Did Paris Hilton’s PR Firm Give Lawyer the Tabloid Treatment?Fired intellectual-property lawyer Jeremy Pitcock claims his ex-employer’s flashy PR firm made a little “inappropriate behavior” charge sound like he was caught driving a hooker around backward in a car seat, or something.
‘Playboy’ Profits: Going Down?Plus, ‘02138’ graduates to a new publisher, Bush goes online, and Skadden makes big bucks — all in our daily industry roundup.
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Murdoch Won’t Go Any Higher on ‘Newsday’ BidAlso, Microsoft gives up on Yahoo, Berkshire Hathaway’s profits tank briefly, and Buzz Bissinger apologizes to Will Leitch, all in our daily industry roundup.
George Soros: You Ain’t Seen Nothing YetPublishing musical chairs, bad news on the economy front, and gripes about law-school rankings — all in our daily roundup.
Katie Couric and Sean McManus: Chipper at CBS in Spite of It AllMore troubles for Sam Zell, Heather Mills is coming to town, and half of Bear Stearns employees are facing the ax. Click through to read the rest of our news roundup from the fields of media, law, finance and real estate.
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Buyout Exodus at ‘Newsweek’A dating blogger seeks a book deal, trading desks think recession, and Jean Nouvel wins the Pritzker in our daily roundup of media, finance, law, and real-estate news.
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Top Cop Ray Kelly’s Force: Not So Fine So Far in ‘08Whether it be sex crimes, DUIs, assaults, or the Sean Bell trial, 2008 has not reflected so well on the NYPD so far. And now, we learn, nobody wants to be a cop anymore. What gives?
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Jamie Dimon: ‘Many’ of Bear’s 14,000 Employees Will Lose JobsDid Bear Stearns collapse in part because of a whisper campaign? How will Starbucks keep its customers if everyone starts pinching pennies? And what did Sarah Jessica Parker think of Maxim naming her the “unsexiest woman alive”? Our weekly roundup of law, media, and business news.
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JPMorgan Gearing Up to Move Into Bear’s Sweet HQFINANCE
• JPMorgan Chase will probably move its investment-banking unit to Bear Stearns’ smokin’-hot headquarters on Madison Avenue. The building is valued at $1.2 billion, which is just one-fourth of quadruple the price JPMorgan paid for the firm itself. [NYP]
• JPMorgan Chase’s valuation of Bear Stearns shows that financial institutions are significantly overvalued. Speaking of which, many employees had their life savings wiped out. [NYP, WSJ]
• Meanwhile Goldman Sachs’ earnings are down but beat analysts’ expectations. [DealBook/NYT]
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New York Newspapers Tanking More Slowly Than Papers ElsewhereMEDIA
• Of the top twenty American newspapers, the circulation of New York ones suffered less than others over the past few years. [Mixed Media/Portfolio]
• We hear … that gossip Website Jossip.com is up for sale. [NYP]
• And that ESPN The Magazine is beefing up its fashion coverage. [WWD]
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Will ‘Kristen’ Get a High Rate From the Media, Too?MEDIA
• How did the New York Times get the Spitzer scoop anyway? [NYO]
• “CNN Admits: We Shouldn’t Have Used Alleged Stripper Biter As Spitzer Commentator.” [AP via HuffPo]
• Bids for an interviews with “Kristen,” the prostitute who slept with “Client 9,” are reportedly up to $100,000. [Guest of a Guest]
in other news
So Why Hasn’t Spitzer Resigned Yet?Yesterday we received word from multiple reliable sources that Spitzer was planning on getting the whole thing over with last night. We weren’t sure, but it sounded like there was to be an evening press conference, during which Spitzer officially resigned and David Paterson was sworn in as governor. But that never came to pass. Now Spitzer has wiped his schedule clean of public events and is hunkered down with advisers. Meanwhile, much of the mainstream media and many political rivals are calling for his head. As the New York Times pointed out, “any politician would have a full-time job just dealing with such revelations.” It seems impossible that Spitzer would be able to continue on as governor (in about 24 hours state Republicans will start impeachment proceedings against him), and yet he hasn’t resigned. What gives? Some theories:
