Free Republic

U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Saturday that he is working with U.S. authorities to get billions of dollars returned to Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s London operations from the firm's U.S. business. Responding to questions at the start of his Labour Party's conference, Mr. Brown said he wanted to make sure the money was returned in the interest of the investment bank's U.K. employees. The transfer of $8 billion has become a target of inquiry by Lehman clients as well as PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, which is overseeing the insolvency proceedings of Lehman units in London. Within the past several days, PricewaterhouseCoopers...

Fury at $2.5bn Lehman bonus Nomura and Barclays table bids today for US giant’s London operation as bank’s administrator likens collapse to Enron John Waples and Danny Fortson STAFF at Lehman’s New York office who helped to cause the world’s biggest corporate bankruptcy are to share in a $2.5 billion bonanza. The bonus, which has been described by London staff as a “scandal” has been pledged by Barclays Capital, the British-based bank that last week acquired Lehman’s American operation and took on 10,000 staff. The $2.5 billion (£1.4 billion) pot, which has been ring-fenced as part of the acquisition, has...

A U.S. bankruptcy judge approved a revised version of Barclays' deal to purchase the core U.S. business of Lehman Brothers. In a Manhattan court hearing that started on Friday and lasted past midnight, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Peck approved the sale, saying he had found no better alternative for the assets Lehman sought to sell. "This week more than any other week since I was appointed to the bench I have felt the awesome power of this job," Peck told a packed Manhattan court room, at the end of a nearly seven-hour hearing

How much will he make this year? Question/Comment: Last year Lehman Brothers' CEO Richard Fuld, Jr. made $71 million. Today his company collapsed. How much will he make this year? Paul Solman: I don't know about this year. You've covered last. In 2006, according to Forbes.com, he was the 5th highest-paid CEO in America: "Total Compensation $122.67 mil; 5-Year Compensation Total $375.81 mil."

Lehman Brothers has agreed to sell its North American investment banking and capital markets businesses for $1.75bn to UK lender Barclays, which will use the acquisition to boost its US investment banking prowess without having to assume Lehman’s crippling liabilities.

I have written here before that government interference in the economy delays the inexorable forces of economic laws, which in turn magnifies the corrections that must inevitably take place. More government regulation was not going to save Lehman Brothers from bankruptcy. It may have delayed bankruptcy, but reality would still triumph in the end to produce an even greater disaster. A government doing everything it can to forestall and conceal the most catastrophic pending collapse in economic history should not be trusted with anyone’s assets. The failure of Social Security will make Lehman Brothers look like chump change. Lehman did...

Wall Street's grim news has plenty of people worried about their pocketbooks. Lawmakers are among them, not only concerned with how to boost the economy but with their own personal finances tied to companies that are struggling. The richest members of Congress seem to be the most invested in the companies at the center of the Wall Street shake-up. According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, nine lawmakers have between $785,900 and $1.8 million of their own money invested in Merrill Lynch, the brokerage firm that agreed over the weekend to sell itself to Bank of America for $50...

Billionaire George Soros's hedge fund may have lost at least $120 million on its stake in Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., mostly acquired in the second quarter, as the investment bank suffered its worst financial result. Maybe he wants his money back from Obama, maybe thats why Bambi needs donation. Couldnt happen to a nicer guy......

Throughout the campaign season Obama has attacked Wall Street’s financial sector and run a campaign based largely upon his “good judgment”. The problem with Obama’s rhetoric rests in the fact that tucked away in his database of 2.5 million donors is the approximately 180,000 power brokers that have funded nearly 60% of his campaign. Included in this list are the more than 594 campaign bundlers including 15 lobbyist bundlers who have accounted for over $140 million in contributions. Included in this list are just 36 bundlers accounting for over $18 million dollars, with two bundlers raising over $1 million, and...

LONDON (Reuters) - The bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers (LEH.N) is another blow for the hedge fund industry, though the writing has been on the wall long enough for many to have reduced their exposure to the U.S. investment bank. Legendary fund manager George Soros, who runs around $18 billion in assets, looks likely to have had his fingers burned after raising his stake in Lehman to 9.5 million shares in the second quarter. A spokesman for Soros Fund Management declined to comment on the composition of their portfolio. British activist hedge fund Algebris will also probably have taken a...

