Jeff Bewkes Starts Cleaning House at Time WarnerMEDIA
• At least 75 Time Warner layoffs are expected to be announced today. The layoffs are among CEO Jeff Bewkes’s first public tasks since taking the helm of the company from Dick Parsons last month. Earlier today, Time Warner announced a 41 percent decline in fourth-quarter earnings. [MSNBC & AdAge]
• Maybe some of those Time Warner folks can hang their hats over at Condé Nast. The Observer evaluates Portfolio’s recent spending spree, during which it recruited top talent from The New Yorker, the Post, and the Times. [NYO]
• (Product)Red, the love child of Bono, iPod, and the Gap, has raised more than $22 million for fighting HIV and AIDS in Africa. But considering the big advertising bucks spent during the Super Bowl and elsewhere, some are arguing that it’s not enough. [NYT]
company town
Richard Arens Is Having His MomentFINANCE
• Trader Richard Arens, who runs a brokerage named ABS, made a vanity trade in order to push oil past the $100/barrel milestone. We’re sure the girls at the bar will be real impressed. [MarketBeat/WSJ]
• Citigroup will likely start laying off between 5 and 10 percent of its workforce next week, cutting as many as 32,000 jobs. Merrill Lynch plans to cut around 1,600. [CNBC]
• Former E*Trade CEO Mitch Caplan, who helped load the company with the subprime loans, made off with a $11 million golden parachute. Compare that with former H&R Block chief Mark Ernst, responsible for his own big subprime losses, who took home a paltry $2.5 million. [Deal Journal/WSJ, DealBook/NYT]
in other news
Jude Law Brings His Pillbox Hat to Halston RoleIt looks like 2008 is the new 1978. That is, it will be the year of Halston. Not only will the fashion house, purchased last year by Harvey Weinstein with the creative help of Tamara Mellon and Rachel Zoe, show again at New York’s Fashion Week — but it turns out that a Weinstein movie is in the works about the iconic designer’s life. And Jude Law is in talks to play the lead role! Which not only means that we get to see Jude Law play gay again, but also that we’ll get to see a whole bevy of celebrities played by younger stars. We can see it now: Zach Braff as Studio 54 owner Steve Rubell, Anne Hathaway as Bianca Jagger and oh! Oh! Amy Winehouse as Liza Minnelli!!
Jude Law to Play Halston? [Fashionista]
The A to Z of What’s Hot for 2008 [Daily Telegraph]
Earlier: Can Harvey Resurrect Halston?
it just happened
Can Harvey Resurrect Halston?
So Harvey Weinstein bought Halston. The move puts the iconic seventies designer’s name — Halston was best known for his drapey jersey dresses, early adoption of Ultrasuede, and regular spot between Liza and Bianca at Studio 54 — back in the hands of a canny, culturally aware, media-manipulating New Yorker. Things haven’t been going well lately for the once-powerful brand; there have been so many different designers and corporate owners since Roy Halston Frowick died in 1990 that the label is today unrecognizable.