• In preparation for a day in which he may have to face prosecution over his role in the Emperor’s Club prostitution debacle, stepping down from the governorship would be a great trump card. He could use it as a big sacrifice in any deal, saving himself from other punishments like fines, disbarment, or jail time. [National Review]
• He could be destroying documents or evidence, suggests DealBreaker. Though it sounds far-fetched, a private security expert tells them that the reason executives under investigation at big companies are immediately escorted out of the building is so that they can’t do that. “They should have the FBI there right now to prevent Spitzer from deleting his hard-drives,” their source argues. [DealBreaker]
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Another Sad Day for SchwarzmanFINANCE
• Where has all of Steve Schwarzman’s money gone? A report saying that his fund would earn less than half of what was predicted caused Blackstone’s stock price to tumble. [NYP]
• Former Countrywide Financial, Citigroup, and Merrill Lynch execs get ready to explain to Congress why they got huge paychecks as their shareholders lost billions. [DealBook/NYT]
• Financier Carl Icahn ups his stake in Motorola. [DealBook/NYT]
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The Gray Lady Lets Jim Impoco Come Crawling BackMEDIA
• Fired Portfolio editor Jim Impoco makes his comeback at The New York Times Magazine, where he’ll be a consulting editor. [NYO]
• NBC puts its traditional glitzy advertising on the back burner. That’s really too bad for the girl who was hoping to be assigned to keep tabs on John Krasinski during the day of the presentations. [NYP]
• Nielsen CEO David Calhoun charts a new course for his media-measuring company. [Fortune]
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Walters Says Greenspan Always Gave Bad AdviceFINANCE
• Alan Greenspan’s old flame Barbara Walters complained the G-man never gave good advice, insisting back in the seventies that she avoid an apartment on Fifth Avenue because it was a “bad investment.” [NYP]
• Henry Kravis got a little egg on his face thanks to the collapse of the $8 billion Harman buyout. Steve Schwarzman gets bragging rights or an excuse to back out of his own impossibly huge deals. [Deal Journal/WSJ]
• With computers taking over, the NYSE plans to cut the trading floor down by half from its historic high. The famous Main Room and “the Garage,” opened in 1903 and 1922 respectively, will remain open. [NYT]
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Goldman, Merrill Open Books, Loosen CollarsFINANCE
• The SEC is investigating whether banks and brokerages are hiding subprime lending losses. Goldman and Merrill are the first to be scrutinized. [WSJ]
• This is how bad the market is right now: Even music bloggers are worried about it. [DealBreaker]
• KPS Capital Partners is ditching its MetLife Building penthouse for a two-story space on 66th and Lex that leaves room for expansion. [Deal Journal/WSJ]
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Bear Stearns Execs Cashed Out Before Stock DroppedFINANCE
• James Cayne and three other top Bear Stearns execs cashed out $57 million in stock before the bank took a nose dive, pawning off $16 million in losses on regular investors. [TheStreet.com via DealBreaker]
• With Ellyn McColgan’s departure, Fidelity president Rodger Lawson has gone from new guy in town to likely successor. [Boston Globe via DealBook/NYT]
• Blackstone raised $21.7 billion for its latest private-equity fund. Apparently drumming up the last $6 billion was pretty tough. Cue the violins! [Deal Journal/WSJ]
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First You Save the Company, Then You Play GolfFINANCE
• Bear Stearns CEO Jim Cayne rewarded himself for firing the firm’s second-in-command by playing his first round of golf in almost three weeks. [NYP]
• Fidelity CEO Edward Johnson’s uncertain succession plan claimed another victim as Ellyn McColgan, a longtime exec and onetime heir apparent, got fed up and stepped down. [NYT]
• Were the threats against Goldman Sachs “Hundreds will die. We are inside. You cannot stop us.” just a prank by three teenage kids? [Newsday]
