PILGRIMS TO THE PROMISED LAND They come from afar FPO with a laptop and a CRAIN’S® dream PAGE 25 NEW YORK BUSINESS VOL. XXIX, NO. 6 WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM FEBRUARY 11-17, 2013 PRICE: $3.00 newscom As of Feb. 8 close. Dow’s up,b but jobs are down Big banks sack BY AARON ELSTEIN In the past week, small banks and no means over, but most of it is done,” brokerages such as Guggenheim Se- said Richard Lipstein, a managing di- thousands even With the stock market reaching its curities and Oppenheimer & Co.have rector at recruiter Gilbert Tweed In- highest levels since 2007, hiring is announced significant new hirings, ternational. “As it becomes more clear as stocks return showing signs of picking up again on while investment banking boutique what regulators will or won’t allow the to 2007 highs. Wall Street—and raising hopes the in- Cowen Group unveiled a merger that banks to do, bankers are starting to dustry’s long postcrash funk is at last will increase its head count by 16%. prepare for new opportunities.” Here’s why coming to an end. “The industry’s restructuring is by See DOW on Page 24 LHOTAVISION Super Bowl countdown begins FROM CABLE TO CITY HALL as NY, NJ prep for 2014 game Will Joe Lhota’s business career hurt his in New Orleans was different. posse of city officials representing mayoral bid? Just the Back from Big Easy, “We were there to learn, to in- the New York Police Department, host committee has corporate ideas that will work for the Transportation Department, opposite, he insists New York and New Jersey—and we the Office of Citywide Event Coor- PAGE 3 challenges to tackle have just 51 weeks in which to pre- dination and Management, and the pare,” said the Loews Hotels chair- city’s tourism agency, NYC & man and chief executive, who wears Company, plus 16 staffers from the BY LISA FICKENSCHER many hats, including that of co- host committee. chairman of the 2014 NY/NJ Super Mr. Meyer declined to share any There isn’t much that New York Bowl Host Committee. postgame commentary, save for a Giants owner Jonathan Tisch Mr. Tisch was hardly the only statement through a spokeswoman: hasn’t experienced or seen at a New Yorker gathering intelligence “New Orleans did a great job.” But Super Bowl. He’s been to at least in New Orleans. Restaurateur his counterpart in the Crescent XXIV in his life,but this year’s game Danny Meyer paid a visit, as did a See SUPER BOWL on Page 23 NEWSPAPER EDITOR’S NOTE Dots all, folks FYICRAINSNEWYORK.COM Some days, New York feels less like the largest city in the country and more like a town with the same few Standard & Poor’s thousand people. Restaurant maven Danny Meyer made that kind of rates costly trip day happen late last month while to court accepting the New Yorker of the Year award from the Manhattan early five years after the great newscom Glenn Coleman Chamber of Commerce. One of crash of 2008, the feds are the great joys of doing business in finally hauling a major financial player into court. Last week, the Justice Department N Standard & Poor’s McGraw-Hill the city, he told the crowd, is how the many little filed a civil lawsuit against and its owner, . (What does the suit personal connections we make during our professional mean for McGraw-Hill’s stock price? See In the Markets, Page 4.) lives—the dots, as he called them—play out over time The suit alleges that S&P committed fraud when it slapped its AAA seal of approval on to shape our careers. Indeed, coincidences were all billions’ worth of junky mortgage-backed securities. Attorney General Eric Holder vows to seek over the room that morning: the chamber’s Large up to $5 billion in penalties—nearly quadruple the amount of cash that McGraw-Hill has. Business of the Year award winner, CBRE (“our real Worse for S&P,the government’s complaint is filled with email messages from S&P analysts estate broker,” Mr. Meyer noted); Green Business of fiddling while real estate burned. One analyst even tried his hand at rewriting the lyrics of the the Year award winner Action Carting (“our garbage Talking Heads song “Burning Down the House” to fit the troubled times. contractor”); and the Retailer of the Year award S&P has vowed to fight what it calls an “unwarranted suit,” but for now its reputation, which winner, legendary discount department store Century was at best impaired before the suit, lies in something closer to ruins now. 21. “You know,” Mr. Meyer said, “I don’t think I’ve Similarly, another player in the bundling of mortgages pre-crash found itself in federal court ever told this story in public before.” He had our last week. JPMorgan Chase stood accused by a French bank of selling it $1.6 billion worth of attention. Back in the early 1980s, fresh out of college