- Goldman Sachs’s New Palace Creates Princes, Serfs
- Goldman fund down to last $30m Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Banking Culture, Goldman Sachs, Hedge funds, Real Estate
Not everyone is thrilled with Goldman Sachs’ new HQ; Bad investments leave Goldman Real Estate fund with only $30M, down from $1.8B
On April - 16 - 2010
The latest indignity is an aesthetic cleansing: Bankers are becoming persona non grata at Soho House
On March - 31 - 2009
They're cleansing their membership to get back to their "artsy" roots.
SOHO House no longer wants to be a place where bankers flock to drink and flirt. Sources told us several financial types, already hit by the economy, had their egos slammed when they were notified by the club that their membership would not be renewed as it was returning to its "artsy" roots. Soho House US operations director Mark Somen told us, "We recently celebrated our fifth anniversary and want to make sure we are staying true to our creative roots. We are not pinpointing specific industries, but want to make sure that our members are great creative types.
Bankers Are No-No's At Soho – Page Six
Tags: Banking Culture
Uncategorized
Fashion meets finance: Gold diggers whine and take stock at “Dating a Banker Anonymous”
On January - 28 - 2009
Pity the poor put upon young, fashionable, upwardly mobile women who have landed rich — or those they thought would soon be rich — Wall Streeters as boyfriends or husbands, only to find that their meal tickets were now on budgets and maybe even unemployed. There's a new place for them to bitch, whine and compare notes — Dating A Banker Anonymous. Members of DABA actually meet (see the above picture from the Times), and there's also a blog where they dish. The NY Times did a piece on some of the women:
Tags: Banking Culture, Credit Crunch, Dating, Eye Candy
Scores: The famed gentlemen’s club, and a favorite Wall Street hang out, will lapdance into oblivion before the new year
On December - 11 - 2008
The time has finally run out for gentlemens' club Scores, a favorite entertainment venue for many on Wall Street.
"It's over; it is what it is," said Scores lawyer George Weinbaum. Co-owner Elliot Osher confirmed the closing.
A
weak economy, the loss of the W. 27th St. Scores' liquor license and
the possibility the E. 60th St. joint would lose its booze ticket all
helped do in the flesh factory.
A new strip joint with a liquor
license will open at the East Side location, "but it won't be Scores
and the owners will be different," Osher said.
Famed sex den Scores, once a top moneymaker, can't jiggle out of financial troubles – NY Daily News
No more scoring a lap dance (or anything else) at Scores in NYC if the State Liquor Authority has anything to say about it – Wall Street Folly
Tags: Banking Culture
You’ve been downsized from your Wall Street job? Look at the bright side: now you can grow a beard
On December - 11 - 2008
And apparently lots of people have been (including a bunch of investment bankers and hedge funders that we know):
After Jorge Hendrickson lost his job at a Manhattan hedge fund three weeks ago, he stopped shaving. "I've shaved for so long, and it's nice to be able to look at the positive side" of losing a job, says Mr. Hendrickson, 24. "I'm changing my lifestyle while I can."
Facial hair is showing up on more former corporate types. It's one of those tiny luxuries unleashed by unemployment, a time when people are briefly released from workaday habits and may wish to take stock of their lives before setting out anew. Al Gore grew a beard after losing the tumultuous presidential election of 2000. Neatly trimmed, it looked cozy and anti-establishment as he pursued creative projects on his way to the Nobel Peace Prize.
Growth Area: Beards on Laid-Off Executives – WSJ
Tags: Banking Culture, Fashion, Hedge funds, investment banking, Revolving Door
Ace Greenberg: “There’s no more Wall Street”
On December - 9 - 2008
Former Bear Stearns CEO, now at Lehman Brothers, has seen change after change in his 61 year career on Wall Street. And now he says that Wall Street as we knew it is gone.
“There’s no more Wall Street,” Greenberg, 81, said last night in an
interview on Bloomberg’s “Money & Politics” television program.
“That model just doesn’t work because it’s at the mercy of rumors.”
