Theatre ends, Pls applaud! 演出谢幕，请鼓掌！

2008年9月15日，必将成为世界金融史上无法忘却的一天。今天的意义，绝不亚于7年前的“911”事件。如我一贯作风，不在博客上写金融内容，我不会go through Lehman’s financial statements to show how it finally ends up on Ch11，而只想以一个亲历者的身份记录这个金融历史上的“911”事件。毕竟，作为如果说7年前我们依然是懵懂无知的少年，25岁的我们可以亲历这一历史性的时刻，情感是难以言表的。

 

9月13日，周六，巴克雷以及多方退出收购谈判的消息已然充斥着我的bberry。

 

9月14日，周日，bberry从早上开始，led红灯就一直没有停止闪过，从fed拒绝援救lehman，到传言Lehman准备sign Ch11（美国破产条案），再到传言美洲银行500亿美元收购美林，再到消息确认。晚上8点公司紧急的conf call，大大老要求所有员工明早7点必须全员到公司，unwind所有Lehman的positions。

 

15日，从早上7点一直到现在，我的情绪是难以言表的。

 

早上，所有和Lehman的trades全部unwind，这个不同于几个月之前的Bear Stearns，这不是简单的transfer the trades to JPM, but unwind and end them。

 

其实positions并不多，雷曼本来也不是我们的主要broker。但接着，如同我们的positions，Lehman的同事们不是transfer to some other banks，而是whole company, all positions disappearing。

 

整个一天，一半的时间花在了电话上和我们Lehman那边的同事道别。从Lehman方面各大desks的道别邮件、电话不断涌来，很多言辞激动。。。不光是同事，很多我的朋友也是身在Lehman，面临严峻的现实。

 

上周还是各大ML的desks，今天俨然已经还成了BoA/ML某某desks。

 

下午2点30美国开盘，随着雷曼股票从年初的66美元跌倒18美分，虽然都不关我们的事情，但是整个trading floor上气氛沉重，大家明白，今天是金融史一个时代era的结束，美国5大券商(brokers)如今仅存其二。

 

 

 

158年历史，

 

经历了1890年美国铁路危机，1930年美国大萧条，1999网络泡沫，依然挺立，

 

曾经mkt cap超过500亿美元，

 

华尔街第四大券商，

 

伴随着华尔街第二大券商美林，雷曼离开了，世界金融的美梦如同2000年的计算机、网络泡沫一般，从今划上一个段落。如同上次一样，这个网络了世界上最聪明大脑的行业，险些断送在自己制造的愚蠢的错误之中。

 

 

我不想说我很“幸运”（lucky）的“见证”（witness）了这一切，因为我一点都不因为自己不身在雷曼而感到一丝的relief，这是一场亲历的悲情的历史，这是目睹金融史上的“双子星大楼”轰然坍塌的一幕。如果你还记得“911”事件中那些葬身瓦砾的人们，今天你的心情似乎不该仅仅是激动（excited）和猎奇（curious）！！

 

今天是悲哀的，悲哀的是看着我们的那些努力工作的同事们拿着自己的东西走出他们的办公楼时，令人厌恶的记者们和猎奇者们的闪光灯和指指点点；今天是悲哀的，当雷曼的消息今天出现在无数的报纸、杂志的封面，出现在无数感到excited而又无知的人们的博客上，更出现在那些自以为“幸运”的身在其他某投行的闲聊中，更出现在有些幸灾乐祸的SB的言论中，而所有这些人没有一些悲悯情怀的时候，无知的人们，you will be the next to feel the pain!下一个疼得就是你！

 

我不知道那些人的激动和好奇来自哪里，当我面对2万7千走出雷曼大楼的员工和即将走出美林的20％的员工，和那些40％已经离开的Bear Stearns的员工，他们中有很多人都是我所知的精英；当我想到那些我的几年前带着金融梦想进入这个专业的学弟学妹，job hunting在1年之内几乎是mission impossible。。。。

 

客观上无血色的讲，这是一个cycle的终结；主观上讲，这是一场金融盛宴的落幕。

 

演出结束，出于一位文明人的礼节，请鼓掌！

 

 

我选取一些雷曼的同事在这个150年历史的公司的最后一刻的言语，this is definitely the time to be historic:

 

1. sent to my bloomie by one of Lehman’s US traders, names adjusted…..

