It would be a “moral disaster” if the United States were to default on its debts and become unable to pay its obligations, Jamie Dimon said at an appearance in Colorado Thursday evening. The U.S. is the financial linchpin of the world, and the economic effects of the U.S. defaulting could be “potentially catastrophic,” he said at a dinner for the University of Colorado Denver Business School. “It will dwarf Lehman,” Dimon said. [HP]
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In what appears to now be a series of desk-side interviews on a Flip-Cam, MCC tells colleague Brian Steel that she likes basketball because the players are tall and the 40 pairs of shoes she bought in the two days after Lehman Brothers went under, including her favorites (a pair of Christian Louboutins for $100).
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Serious question- has James Dimon, he of JPMorgan, come out looking better than some other Wall Street CEO’s because of a nice face, “fluffy white, unbankerish hair” and an ass you could bounce a quarter off of? Alternatively, has Dick Fuld become something of a villain not because of that business with Lehman Brothers’ balance sheet, per se, but because he’s got a mug that will haunt your dreams? Both are theories currently being floated.
Sayeth Vanity Fair”
JPMorgan Chase C.E.O. Jamie Dimon is tall. He’s fit. For a banker, he’s nice-looking. And he’s got that head of fluffy white, unbankerish hair. You could argue that Dimon’s single greatest asset is that he doesn’t look like Dick Fuld. Fuld, the former C.E.O. of Lehman Brothers, is a virtual Thomas Nast caricature of the venal banker; all that is missing is the stovepipe hat and the mustache-twirling. Because of his looks, Fuld has probably had a rougher ride of it over the past two and a half years. And because of his looks, Dimon has probably had too easy a ride. While Goldman Sachs C.E.O. Lloyd Blankfein became a piñata for legislators and the press, Dimon fully embraced his role as Wall Street’s fair-haired boy—or “America’s Least-Hated Banker,” as The New York Times Magazine put it just last December.
Dimon In The Rough [VF]
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Sayeth Chaz:
“Fuld portrayed Lehman as a firm that was fighting successfully to survive. With those words of encouragement, some investors lent Lehman money, others bought its stock or decided not to sell, thinking the situation was going to get better. Given what later happened, that sounds like an open-and-shut case of securities fraud, with greedy Wall Streeters caught lying to public investors, right? Well, no.
I’m told the SEC is under intense pressure to bring a case against someone at Lehman, whether it’s Fuld or another top exec — and having a tough time coming up with conclusive evidence they knew they were lying about what they were saying about Lehman’s chances. And if they can’t prove that, they don’t have a fraud case…As for the accounting gimmick Lehman used just before its ’08 implosion, it was approved by the firm’s auditor, Ernst & Young — which OK’d it because other firms had used similar techniques to mitigate losses, without a peep from regulators. In other words, Fuld really did think Lehman would survive — because in the past, with the help of the feds, it had. But…if Fuld “had” to know better, then what about all those politicians and bureaucrats who encouraged the creation of mortgage-backed securities, which were at the heart of the collapse? What about the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac execs who let banks hand out loans to almost everyone? What about the Federal Reserve and Treasury officials, under Republicans and Democrats, who stepped in and mitigated Wall Street losses time after time, creating an environment where CEOs like Fuld believed there was no consequence to risk-taking? If it’s a crime to help trigger a disaster by getting things wrong, a lot of people belong in jail.”
Executives And The 2008 Collapse [NYP]
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According to Charlie Gasparino, who’s been tailing him.
Dick Fuld had been keeping a low profile even as he set up his own advisory firm with an office in midtown Manhattan. But sources with direct knowledge of Fuld’s business activities said things have been picking up steam in recent weeks. He has had at least one meeting with financial executives involving a private equity transaction, these people say, adding that Fuld appeared unconcerned about the multiple investigations into his actions during Lehman’s 2008 demise.
“It was bizarre,” said one person with direct knowledge of the matter. “He acted as if he has nothing to worry about.”