“Rumors can start and turn into a self-fulfilling prophesy,” Greenberg
said during the interview in Washington. He said he’s “never seen
anything close” to the current economic decline and turmoil in the
financial markets.
said during the interview in Washington. He said he’s “never seen
anything close” to the current economic decline and turmoil in the
financial markets.
Former Bear Stearns CEO Greenberg Says Wall Street Is ‘No More’ – Bloomberg
Tags: Alan "Ace" Greenberg, Banking Culture, Bear Stearns, Credit Crunch, Lehman Brothers
With the credit crisis shrinking the ranks of Wall Street sugar daddies, what’s a girl to do?
On November - 24 - 2008
It's getting tough all over the city for pretty young gold diggers, used to enjoying the finer things of life thanks to wealthy Wall Streeters who lavished them with all sorts of luxuries. Now many of the men have found themselves unemployed, and forced to radically tighten their belts given their new situations in life. So how are they taking the suddenly shrinking supply of wealthy men? This weekend's Page Six Magazine explores the subject:
Tags: Banking Culture, Culture, Dating, Models
Uncategorized
Credit crunch impact: Stressed out Wall Streeters seek solace in drink, drugs and risky sex
On October - 27 - 2008
Tucked away in a mini-pullout section of the NY Post is an article on how anxious current and laid off Wall Streeters have become over the credit crunch and state of the industry. "Substance abuse and risky sex behavior is up among downsized and worried Wall Streeters, say therapists".
Al goes for three shots of vodka topped off with Red Bull before making his daily networking calls,
"Pete" is lifting "a few" Xanax from mom's medicine
cabinet. Others are turning to food, and then there are others that go to
strip clubs, massage parlors and are for the first time, hiring hookers….
Tags: Banking Culture, Credit Crunch, Drugs, Hookers, Revolving Door
The C-spot: New erotic Columbia U student run magazine features Wall Street fetishists
On October - 22 - 2008
Harvard has one. So do the University of Chicago, Vassar, and Boston University. Now Columbia University has its own student run magazine focusing on sex. The inaugural issue of C-Spot, an erotic magazine edited by Columbia University students (although it's not affiliated with or backed by the school) even has a story about Wall Street men. "In one piece headlined "My Nails Are Red", the writer pens a graphic description of her rough sex with Wall Street guys who choke her with their "expensive ties.""
Not even gonna comment on that one.
They also review their favorite strip clubs in Manhattan (many of which are reportedly still doing reasonably well even during this market downturn) and have a piece on some of the erotic services offered on Craigslist.
Ivy Mag is Lust For Fun (Columbia Laid Bare) – NY Post
Here's a link to the the "My Nails Are Red" article. Warning: for most of you, it's probably not suitable for reading at work. Yes, it's very graphic.
Tags: Banking Culture, Ivy League
Times are tough for Wall Street nannies
On August - 18 - 2008
There was a time not too long ago that finding a nanny to care for your kids was just about an impossible task because there was so much demand from high flying Wall Streeters. How times haved changed. With the purge on Wall Street, and many of the former high flyers now unemployed, their nannies are also finding themselves out of work according to NY Magazine.
“It’s been a week and no one’s
called,” says Christopher Sager, an out-of-work Soho nanny. “There are,
like, 300-plus people looking at two jobs.” Caregivers face lost jobs, reduced
hours, pay cuts, and added responsibilities as wealthy families trim household
staff. Genevieve Thiers of SitterCity.com says her babysitter-listing service
has fielded more than 2,500 new job seekers since February, up from 1,300 in the
previous six months.
Wall Street Woes Hit the Nursery - NY Magazine
Merrill Lynch bigwigs get their private jet wings clipped
On July - 22 - 2008
In the latest round of belt tightening indignities at Merrill Lynch, senior bankers won’t be able to use private jets unless they have really good reasons. The Financial Times reports that they’ll have to clear all private flight requests through the global head of investment banking and will have to be able to show that there’s no more efficient transportation available. In addition to the new private jet restrictions, bankers will have to limit their use of limos, opting for taxis instead, and their dinner allowances have been cut.
