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Looking ever-so-stylish, Victoria Beckham was spotted out with her sons as the group paid a visit to the Westside Pavillion Mall in Los Angeles on Saturday (October 4).
The happy family ended up following Tom and Suri Cruise’s lead, as they headed straight toward the Build-A-Bear workshop - with all three Beckham boys leaving with new stuffed friends.
The WSJ wraps up its three-part series on the Bear Stearns Wall Street clusterfuck today, and it is a masterpiece of financial journalism that's a lock for a Pulitzer. Uh, not that we care. In the final installment, various cutthroat maneuvers lead to JP Morgan's bitter $2-per-share salvation of the troubled Bear. And it's clear that enemies of JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon (such as: formerly wealthy people who work at Bear Stearns!) were very forthcoming sources on this story, because two of the best anecdotes in the piece do nothing but make him look like a snippy asshole:
On a conference call after the buyout agreement is reached:
Messrs. Geithner and Dimon led off with some brief remarks, noting that J.P. Morgan would be guaranteeing Bear Stearns's debts and that if the pact hadn't come together, the market impact may have been catastrophic. During the question-and-answer session, Citigroup Inc.'s new CEO, Vikram Pandit, spoke up.Mr. Pandit — who did not initially identify himself — asked a shrewd but technical question: How would the deal affect the risk to Bear Stearns's trading partners on certain long-term contracts?
The query irked Mr. Dimon. "Who is this?" he snapped. Mr. Pandit identified himself as "Vikram." Offended that Mr. Pandit was taking up time with what he considered granular inquiries, Mr. Dimon shot back, "Stop being such a jerk." He added that Citigroup "should thank us" for staving off further mayhem on Wall Street.
Dimon rallies his new employees:
Standing on the dais with two senior lieutenants, Mr. Dimon tried to strike a conciliatory tone.Bear Stearns's "shotgun marriage" to J.P. Morgan "is not the sort of thing we set out to do," he told the audience. Noting the pain for Bear Stearns managers facing the prospect of unemployment and big losses on their Bear Stearns stock, he added: "We can't begin to imagine how difficult this is."
In the tense question-and-answer session that followed, Ed Moldaver, a stocky, 40-year-old broker, stood up.
"This isn't a shotgun marriage," he said. "This is more like a rape."
As some in the room shook their heads and muttered uncomfortably, Mr. Dimon stared stonily at the crowd.
[WSJ]
The Wall Street Journal is in the midst of a trillion-word ongoing series chronicling the downfall of Wall Street firm Bear Stearns earlier this year. Today's installment looks at the rapid compounding of the firm's financial problems, which builds inexorably into a crisis. That's nice and everything, but the really interesting part comes when the story reveals what threw a wrench into the multibillion-dollar firm's effort to save its public reputation: Eliot Spitzer and his stupid hooker! Not to mention their old card-playing stoner chairman of the board:
Bear Stearns executives believed another public statement was needed. Arrangements were made for Mr. Schwartz to appear from Florida on business network CNBC.
Minutes after 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Mr. Schwartz told the cable-TV audience, "Some people could speculate that Bear Stearns might have some problems...since we're a significant player in the mortgage business. None of those speculations are true."But before he could get through his talking points — which included mentioning the firm's strong cash reserves and indicating to investors that Bear Stearns would have a profitable first quarter — Mr. Schwartz was interrupted by breaking news from New York: Gov. Eliot Spitzer, having been linked to patronizing prostitutes, was resigning. Mr. Schwartz was dismayed, but got a chance to make his points after the news break.
Later, as the crisis is reaching a breaking point, Bear convenes an emergency board meeting. But hey, former weed-smoking CEO James "Jimmy" Cayne had better things to do:
Mr. Schwartz arranged an emergency board meeting to brief directors that Thursday night. It was late, so most phoned in. James Cayne, who'd remained as chairman after stepping down as CEO Jan. 8, missed part of the discussion because he was playing in a bridge tournament at a Detroit hotel.