We literally feel our readers' pain for today's 504 point drop in the DJIA because of Lehman Brothers' impending collapse on the stock market, because it impacts our own investments. However, we will shed no tears for Lehman Brothers itself, and we are not particularly surprised that it is going south. Furthermore, even if Lehman Brothers disappears tomorrow, it will in no way affect the United States' remaining ability to create genuine wealth. Henry Ford told us long ago that there are exactly three ways to create wealth: mine it, grow it, or make it, but Lehman Brothers apparently had...

BREAKING NEWS Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc says filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy; says no subsidiaries will be included in filing 12:34am EDT

Three of the biggest names on Wall Street - Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and AIG - poised to buckle under the seismatic credit crunch pressure. The global financial system faced its biggest test in at least half a century this morning after some of the world’s leading firms took drastic emergency action in America in the face of a worsening international economic crisis. Lehman Brothers, one of the world’s biggest investment banks, was on the verge of collapse after a weekend of talks to find a willing buyer ended without success. Hank Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary, led the efforts...

ON THE BRINK... BARCLAYS Abandons Talks... Feds Balk at putting up taxpayer money...

Unable to find a savior, the troubled investment bank Lehman Brothers appeared headed toward liquidation on Sunday, in what would be one of the biggest failures in Wall Street history.

The fate of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s darkened early Sunday afternoon with Barclays PLC, the sole remaining bidder for the 158-year-old Wall Street firm, telling federal regulators that it is walking away from a transaction, people familiar with the matter say. The situation was rapidly evolving, and it's possible Barclays or another bidder would emerge to save Lehman before markets opened Monday. But with the government balking at putting any taxpayer money at risk for Lehman, the likelihood of a transaction was dimming. That would leave an orderly liquidation as the most likely scenario, a dramatic outcome for a once-powerful...

** EXCERPT ** In May, David Einhorn, one of the most vocal short-sellers on Wall Street, made no secret he was betting against Lehman Brothers. Now, some investors are afraid that fund managers like him will take advantage of the climate of fear stirred up by the troubles of Lehman to target other weak financial firms whose declining share price would bring them rich rewards. At emergency meetings over the weekend, the heads of major financial institutions urged Timothy R. Geitner, the president of the New York Fed, and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., to consider having the Securities...

...Moreover, the hypocrisy of these politicians is beyond belief as most Americans fail to recognize that even as their elected officials demonize these executives, they are accepting millions of dollars from them in the form of campaign contributions. For instance, it is no secret that Senator Dodd who chairs the the powerful Senate Banking Committee has accepted millions in the past years from financial institutions. In his Presidential campaign more than a 1/3 (over $5.5 million) of the contributions Dodd received came from Finance and Banking related industries. Since 2003, Dodd has received more than $9.5 million in contributions from...

Big fund firms among top holders in sinking stocks By Svea Herbst-Bayliss Wed Sep 10, 5:19 PM ET Some of America's biggest and best-known mutual fund companies likely suffered heavy losses multiple times this week because they had large holdings in the market's worst performing stocks. AllianceBernstein Holding LP (AB.N), which invests $675 billion, may have been the biggest casualty. It ranked as the top shareholder in ailing investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (LEH.N), where it owned 65.6 million shares, and crippled mortgage company Fannie Mae (FNM.N), where it owned 134.2 million shares, at the end of June. At...

U.S. Government to Arrange Sale of Lehman Brothers By David Cho and Heather Landy Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, September 11, 2008; 5:30 PM The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve are engineering a sale of Lehman Brothers through a consortium of private firms. The details are not finalized, but sources familiar with the matter say the purchase is expected to be completed and announced this weekend before Asian markets open Monday morning. Lehman Brothers, which had been anxious to show it could weather the credit crisis that contributed to the firm's $3.9 billion third-quarter loss, said Wednesday that it...