. [NYP]
• The writers strike is forcing Fox to postpone the launch of 24, even though some episodes have already been shot; The Office will be one of the first prime-time shows to run out of episodes after next week’s show; and ex–Disney exec Michael Eisner called the strike “insanity.” [NYT, Mixed Media/Portfolio]
FINANCE
• Morgan Stanley and AIG showed the credit crunch is far from over, writing off $3.7 and $2.7 billion respectively. Compared to recent losses at Citi and Merrill, that almost sounds like good news! [WSJ]
• Analysts at the Royal Bank of Scotland came out with the newest nightmare statistic: Thanks to the credit crisis and strict new accounting rules, worldwide banks may be forced to write down as much as $500 billion — more than ten times the write-downs in the last few months. [NYP]
• It may just seem like semantics, but thanks to the boards of Citi and Merrill, both Chuck Prince and Stan O’Neal can claim they retired rather than got fired — a distinction that will net them millions in stock options. But if boards are serving the shareholders, why didn’t they just shit-can these failures like they would anyone else? [FT]
LAW
• The Feds are asking a grand jury to indict Rudy’s old friend Bernie Kerik in charges ranging from tax fraud to corruption to conspiracy. [NYT]
• The Justice Department’s ongoing war on corporate fraud shows just how hard it can be to take down high-flying fraudsters — and how big the stakes can be when the Feds win. [American Lawyer]
• There are naked people in the NYU Law Library! Wow, those cranks at Columbia should try this instead of starving themselves. [Above the Law]
FASHION
• Gap is putting its stamp on Vespas. Yay? [Fashion Week Daily]
• Raf Simons is reportedly going to collaborate with Fred Perry on a men’s line. [WWD]
• Coach’s profits may be down, but the line’s still more recognizable than Louis Vuitton. [Fashionista]
