Shock and Anger From Lehman’s EmployeesSeptember 15, 2008, 10:21 am
From DealBook colleagues Louise Story in New York and Julia Werdigier in London:
After packing up their desks, many Lehman Brothers employees stopped by two bars near their Times Square office Sunday night. They could be spotted at The Palm restaurant and Playwright Tavern, many exclaiming: “$29!!”
It was just hours after it had been reported that Bank of America would purchase Merrill Lynch for $50 billion, or $29 a share. Employees expressed dismay that Bank of America chose to buy Merrill at a hefty premium, rather than purchasing Lehman at a firesale price.
Work had been business as usual for many of them until Friday afternoon, they said, when they assumed someone would buy Lehman over the weekend. Several said it did not occur to them that there would be no interested buyer.
“This was the place to work four years ago when I came out of school,” said an employee who works in trading at Lehman but asked not to be identified. “How could it go from THE place to work to this?”
The outlook for Lehman employees makes what happened to the people who worked at Bear Stearns look good. When JPMorgan Chase acquired Bear Stearns, they offered jobs to many of its employees and provided severance to those who were let go. ......(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/shock-and-anger-from-lehmans-employees/
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