Of course, Merrill isn’t the only firm reining in expenses. At UBS, bankers can only fly business class in Europe for flights of three hours or longer, and five hours or longer in the U.S. And at Goldman, the FT tells us that if staffers are at fault for breaking their Blackberries, they have to contribute to repairs. Jeez, that’s harsh.
Some Wall Streeters are replacing their limos and town cars with 10-speeds
On June - 2 - 2008
Even well heeled Wall Streeters are feeling the pinch of high oil
prices. And that’s prompted at least some of them to find alternative ways
into work to save a few shekels, not to mention shed a few pounds. They’re
using their own motor power to ride into work — on bicycles. (We even know some who are WALKING!) David
Harris, the CEO of the CBOE Options exchange has a 50 mile round trip from his New Jersey home.
Jonathan Knee, a banker with Evercore Partners and author of "The
Accidental Investment Banker" is another who pedals to work as does Tower Research Capital’s Mark Gorton….
Tags: Banking Culture, Commuting, Credit Crunch
The perks keep getting eliminated at Goldman Sachs
On April - 28 - 2008
First there were reports that bottled water and soft drinks were no longer free to Goldman Sachs employees. Now we hear they’re twisting the screws even further to slash costs. You’re gonna have to work longer to get that freebie meal and cab ride home, at least if you’re in the UK. The Times of London reports:
A spokesman said: “When times get tough,
any prudent company more aggressively manages expenses.”In London, at the bank’s European headquarters on Fleet Street, Goldman
circulated a memo entitled Policy Changes – Evening Meals and Taxis, in which it
bemoaned the significant cost of providing free meals for staff who were still
working in the office after 9pm. Goldman has made the service unavailable before
10pm, along with the free black cabs home.
Those little perks and freebies are squeezed by credit crunch – The Times of London
No more scoring a lap dance (or anything else) at Scores in NYC if the State Liquor Authority has anything to say about it
On April - 24 - 2008
Business coming to a grinding halt: Even though many Wall Streeters aren’t supposed to be going to strip clubs any longer, at least on the company’s dime (most recently, Deutsche Bank), of course, many still find their ways to such establishments (*wink* *wink*) . So there may be more than a tear or two shed with the news that both Scores in NY City are likely to be closed down for good because their liquor licences are getting pulled (and what’s a strip club with out spirits to loosen up the libido and wallet?). It seems that at one of the two clubs — Scores West – hookers have been making themselves at home with the club owners turning a blind eye.
State Liquor Authority officials plan to
put out of business not only Scores West, but also Scores on the East Side, by
yanking the liquor licenses for the jiggle joints, officials said yesterday.
It’s a prospect that could chill the hearts of the mammary meccas’ many famous
frolicking fans – who over the years have included Lindsay Lohan, Kate Moss,
Russell Crowe, Queen Latifah and Jim Carrey.
The problem is that each club’s liquor license carries the names of the same
two club honchos, Elliot Osher and Richard Goldring. Losing the Scores West
license – which was to be physically confiscated last night – makes both Osher
and Goldring "prohibited persons" under state Alcohol Beverage
Control laws.
Tags: Banking Culture, Hookers
Deutsche Bank clamps down on expenses in military style: No adult entertainment, brothel or strip club reimbursement, and you vill learn to enjoy that airport shower and shave. Ja wohl!
On April - 21 - 2008
Wow. Times really are hard. Deutsche Bank is really turning the screws on bankers’ expenses. According to the Times of London, hookers, strippers and the like are now verboten (they’re no longer reimbursable expenses) even if they’re for bonding outings with clients. But there are even more indignities:
Second-class rail travel will be the norm
in the United States, while in Britain first-class tickets may be bought only
for journeys of more than two hours, and in Germany for trips longer than an
hour. Taxi trips during a bus or Tube strike will be repaid only with the
explicit approval of a banker’s line manager, and similar permission from on
high is required if lunch with a client is going to cost more than €65 (£52)
per person (the threshold may have to be raised a bit in London).And if this sounds a world away from the banker’s archetypal business trip of
penthouse suites and VIP lounges, it gets worse: Deutsche Bank employees
arriving on an early flight are now barred from expensive early hotel check-ins
and instead are expected to shower and shave at the airport.