As Lehman Inquiry Drags On, Fuld’s Business Takes Off
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Earlier this week in Davos, Jamie Dimon said that when his and other banks are asked to comply with ‘irrational regulation,’ the sensation feels a lot like taking it in the ass. Which is to say, he doesn’t like it. His dislike for the figurative equivalent of anal rape, however, pales in comparison to what he feels for idiot reporters who think everyone on Wall Street is the same, i.e. reckless, greedy and responsible for taking down the economy with their bare hands. JPMorgan and its commander and chief couldn’t be more different than the fuck-ups at places like, say, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns (and Citi). Just because they’re in the same industry doesn’t mean they’re the same. One ignorant twit at Davos panel entitled “The Next Shock, Are We Better Prepared?” was unaware of the distinction; and after asking the JPMorgan chief about what he thought of “Americans who had directed their anger against the banks for the bailout” was offered an explanation a media person could understand.
Dimon visibly turned more animated, replying that “it’s not fair to lump all banks together.” The TARP program was forced on some banks, and not all of them needed it, he said. A number of banks helped stabilize things, noting that his bank bought the failed Bear Stearns. The idea that all banks would have failed without government intervention isn’t right, he said defensively. “I don’t lump all media together….There’s good and there’s bad. There’s irresponsible and ignorant and there’s really smart media. Well, not all bankers are the same.”
Clearly “aggrieved by the question,” he went on.
“I just think this constant refrain [of] ‘bankers, bankers, bankers,’ – it’s just a really unproductive and unfair way of treating people….People should just stop doing that.”
Everybody clear? Or do we need some diagrams?
Dimon’s Davos Cry [Barron's via Daily Intel]
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Travel startup NileGuide just announced that it has acquired a site called 10Best, a move that chief executive Josh Steinitz makes the San Francisco startup “one of, if not the, largest travel content publishers” online.
NileGuide started out as a “travel agent, tour guide, and concierge wrapped into one” but has since become focused on providing travel recommendations. That’s accomplished on the main NileGuide site with content from partners like Frommer’s, from the company’s local editors, and from the “Ask a Local” feature that NileGuide created after acquiring Q&A site Localyte last year.
10Best seems like a good match for the vision. As you can probably guess given the name, it features lists of “10 best” attractions, restaurants, and so on in different travel destinations. Steinitz said that unlike NileGuide, 10Best is “100 percent original, curated content” and that it performs better than NileGuide when it comes some travel spots in the United States (such as Savannah, Georgia and Louisville, Kentucky). The site will continue to operate as its own entity, though Steinitz plans to start “cross-pollinating” NileGuide content onto 10Best and to allow advertisers to buy campaigns across the network of sites.
The terms of the purchase were not disclosed. Steinitz said he bought the site from a company called Enveritas — which, like, 10Best, is based in Greenville, South Carolina. Enveritas has become increasingly focused on its content marketing business, so it started to neglect 10Best. The deal was especially attractive, Steinitz said, because 10Best is profitable and receives 2 million visitors per month (compared to 1.1 or 1.2 million for NileGuide).
NileGuide has raised a total of $13 million from Austin Ventures, Lehman Brothers Venture Partners, Draper Richards, and KPG Ventures.
Tags: 10Best, travel recommendations
Companies: Enveritas, Nileguide
People: Josh Steinitz
Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals
NileGuide, a travel startup that describes itself as “travel agent, tour guide, and concierge wrapped into one,” has raised $3.5 million in new funding, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
When you look up a vacation spot on NileGuide, the San Francisco startup combines tips written by paid local experts with automatically-generated recommendations for restaurants, hotels, and more — based on your personal preferences. You can also print out a customized guide or make your plans using the NileGuide iPhone app.
The company says it now includes 100,000 points of interests in more than 250 destinations. Back in May, NileGuide acquired travel Q&A site Localyte and used it to launch a new “Ask Locals” service.
