Credit-Crisis Firings Spread on Wall
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
nb38p01.qxp 9/14/2007 8:23 PM Page 1 TOP STORIES REPORT LimeWire joins TRAVEL WOES party, starts online 34 tips for music store a smooth takeoff PAGE 2 from NY airports ® TV networks pray PAGE 19 for viewers as new season starts VOL. XXIII, NO. 38 WWW.NEWYORKBUSINESS.COM SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2007 PRICE: $3.00 PAGE 3 Rough start for WNBC’s 7 p.m. news; Plaza gets Credit-crisis trainer to the stars NEW YORK, NEW YORK, P. 6 firings spread End the unfair cable TV monopoly; grant Verizon on Wall St. a franchise now EDITORIAL, PAGE 12 Ousters mount as The Hsu list: investment banks’ NY politicians who revenues erode; got money from 10,000 jobs at risk disgraced exec THE INSIDER, PAGE 14 BY AARON ELSTEIN two monthsinto the credit crunch BUSINESS LIVES of 2007, a barrage of pink slips is THAT’S THE TICKET appearing on Wall Street as the cri- STEPHEN FREEDMAN sis spreads from mortgage-related How to land seats for units into mainstream businesses some of Broadway’s wants to fatten Fordham’s PAGE 39 endowment for academic such as mergers and debt offerings. lindström bekka hottest shows positions so the university Only weeks after financial-sec- can remain competitive. tor employment in the city hit lev- executive search firm that special- els not seen since the technology- izes in financial services. stock bubble, investment banks Lehman Brothers is leading the have switched into firing mode and retreat. Last month, it closed its have halted most job searches. subprime mortgage unit—Califor- Bankers in structured finance and nia-based BNC Mortgage—and larry ford mortgages will be hit the hardest: laid off more than 2,000 employ- RECRUITING WARS A third of all staffers could be ees,most of whom were based out- sacked in coming months as secu- side of the city. Bear Stearns has rities firms pare expenses to match eliminated 240 mortgage-related AT DEADLINE the rapid decline in revenues. posts,and CIT Group recently said “The question is,who is not lay- it would cut 550 such positions. BROADWAY STARS ARE HOSTING NYC colleges ing off people?” says Gustavo Job losses are beginning to show A SHOW for presidential Dolfino, president of The White- up locally as well. In August, Roy- hopeful Barack Obama at the Rock Group, a Manhattan-based See CREDIT on Page 9 New Amsterdam Theater on Sept. 24 to raise funds for the on hiring spree Obama for America campaign. Seats will cost Increase in full-time After years of increased student $250 to $2,300. Phylicia enrollment, private and public uni- Immigrant workers, Rashad, Jeffrey Wright, faculty follows boom versities are finally playing catch-up Marcia Gay Harden and and aggressively recruiting academ- Kristin Johnson will be in student enrollment; ics to reduce classroom sizes,replace firms feel feds’ heat performing, among others. poaching prevalent part-time professors and attract top-tier students. Employment THREE BROOKLYN NEIGHBOR- growth in private educational serv- Pursuit of those ancies. But they lost their jobs only HOODS have seen a dramatic BY SAMANTHA MARSHALL ices has grown 45% in New York after the government began push- slowdown in housing sales state from 1990 to 2005, according without valid ID may ing proposed rules requiring em- because of tighter lending the economy is cratering and the to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statis- lead to mass firings ployers to fire workers who cannot standards. Sales volume in Wall Street job boom is turning tics. At the same time, the number prove that they have legitimate So- Bedford-Stuyvesant, East New into a bust, but college professors of higher-education workers in- cial Security numbers. York and Brownsville—areas aren’t feeling the pain. Hiring in creased by about 30,000 to 90,000. BY LISA FICKENSCHER “It appears to us that Aramark where subprime loans are prev- New York City’s exploding educa- “We’ve gone from a buyer’s is starting to implement policies alent—declined about 50% in tion sector is at an all-time high. market to a seller’s market,” says last month, Aramark suspended based on these proposed rules,” a recent six-month period, Abe Lachman, president of the more than 60 Latino workers at says Bill Granfield, president of according to Sam Heskel, JOBS Struggling record labels seek Commission on Independent Col- The Meadowlands sports com- Local 100, which represents the See AT DEADLINE on Page 2 techies to transform business Page2 leges and Universities.