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At Bear Stearns, Watch Out for the New GuyFINANCE
• Bear Stearns seems to have great confidence in new president Alan Schwartz, even though Schwartz, an “old-line relationship banker,” has no experience in the firm’s embattled bond business. [NYT]
• Bear Stearns’ decision to liquidate their failed hedge funds in the Cayman Islands may help protect them from irate and litigious investors. [Bloomberg]
• Banks working on the ABN Amro deal stand to make about $1.3 billion. Good news for Citi, Credit Suisse, and others. [Deal Journal/WSJ]
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You Were Right About the Personal-Injury LawyersLAW
• David Sheeger, a Manhattan personal-injury lawyer, pleaded guilty to using a “runner” to ferry him potential cases from inside hospitals. [New York Law Journal]
• A missing Connecticut lawyer admits to embezzlement in a letter to his attorney son. [Connecticut Law Tribune]
• Manhattan D.A. Robert Morgenthau is 88 and unrelenting. [Law Blog/WSJ]
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The Costly Return of JT LeRoyMEDIA
• A court ordered Laura Albert, a.k.a. JT LeRoy, to pay a film production company $350,000 for legal fees connected to her fraud case. [NYT]
• The ABC News intern who posed nude for Playboy: Lace Rose Allenius. She works on the weekend edition of Good Morning America. [Mediabistro]
• Manhattan Media, the owner of several weekly newspapers, bought New York Press and plans to merge it with Our Town Downtown, which covers lower Manhattan. [NYT]
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Bad Days at ABC, NBCMEDIA
• Eric Wishnie, an NBC News producer who was fired in 2006 for substance-abuse problems, fell to his death from his West Village rooftop. [NYDN]
• Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts announced that she has breast cancer. [ABC News]
• Condé Nast is expanding in India and expected to launch editions of Glamour, GQ, Condé Nast Traveler, Vanity Fair, and Wired. Vogue will launch in September. [FT]
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Former Milberg Weiss Lawyer Was El Mirage’s LandlordLAW
• Paul Young, a former partner at Milberg Weiss, owned the building that housed the El Mirage bathhouse and did nothing to curtail its activities. [Legal Pad/Fortune]
• General counsels are on the up-and-up: Rosemary Berkery and Kenneth Frazier, the GCs at Merrill and Merck, both just got promotions to top leadership positions at their respective firms. [Law Blog/WSJ]
• Some lawyers are salivating at their chance to put “hard-hitting” ads back on the air. [New York Law Journal]
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End Is Nigh for Whole Foods ChiefFINANCE
• Whole Foods CEO John Mackey has been asked to resign following the discovery of anonymous postings he authored on investment message boards. [NYP]
• Leon Black, the secretive founder of Apollo Management, will be worth more than $3 billion when he sells part of the firm. [NYP]
• Merrill Lynch CEO Stan O’Neal promoted one of his top aids, Rosemary Berkery, to the position of vice-chairman and general counsel, making her a likely successor. [MarketBeat/WSJ]
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Steve Jobs Has Nothing on ArmaniFASHION
• Over the iPhone? Get the Armani phone this October. [Fashionista]
• Need something to wear with that wrap dress? DVF is launching a shoe collection this fall. [British Vogue]
• Thom Browne has put together a 25-piece womenswear collection available this fall at Barneys, Bergdorf, Jeffrey, and Colette. [WWD]
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Does That Polo Pocket Look Like Levi’s?FASHION
• Levi Strauss & Co. is suing Polo Ralph Lauren for supposedly copying the brand’s trademark pocket stitching. [WWD via British Vogue]
• Sass & Bide has canceled their New York Fashion Week show after one of the designers required further chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Women ages 40 to 55 get their own Izod line. [NYP]
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So Who Will Run Viacom?MEDIA
• Sumner Redstone is feuding with his daughter, leaving the future of Viacom in doubt. [WSJ]
• Forbes is putting its historic Greenwich Village building on the block. [NYP]