I’ve emailed the company for comment and will update if I hear back. The filing doesn’t say who invested in the current round. The company has now raised a total of $13 million, and its past investors include Austin Ventures, Lehman Brothers Venture Partners, Draper Richards, and KPG Ventures.
Tags: travel, trip planning
Companies: Nileguide
Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals
The last time Ray Lopez bought a suit, Lehman Brothers was still standing. Now the managing partner at Greensboro, North Carolina, private equity firm Shamrock Capital Partners is ready to go wardrobe shopping again. Lopez, 43, plans to drop as much as $1,500 at Jos. A. Bank on two pinstriped suits, white dress shirts, and a handful of ties: “I feel more comfortable about the economy. Plus I’m seeing these big discounts everywhere.” [Bloomberg, not available yet]
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Foreign Firms Got Feds’ Cash (WSJ)
Among the biggest loans from a Fed commercial-paper lending program was one to Swiss banking giant UBS AG, which tapped it for $37 billion in October 2008. Barclays PLC, the British bank that declined to rescue Lehman Brothers but later bought much of it from bankruptcy, tapped the Fed for roughly $10 billion in commercial-paper loans in October 2008.
Bank of America Becoming Bank Of Asia As Revenue Rises 30% (Bloomberg)
Bank of America is headed for its best year advising on mergers and acquisitions in Asia-Pacific since 2005, and arranging initial public offerings since 2007. The combined companies have generated 30 percent more revenue from traditional investment-banking businesses in the region than they did as separate entities, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because the figures aren’t public.
Kinnucan Won’t Keep Quiet After Refusing To Wear A Wire For Feds (Bloomberg)
“It is a larger story at work here about the proper role of the SEC and its mandate as I understand it to provide guidance to the investment community,” Kinnucan said in an interview. “The Justice Department evidently would like to retroactively criminalize research activities which have been complicitly condoned by the SEC for years. If I don’t raise my voice, nobody will because everyone has gone underground.” Andrew Stoltmann, a securities lawyer in Chicago said: “He’s violating rule number one: don’t do anything that might upset the prosecutors. When someone talks to the FBI, he usually goes as far underground as possible. He’s not helping himself.”
ECB to Keep Unlimited Liquidity, Bond Hints Awaited (Reuters)
“They will probably say something to the effect that they stand ready to increase purchases in government securities if they considered this necessary,” said Frank Engels at Barclays Capital. “I think that would be slightly disappointing.”
Single Trader Holds Bulk Of LME Copper (WSJ)
That trader, whom the exchange hasn’t identified, owns between 50% and 80% of the 355,750 metric tons held in LME-listed warehouses. This amounts to more than 177,875 metric tons of copper, valued at about $1.5 billion. The exchange first disclosed the large position on Nov. 23 in its daily inventory holder report.
Peter Orszag Close to Joining Citigroup (FT)
Buds from the old neighborhood.
SEC, Banks Discuss CDO Settlement (WSJ)
The Securities and Exchange Commission, after issuing subpoenas for documents and interviewing officials from nearly every bank that was a major player in creating, selling or trading CDOs, has begun negotiating with the companies, these people said.
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/thomas-hoenigs-war-shrinking-behemoth-banks/“>Too Big To Succeed (NYT)
Thomas Hoenig: “A competitive, accountable and successful domestic economic system, supported by many innovative financial firms, would restore the United States’ economic strength. More financial firms — with none too big to fail — would mean less concentrated financial power, less concentrated risk and better access and service for American businesses and the public. Even if they were substantially smaller, the largest firms could continue to meet any global financial demand either directly or through syndication. Crises will always be a part of our capitalist system. But an absence of accountability and blatant inequities in treatment are why Americans remain angry. Without accountability, we cannot hope to build a national consensus around the sacrifices needed to eliminate our fiscal deficits and rebuild our economy.”
Article courtesy of Dealbreaker