Barclay's To Buy Lehman

So let me get this straight. The fourth largest investment bank goes bankrupt on Monday and there's $2.5 billion in bonuses to be paid out? That's another pat on the back at the Lehman's 2008 Christmas party. Or is it Barclay's party, with eight New York directors of Lehman getting 2-year $10 to $25 million contracts. Here's a picture of Lehman employees carrying out their stuff from their London office, courtesy of the Daily Mail.

Barclay's will also pay out the bonuses to 10,000 former employees in New York, after they finish acquiring all of Lehman's North American division. I would be a pissed off British Lehman Bro to hear that kind of news. I'd dump tea in our ports.

I've had my eye on BNP Paribas the past week, after hearing they had set up a crisis management team, bringing in some financial guys from France, including Cyril Meilland, the previous sell-side analyst for French and Benelux banks at Lehman Brothers in London. BNP Paribas is already owed $250 from Lehman and is tightening their financial management as recommended.

Both BNP Paribas and Barclay's were also eyeing $500 million [which] makes its Indian investment banking and brokerage business "a sort of a jewel".

A sort of jewel that is has the attention of Standard Chartered Plc, Barclay's, and Nomura, according to Bloomberg.com.

Here's a picture of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Crazy week, stay tuned.

Scott Coulter

I don't know the name of this painting, but it was done by Scott Coulter, whom I found this weekend at the Rittenhouse Square Art Festival in Philadelphia. It was my first perfect Saturday afternoon in Phili and I came wearing my David Ortiz t-shirt to let everyone know where I'm from, which is weird because I have t-shirts done by Pixipeople right in my non-existant bureau. This was totally out of the blue though, when I found myself wondering through this art festival surrounding the city park. This picture was definitely my favorite as it was also one of the largest paintings glowing off the street. 'Awesome' was my first reaction. With close to 300 artists at this event, I went straight to Scott and asked for his card.

Check out this one.

CampusLive

BusinessWeek released their top 25 entrepreneurs of 2008 list.

Not an easy claim to fame as most start-up companies rarely see past their second year without falling into bankruptcy.

This company prides itself as "the Ultimate Homepage for College Students," giving students, teachers, and the community a user-friendly resource for what's happening on campus and in the neighborhood.

Recent improvements include a local businesses listing, which I find very useful if you need to, let's say...get the girlfriend some flowers and...where's that flower shop again? Oh yes, it's on my homepage. The idea of synchronizing a web page with the local area that surrounds you has not been fully utilized to the extent that CampusLIVE has reached out to students of Amherst.

So, while the school year was drawing near, and I had no actual business-related experience under my belt, I applied to about 10 internships that would help me start my career. After a couple interviews with some financial services companies, I found myself in the office of CampusLIVE, talking to these young, self motivated entrepreneurs. And thus begins my business career.

So let's think big. Opportunities are a way to jump aboard a team to really see something big and genuine. There does not have to be corporate bureaucratic crap that holds you down and controls you 1984 style. The world is all for ideas, and resources have never become easier to access. It's interesting that schools force hours of reading and studying upon its students when we truly, as individuals, have all of the tools available to us, for free (American citizenship required). Once you learn how to manage your own assets, then you can watch assets grow and make way for some compound interest.

Businessweek is letting the public do the rankings. Vote for CampusLive now.

World Economy

Stepping out of the box and diagnosing the global financial situation. Ah, nothing like fresh coffee in the morning.

John Lipsky, First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF spoke of the world economy and the financial crisis. Read more.

It appears that people across the world are being affected by the financial distress of the United States. Emerging economies in Southeast Asis including "the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan PoC, Singapore, Hong Kong SAR, and-to a lesser extent, India," have all fallen due to weak demand from global markets, especially in the manufacturing sector. Combined with a huge increase in headline inflation, this comes at an interesting time when so many emerging nations are trying to increase exports and GDP, capture foreign security through global investors, and lower their cost of living.

Freedom and the Internet

This is my Senior year of college and while I start focusing on the horizon ahead, I look myself in the mirror and ask myself, "Where do I want to go?" I am at the fulcrum point in life where I get to choose basically everything that enters my mind. Freedom is a scary thing.

So here goes.

The Internet. A friend told me to buy a personal web domain name while they're cheap. Another friend told me to get GMail. I went into a Dick's Sporting Goods to apply for a job and they told me to go home (and apply on-line).

Like many of you out there, I turned away from the internet and thought that with the dot-com bubble, where 17 dot-com companies paid over 2 million dollars for Super Bowl XXXIV TV spots, the market was jam packed with venture capitalists and hardcore tech nerds who spend half of their day on the computer (with all due respect). Why waste my day learning C++ programming when I can be playing four square all day?

But the dot-com world prevailed and as I type into my laptop, like millions of others, I realize that this shit aint goin away! I guess the nerds are laughing now that computer software engineers are one of the hottest jobs in the world. And while they didn't stress this in grade school, globalization is not just a technological phenomenon but a new way to do business.

As this blog progresses, I will talk my insight on as many random topics as I can think of. Enjoy!