Going home last night, I took a different subway to my normal route (in the event that you care: I normally take the B/D from 7th Ave - yesterday I took the 1 at 50th). While walking down 7th, the way I had walked countless times before, I saw something which stopped me dead in my tracks. Yes, the picture above… Now, I read the newspapers, so I know that Lehman filed for bankruptcy and that Barclays has bought some of the company - but I wasn’t prepared to see the Barclay’s signage appear on those bright screens so quickly.
Looking back at their annual report, published about 6 months ago is interesting, sad and ironic all at the same time. See the quote from the latest Lehman Annual Report, published on Feb 15, 2008:
“We thank our people for their hard work and commitment to our client-focused strategy, our culture of teamwork, and our ownership mindset. We greatly appreciate the continued support of our clients and shareholders. We have never had a more diversified set of businesses or a stronger base of talent. As we enter 2008, we are proud of how far we have come and excited about the opportunities ahead.”
The events of the last 2 weeks are a real reminder of how fragile the strucutres of our society can be. Who would have thought: Lehman, a bank which weathered the Great Depression going broke over a weekend… from the annual report, its clear that management genuinely didn’t think that.
So, I hope you enjoyed the photo (sharing the photo with you all was the main point of this post…) and if you did work for Lehman or Bear, or the many other, lower profile firms which have laid off many employees, we wish you the best in your job hunt, or any new ventures you may be embarking on. Remember, there is an expansion after every recession, make sure you are positioned to benefit from the next boom.
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