Bear Stearns might lay off 10,000 employees as it's subsumed by JP Morgan. But it's the Wall Street kind of layoff, where you get nine months pay and one-third of last year's bonus. Why the hell are we bloggers again? [Dealbreaker]
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"Mad Money" host and bug-eyed madman Jim Cramer went on CNBC today to clarify his statements from last week about Bear Stearns, when he urged people not to move their money out of the firm. As we pointed out earlier in his defense, he was not referring to the company's stock, and his advice was actually perfectly sound. "Do you know what would happen on this show if I came out and said I want everyone to take their money out of X bank?" he ranted today. "Jim Cramer causes a run on X bank!" As it turns out, the run on the bank happened anyways. This video, originally posted on YouTube, features Cramer's defense today along with some, ahem, editorial comments against him; we have to say we still agree with him in this particular case. Although we would never take his stock tips. Click to watch the clip.
An editorial comment from an unknown Bear Stearns employee on the venerable securities firm's $2/share buyout by JPMorgan. [Dealbreaker]
Filed under: Wacky and Weird
TMZ.com: The gargantuan Gummi Bear told TMZ he got the petite filet at Mastro's last night. We're just not sure how many he meant!Photogs caught the ursine delight leaving the Beverly Hills steakery, putting his ick-inducing chest on display as he sang the... Read more
Filed under: Train Wrecks, Wacky and Weird
TMZ.com: How about some grooming tips from the Gummi Bear?! Yay! Dressed in an ever-so-classy ensemble of track pants, blazer and rubber sandals -- Gum hit up the chic Mr. Chow in Beverly Hills. Sum Yum Gai for Gummi? Unfortunately, bears have difficulty... Read more
Filed under: Train Wrecks, Wacky and Weird
TMZ.com: The Gummi Bear astounded naturalists in Maui by giving itself a breast exam. The intelligence of the Gummi should not be underestimated, or overestimated, for that matter. This is the first instance of a Gummi carrying a canvas purse, using peroxide,... Read more
Filed under: Paparazzi Video, Holidaze, Critters
TMZ.com: O Come See the GummiBlubber makes him buoyantO Come ye, O Come ye to Hawai'iCome and behold BearBorn a floating Oil Heir O come, let us abhor him,O come, let us abhor him,O come, let us abhor him,Gummi the Bored. See Also Get in Shape with... Read more
"Don't y'all listen to that crazy Wall Street Journal," Bear Stearns CEO Jimmy Cayne is running around saying all day. Actually: "Don't be distracted by the noise," is what he said. Then he said the paper was full of lies, which is unlikely! Bear Stearns shares were down 4% over the course of the day, after the WSJ ran a monster story saying, among other things, that Cayne was MIA for ten days this summer—without so much as a cellphone—while two of the company's funds were collapsing. Last year, Cayne took home $34 million, and also he smokes a lot of pot for a 73-year-old, which is really excellent. We bet it is some good stuff too. He is sort of our hero, particularly as we're not shareholders!
Bear CEO's Handling Of Crisis Raises Issues [WSJ]
Filed under: Wacky and Weird, Style Insider
TMZ.com: Monday's Heatherette fashion show brought out Hollywood's biggest stars -- if you're measuring by waist and cup size!TMZ caught a crusty-mouthed, nose stained Gummi Bear -- multi-tasking by unsuccessfully attempting to string words into a coherent... Read more
Filed under: Train Wrecks, Wacky and Weird
TMZ.com: No casualties were reported outside Hollywood hotspot Opera last night, as the plus-sized zombie known as Gummi Bear lethargically waited (and waited and waited) to get into an Us Weekly event. The funk of 40,000 years!With his mouth open and wearing... Read more
Filed under: Wacky and Weird
TMZ.com: Jason "Gummi Bear" Davis -- looking a leaner than usual, was getting his free goodies (what, no honey?!) at a gifting party at the Luxe Hotel in Beverly Hills, when he made time to offer Britney Spears some advice on drugs. Oh, jeez. The noble... Read more
Filed under: Train Wrecks, Paparazzi Video, Wacky and Weird
TMZ.com: Gummi was outside of sushi house Koi last night -- you know bears love fish! -- and the wiggling blowhard was on a bear of a tear. Gummi says, "People like me because ... I have credits." Anywhere else, this might be considered absurd drivel, but in... Read more