Lehman brothers, fourth-largest investment bank in the US, is in jeopardy!

[mlpcmd]

They will have to find a buyer before market opening on September 15 or !!!

As emergency weekend talks on Lehman's woes were being held in New York, a London source at Barclays, who requested anonymity, said it walked away from negotiations because of concerns it would have to guarantee the 158-year-old US firm's trading commitments.

The news came as US Treasury and Federal Reserve officials scrambled to avert a liquidation of Lehman Brothers which some say could send shockwaves through the global financial system.

"The Fed and the Treasury are trying to get a deal done before the markets open on Monday. It now appears that this original effort to merge Lehman with one party has failed."

Who'd have guessed that a couple of years ago?

 

[quest]

lehman

Lehman will be filing for bancruptcy. Bank of America will buy Merrill Lynch. Only the strong will survive.

 

[future canadian]

Washington Mutual will be gone by the end of the year ...

 

[NJDude]

I bought Lehman shares friday afternoon just 3 minutes before the market closed hoping they would get rescued like Bear Sterns. Damn.

 

[mlpcmd]

I bought their shares on friday afternoon just 3 minutes before the market closed hoping they would get rescued like Bear Sterns. Damn.

Sorry to hear that! The major difference between Bear Sterns and Lehman Brothers situation is that the US government helped in saving Bear Sterns and they are not willing to put more money in other risk takers. "The government wasn’t going to rescue risk-takers."

Hope a last minute deal will be reached, even though it seems very unlikely.

 

[mlpcmd]

Merrill Sells to Bank of America; Who’s Next?
Lehman itself is expected to file for bankruptcy before market open on Monday morning, after Feds made it clear they wouldn’t step in and other potential buyers of the troubled investment bank backed away.

The sale of Merrill and demise of Lehman would reduce the number of independent firms on Wall Street to two - Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley - from five at the beginning of the year. Bear Stearns collapsed in March and was sold at a token price to JPMorgan.