Mr Wasserstein has died at the age of 61. Read more about him below:
From the FT: Read more
A credibility problem for Goldman Sachs
My FT column this week is on Goldman Sachs, and identifies what I think is the biggest problem facing the investment bank, which announces its results today. Next week, I intend to offer some solutions, both for regulators and for the bank itself. Read more
A blow against the kereitsu in Silicon Valley
The news that Arthur Levinson, the former chief executive of Genentech, has resigned from Google’s board of directors to eliminate the overlap between directors of Apple and Google, will cause some tremors in Silicon Valley, I would have thought.
Google tried to resist pressure from the Federal Trade Commission, which opened an anti-trust investigation into ties between the two companies earlier this year. It has now backed down, with the other overlapping director, Eric Schmidt of Google, having resigned from Apple’s board in August. Read more
John Thain’s suggestion for restoring partnerships
John Thain, the former chief executive of Merrill Lynch, who appears to be running a low-key campaign for the rehabilitation of his reputation, has an interesting suggestion for how to reform bankers’ pay.
Mr Thain made it during a long presentation to MBA students at the Wharton School last month, which can be seen and read here. Read more
Does Phibro change if Occidental owns it?
The sale of Citigroup’s Phibro inhouse energy trading unit to Occidental raises again the question of reform of over-the-counter derivatives trading.
Followers of this arcane but vital topic may recall a column I wrote last week advising regulators and politicians not to treat financial and non-financial companies differently in upcoming reforms of OTC derivatives trading. Industrial companies have been lobbying heavily for an exemption and are having some success. Read more
France and Germany suffer an Anglo-American fate
The surprise for me in the World Economic Forum’s report on global financial centres, presented by Nouriel Roubini at a media briefing in Manhattan this morning, was how badly France and Germany have suffered from the financial crisis.
The report, which ranks countries according to measures such as financial stability and the sophistication of their financial services, unsurprisingly found that New York and London’s lead had narrowed over financial centres in other countries. The US had dropped to third place, behind not only the UK but Australia. Read more
The death of the media mogul
My column this week is on the late founder of Bertelsmann: Read more
Eric Schmidt believes Microsoft has an “evil room”
I went to an interesting media briefing in New York this morning given by Eric Schmidt and Sergey Brin, the chief executive and the co-founder of Google.
They covered various topics, including signs of economic recovery in Google’s business and its tussles over the US class action settlement that would allow Google to digitise many “orphan” books that are no longer in print. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
John Gapper is an associate editor and the chief business commentator of the FT.
He has worked for the FT since 1987, covering labour relations, banking and the media. He is co-author, with Nicholas Denton, of 'All That Glitters', an account of the collapse of Barings in 1995.
Andrew Hill is an associate editor and the management editor of the FT. He is a former City editor, financial editor, comment and analysis editor, New York bureau chief, foreign news editor and correspondent in Brussels and Milan.
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