MEDIA
• 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]
LAW
• If you were a presidential candidate, whom would you be? If you answered Barack Obama, you’re like the majority of big New York law firms, who prefer to think of themselves as “spry,” “outside the establishment,” and “upstart.” But one Cravath associate was less doe-eyed about his firm: “[Cravath] would have to be McCain. Older than all get-out, set in its ways, more aggressive than most and not unrelated to torture.” [NYO]
• ‘Tis the season for tax-related celebrity legal woes. This time, it’s New York Yankee Derek Jeter’s turn to pay the piper (a.k.a. New York State) for his unpaid 2001–2003 local taxes. [NYT]
• Angry guy gets law license, sues. One man’s story of how he joined the profession. [WSJ]
FINANCE
• When it comes to the future of the Microsoft-Yahoo deal, it’s not a matter of when, but of how much. According to some on the Street, if Microsoft wants it so bad, they’re going to have to sweeten the valuation pot. [NYP]
• Where’s that economic-stimulus package when you need it? Yesterday’s stock-market beating turned out to be the worst single-day drop of the year. [FT]
• Coca-Cola is set to spend $40 million to get a 40 percent stake in Honest Tea. [NYT]
FASHION
• Halston dresses for $1,500 went on sale the day before his show earlier this week. On Net-a-Porter, the smaller sizes sold out within 24 hours. [Portfolio]
• Miuccia Prada’s film, Trembled Blossoms, debuted last night in her Soho store. You can watch it on the Prada Website. [Prada]
• There was a near-romantic cataclysm at the Tory Burch presentation when Lance Armstrong, Tory’s ex, showed up. [The Cut]