 

Sent on 9/15 16:02:38

 

I CAN’T BELIEVE IT MIGHT BE OVER…

 

Well, I never thought it would come to this.  I do not think that I would have ever left Lehman Brothers and certainly never thought that the 27,000 of us could be worth $0.00.  The last 48 hours at Lehman have been unforgettable: anger, tears, hugs, laughs, and every other emotion you can imagine.  Our trading desk was just about fully staffed last night and no one wanted to leave.  I have always tried to be opinionated and give our clients an honest view into what I was thinking about the markets each day.  This is the one day that I am hesistant to do that because I am concerned that I won’t be able to accurately summarize my thoughts (and I feel as if I could write a book about it and I’m sure that someone eventually will).  Moreover, this is very emotional at Lehman and all over the street, the last thing I would ever want to do is offend someone.  Our employees, creditors and shareholders are in major emotional and financial pain.  However, I think you probably want to know what I am thinking one last time so here goes…. 

I remember so vividly being at UPENN making fun of my buddies in the Wharton School of Business because they wanted to be "Wall St d-bags."  At the end of my senior year at UPENN we would go to career services and drop our resumes into the bin of the jobs that we were interested in.  Since I was under the delusion that I was going to play in the NFL, I blindy dropped my resume in every single bin "as a backup plan".  Lehman was the only Wall St firm to interview me and it was probably only because 2 of my old teamates did the resume screening.  I had no idea what a "trader" was, but B D and J B seemed to think I’d be good at it so that was good enough for me.  It was my first and only job interview and I had never even heard of Lehman.  Now, its the only place I have ever worked. 

I distinctly remember showing up the first day in 2001 and standing in line to get my ID in front of a tall skinny basketball player from UNC named J E (he is still tall).   Based on the funny looks, I think everyone thought I was part of some charity program but I couldn’t blame them. I had just had  3 surgeries after graduation (most people travel, but not me..) so I was limping, had my arm in a sling, and could barely speak.   Everyone told me that rotations were a no-brainer and to choose fixed income trading because Lehman wasn’t just #1, they dominated.  However, there was something about M J’s and D P’s team; I knew I wanted to be in equities.  It feels like yesterday that I was sitting behind J S, Tools, P S and J G in a folding chairs.  I have in my notes from 2001 (coming out of the tech bubble) that E J (the most trustworthy and honest boss on Wall St) told me that banks were safe havens for bad times and not really that volatile to trade.  My gut about trading cash equities was right.  Those guys and many others will be friends for life regardless of our occupation or employer.  What’s even more ironic is that some of my best friends and old roomates are actually in fixed income.  I guarantee no firm’s credit and equity franchises cheered for each other more. 

However, nothing was ever easy.  Lehman teaches you to have a pitbull- like underdog mentality.   I think it was exactly 5 days before my first day out of the training program and onto a brand new trading floor at the World Financial Center that 9/11 happened.  What a welcome to my NYC experience!  We were literally asked to be security guards in Jersey City for the next 3 months while Lehman was fighting for its life before I got my first job working for M B, trading REITS.   Believe me when I tell you matriculating into the culture at Lehman is something that scores of analysts earn each year.  Its not given and its not easy.  

The last 7 years have flown by.  I have made so many life long friends and mentors that I won’t even try to list them.  The crazy part about Lehman is that we all knew we loved this place, we just didn’t realize how much until last night.  We have 7 sector heads in cash trading.  All 7 of us started at Lehman right out of college and have never worked anywhere else.   The sales traders story is even more impressive.  They have been together since I was trying to figure out exactly how the female anatomy was set up in 7th grade.  In addition to teaching us the business and selflessly introducing us to their clients, they would take us (as clueless 23 yr olds) to learn how to play golf on the weekends. 

Somtimes we would get frustrated because we felt that more was asked of us than would have been at our competitors.  However, no one ever left because as we kept getting closer to one another we were getting better at what we did, year after year.  Some said you couldn’t run big, profitable books while at the same time keeping the client as your 100% main priority, but that’s exactly what we were trained to do, and we did. 

The culture of Lehman is what will stay with me always. We were all part of a team; we respected one another, had each other’s ‘back’, and everyone wanted to be the best so we pushed each other without even realizing it.   We were so competative with each other honestly it caused conflict from time to time but we all understoof thats why we were so good.            

Honestly, Its hard to swallow that the best equity and credit franchises anywhere in the world could  get taken down because of a few peoples’ mistakes that we have no interaction with.  Its also bothersome the media seems to ignore their impact.  However, its not my style to look backwards or point fingers.  Not now.  Not ever.  Those that made the mistakes certainly didnt mean for this to happen.  In fact, I bet even those that were vocally short Lehman Brothers didn’t want it to end like this.  There are so many families in emotional and financial pain.  So many jobs that will be lost.  So many hard earned dollars now worth $0.  However, I am such a believer in the talent I see around me that I think our people will have many options.  I don’t know if we can find this kind of comraderie anywhere else, but our goal should be to try to re-create it. Talent and hard work can go only so far; true relationships and a team atmosphere have the ability make special things happen.  No one I work with ever quit or gave less than 110% even though there wasn’t a lot of sleep the last few months.  Was I the only loser that would check my blackberry at 2am on the way for the "late night pee" to see if the fate of our company had been announced? 

