company town

Lehman Brothers Cannot Get Off the Roller Coaster

Richard Fuld.Photo:Getty Images

FINANCE
• Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke thinks it’s okay to let some financial firms fail. He’s just having a hard time deciding which ones he should let go under. [Bloomberg]
• Despite a report this morning that Lehman Brothers is girding for another huge loss, it’s not faring too badly in the markets this morning. But that doesn’t mean it will be easy for Dick Fuld to sell off $40 billion in real-estate assets… [WSJ, Blogging Stocks]
• Meanwhile, WaMu is wounded. Its shares have fallen 85 percent in the past year, wiping out about $60 billion in market capitalization, and a troubling $240 billion in mortgages, home-equity loans, and credit-card exposures are plaguing the firm’s balance sheet. What can be done to save the flailing bank? [NYP]


MEDIA
NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker thinks the Peacock Network’s handling of the Olympic games has been tremendous — especially the digital coverage. “We’re going to come out of these Olympics with great digital knowledge,” he said, “and hopefully we’ll be able to turn those digital pennies into digital if not dollars digital fifty cent pieces at some point.” [FishbowlNY/Mediabistro]
• Glossy tabloids are having just as hard a time as hard news. [PEW via Mixed Media/Portfolio]
• The New York Times reports that The Daily Show is a “genuine cultural and political force” that people respect as much or more as they do real news. Wait, is this story from 2003? Surprisingly, no. [NYT]

LAW
• Lawyers decide it’s okay for attorneys to tout their “super lawyer” status. [Star
Tribune
]
• How did an attorney from the Bronx wind up representing the man who was once the richest oligarch in Russia? [Portfolio]
• Big Apple–based Skadden leads the pack of law firms that advise on Fortune 100 corporate transactions. [Law.com]

REAL ESTATE
• The new J.Crew men’s-only store is getting set to open in the old Tribeca Liquor Store building. [ Shophound]
• Who does Governors Island belong to, Manhattan or Brooklyn? [NYT]
• Investors with cash to spare are snapping up Manhattan towers. [Crain’s]

Lehman Brothers Cannot Get Off the Roller Coaster