“There’s been plex, where the $11.6 billion com- suspended workers. a sizable step-up of full-time facul- pany provides food service. Many are concerned ty in all sectors.” The employees’ Social Se- that the crackdown on il- The college hiring trend is curity numbers had been 500K legal immigration could 38 UNDOCUMENTED nationwide, but New York City, flagged in letters to Ara- force companies to fire 5 IMMIGRANTS in which has become the top destina- mark from the Social Se- NYC, according tens of thousands of un- tion in the country for students curity Administration be- to city data documented workers in around the nation, is seeing the cause they didn’t match New York, with the ELECTRONIC EDITION sharpest growth. those in agency’s records. biggest turmoil likely in tradition- Raiding from universities in The workers had been warned ally immigrant-heavy sectors such NEWSPAPER See NYC COLLEGES on Page 8nearly a year ago about the discrep- See IMMIGRANTS on Page 10 71486 01068 0 CNYB 09-17-07 A 2 9/14/2007 7:09 PM Page 1 AT DEADLINE Continued from Page 1 MANHATTAN-BASED VOODOOVOX founder and executive vice RAISED $8.1 MILLION in venture president of HMS Associates, capital. Softbank Capital led the an appraisal firm. Mr. Heskel round of financing, which examined the sales data at the included previous investors request of Crain’s New York Apax Partners, Disney’s Business. Higher-income Steamboat Ventures and Village Brooklyn neighborhoods saw Ventures.The company has robust sales. developed technology that inserts advertising into audio CONSOLIDATED EDISON’S content that can be used during RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS would high volume calls such as pay 9.3% more every month customer-service hotlines. under the rate structure proposed by the state Public THE BATTLE TO CONTROL Service Commission’s staff. BASEBALL-CARD MAKER Topps The proposed increase Co. should finally be represents just over half of the determined on Wednesday. 17% hike Con Ed had sought That’s when shareholders will for residential service, according vote on whether to accept a to an analysis of the PSC report $383 million takeover bid from conducted this week by Con Ed. a private equity group led by former Disney CEO Michael GENERAL GROWTH PROPERTIES, Eisner.Topps postponed the A CHICAGO-BASED real estate vote in late August because, it GEORGE SEARLE’S developer that operates Pier 17 admitted, the deal lacked LimeWire will take on at South Street Seaport, signed shareholder support. It isn’t iTunes with its new site. a lease with the city to take over clear that many investors have the fish stalls at the former changed their minds since. buck ennis Fulton Fish Market on South Institutional Shareholder Street.The 20,000-square-foot Services continues to space has been empty for two recommend investors vote years, since the market moved to against the Eisner offer. If the the Bronx. A spokeswoman for deal is voted down, a group of General Growth declined to say dissident shareholders has LimeWire plays nice what the company plans to do vowed to oust Topps with the space. management. File-swapper plans to start paid online music store THE NEW YORK GIANTS AND JETS LONDON-BASED BLOOMSBURY HAVE SOLD OUT AUCTION HOUSE, the largest of the highest- BY AMANDA FUNG tier luxury suites in their new auction house for rare books, is joint stadium for $1 million a opening its first U.S. location year, according to a team this month at 6 W. 48th St.The for seven years, LimeWire has developed a reputation on college campuses as the online spokeswoman.There were only inaugural auction, featuring a service to use to get a free copy of the latest Justin Timberlake hit song. “a handful” of suites available at collection of books from the Despite the recording industry’s successful efforts to shut down similar file-sharing services, the million-dollar level. The 15th to 20th centuries, will take the Manhattan-based company has conducted business as usual, becoming the largest file- New Meadowlands football place on Sept. 26. It will include stadium project, scheduled for one of only 48 surviving copies swapping site in the country. completion in 2010, is expected of The Kelmscott Chaucer, a book But LimeWire is changing its tune. While it continues to slug it out in court with the to cost about $1.7 billion and from the 19th century expected recording industry over copyright infringement charges, it has decided to take on Apple I include about 150 luxury boxes. to sell for more than $100,000. iTunes. It announced plans to launch an online music store, where single songs and monthly subscriptions will be sold. “We are uniquely positioned to help monetize content with our vast THIS WEEK IN CRAIN’S See LIMEWIRE on Page 8 ALAIR TOWNSEND -------------------13 THE INSIDER------------------------------------14 WEEK IN REVIEW ----------------------- Floundering music labels 16 EXECUTIVE TRAVEL ing digital media platforms that can servers say. REPORT----------------------------------------------19 Companies dumping generate real revenue, as they show “The digital side of the recording old hands to bring in the Luddites the door.