• Countdown With Keith Olbermann referred to a Louisiana senator’s wife as a ho. Imus again? [FishbowlNY/Mediabistro]
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Mariane Pearl Sues Al QaedaMEDIA
• Mariane Pearl filed a lawsuit in federal court against Al Qaeda and a major Pakistan bank to uncover more information about her husband’s murder. [NYS]
• The NFL passed a rule ordering press photographers to wear red vests with Canon and Reebok logos on them. [NPPA News via Mediabistro]
• If Portfolio’s second issue flops, editor-in-chief Joanne Lipman may be out of a job. [NYP]
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Dow Jones, Mediabistro Play ‘Let’s Make a Deal’MEDIA
• The Dow Jones board approved Murdoch’s bid, but two of the four Bancrofts on the board refused to take part. The family is expected to meet Monday to begin deliberations. [NYT]
• Jupitermedia bought Mediabistro.com for $23 million, causing critics to smell a tech bubble. [NYT]
• The new issue of Portfolio will be out soon, and rumor has it that editor Joanne Lipman is ignoring Condé protocol by poaching other books’ staff. [WWD]
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Who Will Catch the ‘Redbook’ Traitor?MEDIA
• Will the $10,000 that Jezebel paid for an unretouched Redbook cover be enough to feed the sure-to-be-fired leaker? [WWD]
• Houghton Mifflin will acquire Harcourt from rival Reed Elsevier for $4 billion. [NYT]
• Rolling Stone publisher Tim Castelli has left the magazine to be New York sales director for Google. [Ad Age]
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CEO Accused of Golf ManipulationFINANCE
• Hollywood Country Club is looking into allegations of score altering in a July 4 golf tournament by Bear Stearns CEO Jim Cayne. [CNBC]
• The SEC began an investigation into Whole Foods CEO John Mackey’s anonymous online postings. [DealBook/NYT]
• Morgan Stanley’s John Mack is hosting a fund-raiser for Hillary Clinton today. He supported George W. Bush in 2004. [Financial Times]
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Couric Will Stay at CBSMEDIA
• CBS News president Sean McManus denied that Katie Couric will leave CBS Evening News before the end of her five-year contract. [AP via Fox News]
• CNBC and the Financial Times plan to join forces and share content in case Rupert Murdoch’s Dow Jones bid goes through. [WSJ]
• TV Guide is moving into The New Yorker’s old offices on West 43rd Street. [NYP]
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Did You Hear the One About the iPhone Nano?FINANCE
• A JP Morgan analyst got canned for writing a report about a fictional Apple product, the iPhone Nano. [Apple 2.0 via DealBreaker]
• Using the screen name Rahodeb, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey posted on Yahoo Finance bulletin boards to bash competitor Wild Oats. [Deal Journal/WSJ]
• The SEC tries to reclaim authority over hedge funds by writing rules allowing the agency to sue for misleading investors. [Bloomberg]
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No Vindication for Jane PrattMEDIA
• Jane Pratt doesn’t feel vindicated that Jane was killed but does feel bad for its employees. [Radar]
• Kevin Reilly, the former chief programmer for NBC, was picked up by Fox after losing his job to Ben Silverman. [NYT]
• The Nation asks its readers to chip in for “The Great Postal Crisis of 2007.” [FishbowlNY/Mediabistro]
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‘Jane,’ So OverMEDIA
• Jane mag is dead. [Radar]
• The Dow Jones board will meet with Ron Burkle today, but an alternative deal to Murdoch’s appears unlikely. [NYT]
• MTV Networks negotiated its upfront ad sales partly based on commercial ratings. [WSJ]
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Goldman Shrugs Off ThreatFINANCE
• “Goldman Sachs. Hundreds will die. We are inside. You cannot stop us,” say nine letters mailed from Queens to newspapers across the country. The letters were signed “A.Q.U.S.A.,” but law enforcement isn’t too concerned. [CNN/Money]
• UBS CEO Peter Wuffli takes the fall for Dillon Read Capital Management by leaving the bank. Marcel Rohner is the new chief. [NYT]
• Lehman wants to hire as many summer analysts as possible in order to avoid those dreadful college-recruiting visits. [Bankers Ball via DealBreaker]