A huge thank you goes out to all of the customers/clients of Lehman.  None of us indivdually would have been able to accomplish anything that we have done without you.  Frankly, you made us.   Anyone who thinks this business is about numbers doesn’t get it.  Finance and Wall St is about people and it is about relationships.   Thank you so much.  

I am not sure where I go from here.  I can tell you I am totally floored, flattered, humbled and grateful for the outpooring of support I have gotten from co-workers, clients and competitors.  I see now that you really find out who your friends are during tough times and I am really blessed to have so many good ones.  Please do not feel badly for us.  We are all very lucky to have had the experience to work at Lehman because we will always know how to win.  The scoreboard is wrong, we didn’t lose.  We all have found life long friends and we will continue to lean on one other, keep our priorities in perspective, and remember what’s important in life.  

Finally, I have only one favor to ask of people on this list:  We have so many very talented young guys/girls the street hasnt met yet.  Please ask me about them because they could use your help and believe me, they will exceed all your expectations.  They were the ones keeping this machine running everyday…

Don’t worry its not goodbye … we’ll be back!  I promise. 

 

 

2. sent from Lehman XXX equity research team

 

Dear all

Hi, as we are sure you have heard Lehman’s situation is now very uncertain.  Exactly how this finally plays out for us is still unclear, but for now we wanted to say many thanks for all your support. We hope we have added something to coverage of; food, HPC and tobacco in the last few months and years. 

We have loved working with all our clients (even when we have disagreed!) and the companies and each other.  We look forward to continuing with this moving forward, in some as yet unknown form.

We will be in touch but if you want or need to contact us in the meantime, see our details below.

 

3. one piece of bbg news citing one of my good friends in London

 

By Kevin Crowley and Thomas Penny
    Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) — Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s employees worldwide are clearing their desks, waiting to hear if they’ll be paid, and starting to look for work after the investment bank filed for the biggest bankruptcy in history.
    “Everyone’s talking on their cell phones, talking to headhunters,” said D A, a bespectacled 26 year-old employee in fixed income quantitative research, as he stepped outside Lehman’s Canary Wharf offices in London today. “It’s kind of chaotic. The only question remaining is whether we will get this month’s pay check.”
    The 158-year-old bank filed today for bankruptcy after Bank of America Corp. and Barclays Plc pulled out of rescue talks because the U.S. government balked at funding a bailout. That’s left Lehman’s 25,000 employees worldwide fearing for their livelihoods and some blaming Chief Executive Officer Richard Fuld for the bank’s collapse.
    “People are angry,” A said, clad in a beige shirt and dark blue tie. “They thought the management messed it up. Any outcome would be better than this.”
    Lehman employs about 6,000 in Europe, and today about 40 reporters, 10 camera crews and more photographers descended on the bank’s 32-story glass and steel headquarters building, grabbing employees as they left. Half a dozen police officers were on the scene to control the crowd.
    A 21-year-old Lehman graduate trainee in London, who declined to be identified by name, said he and 90 to 95 colleagues had been called in by the human resources department and made redundant. They had started work a week ago.
    A London-based Lehman spokeswoman, who declined to be identified, said the firm wouldn’t comment.

                     `Massive Earthquake’

    “It’s terrible,” said Kirsty McCluskey, 32, as she crossed the road outside Lehman’s office. “Death. Like a massive earthquake.” She said she works on the trading floor.
    Workers were scrambling to complete their expenses claims, she said. Others were seen leaving the office carrying personal possessions in crates, refusing to give their names. Some stared out of windows as they spoke on their cell phones.
    “It’s disastrous,” said Burhan Udin, 30, who works in financial product control. “But I think people are experienced and professional enough to take it on the chin.”
    Lehman’s London workers were following colleagues worldwide. In New York, the day before, hundreds of people wearing Lehman badges were seen entering the building at 745 7th Avenue carrying empty bags. The same employees later left the building with bags now full of files and personal belongings. Some were carrying plants and paintings.

                           Packing Up

    According to a worker who left Lehman’s New York headquarters with a box full of files yesterday, employees were telling one another that the bank was about to go bankrupt and
that they’d be locked out by today.

    Lehman’s offices were full of people packing up, said an employee who identified herself as a junior analyst who joined the company two months ago. A few cried and hugged each other on a late summer afternoon. Most declined to comment.
    In Tokyo, a woman who identified himself only as a Lehman employee, said that people were packing up and taking personal belongings away.
    Another Lehman employee in Hong Kong, dragging a suitcase, said he had decided to take his possessions home, even though no one was sure whether the company’s Asian subsidiary was also declaring itself bankrupt like the U.S. parent.