mortgages that JPM’s staffers knew were flawed. And, yes, there were lots of incriminating and living in the then-aptly-named Hell’s Kitchen, emails released as part of the suit. —aaron elstein Mr. Meyer was a junior salesman for a company that sold anti-shoplifting tags to retailers. He soon became NYC SETS SANDY PRIORITIES. Mayor entertainment properties under just salesman of the year—three years running—thanks to Michael Bloomberg has set his one top executive,Bonnie Hammer. HOORAY! one of his earliest clients: Century 21, whose spending priorities for the first The longtime head of the USA Net- SUPER BOWL XLVII scored the third- founding patriarch seemed to take a liking to this kid $1.77 billion worth of Superstorm work and other NBC cable channels highest TV ratings ever, which was good Sandy relief funds that blew into becomes the third woman to lead a news for CBS. asking for his business. Young Mr. Meyer plowed his town from D.C. last week. Nearly key division of the company. Ms. multiple sales bonuses into his employer’s scorching- half of it, $720 million, will go to re- Hammer’s new empire generates hot stock and watched the value of the shares soar. building storm-damaged homes about half the total cash flow of “And I used that money to open Union Square Café and businesses, which will have to NBCUniversal. … MEDIA GIANTS in 1985,” he said. All was quiet. Century 21 executive be constructed to higher standards SEE GREEN. Two big New York- to protect against future storms. based companies ended 2012 on a Isaac Gindi, representing his family at the chamber The mayor praised Washington for high note. Profits at Time Warner event, beamed from his table. Hell, all of us beamed its fast work, but conceded that the Inc. soared 51%, to $1.2 billion, in from our tables. “Keep connecting the dots,” Mr. first funds will not actually be dis- the fourth quarter on the back of OY VEY! Meyer urged the room. “That’s what it’s all about.” bursed until April at the earliest. … cost-cutting and higher subscrip- CITY EYES STRANGE BEDFELLOWS. tion revenue at its TV networks, in- A GUARD is Coming soon to prime neighbor- cluding CNN, TNT and HBO. charged with hoods across Man- News Corp. fared having sex with a prisoner convicted THIS WEEK IN CRAIN’S hattan: luxury high- ‘We do not even better. Its prof- of killing two cops. rise towers sprouting it more than dou- alongside existing rename bled, to $2.4 billion, IN THE BOROUGHS---------------------------3 public-housing proj- in the last quarter, IN THE MARKETS----------------------------------4 ects. The cash- stations after thanks largely to strapped New York one-time gains re- THE INSIDER -----------------------------------------------6 people’ City Housing Au- An MTA spokesman, lated to some recent BUSINESS PEOPLE --------------------------- 8 thority plans to lease explaining why the East acquisitions. … the meantime, he said, New York is out underutilized LONELY LADY LIBER- losing millions in tourism dollars. OPINION --------------------------------------------------------10 77th Street stop on the land—playgrounds 6 train will not be named TY. Federal officials … CBS SCORES TOUCHDOWN. Super GREG DAVID--------------------------------------------11 and parking lots—at after the late don’t know when Bowl XLVII, aka the “Blackout THE LIST ---------------------------------------------------------16 its properties in areas Mayor Ed Koch the Statue of Liber- Bowl,” drew the third-largest audi- such as the Upper ty will be open for ence for a television event ever—a CLASSIFIEDS -----------------------------------------18 West Side to private developers. visitors. The famous statue stands major coup for CBS,which aired the DIGITAL NY -------------------------------------------------21 Some 4,000 apartments could be unscathed by Superstorm Sandy, game. An average of 108.4 million built, 20% of which would be set but its Liberty Island home was people watched Beyoncé perform, FOR THE RECORD---------------------------22 REPORT: SMALL BUSINESS aside for affordable housing. In re- devastated. At one point, three- and a lot of good ads, as the Balti- NEW YORK, NEW YORK ---------- turn, NYCHA will get up to $46 quarters of it was under water. Sen. more Ravens defeated the San Fran- Entrepreneurs like 25 million in rent annually.… HAMMER Charles Schumer is urging the De- cisco 49ers after a 35-minute power Brooklyn’s Rovshan Danilov SOURCE LUNCH-------------------------------- 26 NAILS TOP JOB. NBCUniversal has partment of the Interior to at least outage at the Superdome in New are taking advantage of city OUT AND ABOUT ------------------------------ consolidated all of its lucrative cable —amanda fung loans to recover after 27 provide a date for the reopening.