Furthermore….
Tags: Banking Culture, Deutsche Bank, Hookers
Fox Business: Office pools are just plain wrong!
On January - 31 - 2008
Wall Street favorite retailer Charles Tyrwhitt going public
On January - 7 - 2008
Charles Tyrwhitt, a Wall Street staple clothing retailer (we have a closet full) — and one of our ad sponsors — is set to go public on the AIM later this year.
Founder Nick Wheeler is seeking fresh
capital to expand the company’s stores from nine to a chain of 50 across the UK
alone, having already opened two in Manhattan below the offices of Lehman
Brothers and Bear Stearns.After previous managing director Ashley
Potter, who joined from Ralph Lauren in January 2005, left the business Wheeler
took operational control a year ago. He has refocused the business on clothing
for work after attempts to diversify into womenswear and children’s clothing
left the company with unsold stock which had to be written off at a cost of
about £3m. Wheeler, who owns 95 per cent of the shares in Charles Tyrwhitt, is
expecting the business to turn over £50m this year and make a profit of £5m.
Tags: Banking Culture, Fashion, IPO
Uncategorized
Hedge fund manager too busy to retrieve his $160K Maserati from the pound; even at £25 a day in fines, it’s “not that expensive relative to the cost of parking in central London”
On August - 21 - 2007
Too much money, too little time: We just came across this and thought it was hilarious. Bertrand Des Palliers, who runs recently opened $340 million hedge fund SPQR Capital, is a busy, busy guy. Too busy and focused, it appears, to retrieve his impounded $160,000 Maserati Cambiocorsa when it was towed away from a square in Knightsbridge in May. He owes about $10K in fines against the car, and officials were said to be completely baffled as to why Des Palliers didn’t come forward to reclaim his expensive toy. He didn’t even really focus on it until the Evening Standard newspaper notified him that his car was about to be sold:
….he ignored all attempts by TfL to
contact him and let the fines increase at the rate of £25 a day until the
Evening Standard newspaper tracked him down and warned him the car was about to
be auctioned.Mr Des Pallieres, 39, who owns and runs the
£170 million SPQR fund, left Deutsche Bank with two colleagues in April to set
up his own firm, specialising in complex investments in the debt markets.He said: "The truth is I was so busy I
did not have time to deal with sorting the congestion charges, paying my road
tax and getting my car out of the pound.
Tags: Autos, Banking Culture, Derivatives, Expensive Toys, Hedge funds
Bad Boss Contest 2.0
On July - 26 - 2007
The Bad Boss Contest sponsored by Working America last year is back! Share your stories and nominate your candidate(s) for the worst boss here.
Tags: Banking Culture, Humor
Uncategorized
Vanity Fair review / CNBC interview: Confessions of a Wall Street Shoeshine Boy
On July - 17 - 2007
In early July we highlighted a Barron’s review of Doug Stumpf’s new novel, Confessions of a Wall Street Shoeshine Boy. It sounded like a fun read, and we’re happy to say, after reading it, that it didn’t disappoint. Earlier today, the author was interviewed on CNBC along with Michael Wolf of Vanity Fair. Here’s the video as well as Vanity Fair’s recent review.
Tags: Banking Culture, Books, Fashion
Uncategorized
Barron’s reviews the new novel Confessions of a Wall Street Shoeshine Boy as "complex with entertaining overtones": Wall Street wizards…money grubbing wives…insider trading…mansions….models….sex orgies…How could you go wrong?
DOUG STUMPF’S RIBALD, FAST-MOVING first
novel is light enough to toss into your beach bag. But it’s also got an
engrossing serious side. And it’s for real: The details of character and plot
are based mainly on testimony of an actual Brazilian shoe-shine boy who, with
polish and brush, breached the inner sanctum of a big Manhattan financial firm
– where he inadvertently discovered its sometimes amusing, sometimes grimy,
nooks and crannies.The jigsaw-puzzle plot — centering on
piecing together the clues to insider-trading scams at the firm — is thickened
by a Cecil B. DeMille-sized cast of characters…
Tags: Banking Culture, Books, Fashion
Uncategorized
Jefferies’ equity chief booted over Fidelity partying scandal
On February - 13 - 2007
Jefferie’s equtiy head Scott Jones didn’t retire — he got the boot according to the New York Post:
Jones’ departure was just the latest echo from Jefferies’ ill-fated attempt to win business from Fidelity by showering the money management giant’s powerful stock trading desk with $2 million in gifts and travel.
Starting in 2002, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission order, Jefferies stock sales star Kevin Quinn wooed Fidelity traders with cases of wine and lavish trips to the Caribbean. The bank even helped finance a raucous bachelor party in Miami Beach for a trader that featured dwarf-tossing and strippers.
The SEC tagged Jones – a popular, 24-year veteran of Jefferies – for his failure to supervise Quinn, levying a $50,000 fine and a three-month supervisory suspension. The firm also was fined more than $15 million, and Quinn was barred from the industry for life.
Jefferies’ ‘Party’ Boss Gets The Boot – New York Post
Tags: Banking Culture, Fidelity, Jefferies
Uncategorized
Video: Those Ruskie Bankers know how to party
On January - 7 - 2007
Forget about wannabe BSDs AJ and Richie "Bottles" and their posses. Here’s a video said to be of Russian investment bankers and their asset management clients out partying after a capital markets conference in Moscow. Lots of music, drinking, cigars, jiggling dancers with body glitter, people wearing masks, a birthday party, confetti, and the provocative line: "Would you go to bed with me?"
“Booze buses” will take care of London revelers celebrating their fat bonuses
On December - 22 - 2006
With record bonuses being celebrated, London’s financial district is all prepared for the revelers, setting up "booze buses" to take care of those who get a little too happy:
The London Ambulance Service has set up a mobile treatment center in the financial district and a “booze bus” in the West End to cope with the masses of workers celebrating record bonuses this year.
The field hospital in Finsbury Circus, the heart of the City of London, is designed to relieve pressure on ambulances and emergency rooms elsewhere, the Ambulance Service said in an e- mailed statement. It expects “substantially” more than 30,000 revelers to descend on the area….
“The Thursday and Friday before Christmas is traditionally a very busy period for us,” said paramedic Jason Killens at the treatment center. “Last Friday, emergency calls were up by 15 percent. We need to look at alternate ways of dealing with that demand.”…
Hedge-fund managers who spend too much time in the drinking haunts of Mayfair, the world’s most expensive business location, will have support from a “booze bus” patrolling the city’s West End. The vehicle can take up to five people to hospital when emergency treatment isn’t necessary en route, Bass said.
Tags: Banking Culture, Bonuses, Food/Drink, Hedge funds
Investment bankers behaving badly?: “Do they know it’s BONUS time at all?”
On December - 17 - 2006
Remember Live Aid – thehuge charity concert for Africa organized by the ultimately knighted Sir Bob Geldof — which spawned the huge hit "Do They Know It’s Christmas"? Apparently a couple of weeks ago some investment bankers from an unnamed firm, celebrating their expected mega-bonuses with a big before-the-fact lavish bash, stunned some when they changed the words to the song:
A loud cheer went up as soon as the music started: it was the opening chords of Sir Bob Geldofâs blockbuster charity hit Do They Know It’s Christmas? Then a group of their colleagues sprang into the room and started singing, only with different lyrics, about buying jets and spending cash, building to a climax at the chorus: "Do they know it’s BONUS time at all?" A few at the back hestitated: was it bad form to think this song, now synonymous with Third World poverty and debt, was inappropriate at such an ostentatious gathering? But by then, the masters of the universe were on their feet, cheering and singing along loudly.
So which bank was it? Enquiring minds wanna know.
Christmas song hits wrong note – The Times Of London
Tags: Banking Culture, Bonuses, investment banking
