Lehman Brothers' Last Weekend
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ย. 2018
- Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 15, 2008, jolting the firm's 28,000 employees. A decade later, former employees remember the collapse and reflect on what it meant for them.
Don’t miss a WSJ video, subscribe here: bit.ly/14Q81Xy
More from the Wall Street Journal:
Visit WSJ.com: www.wsj.com
Visit the WSJ Video Center: wsj.com/video
On Facebook: / videos
On Twitter: / wsj
On Snapchat: on.wsj.com/2ratjSM
I was a Lehman Brothers pilot for almost five years. The good part for me was, I didn't have my retirement tied up in Lehman Brothers stock or their 401k, since the aviation division was managed by an outside contractor. The bad part was, it was the best flying job I ever had. I was treated very well.
Sound like you fly away with bag of cash.
Jimmy...is that you?
@@clementcs869 😂😂😂
Peter Lewellyn the blaming of the media was a hoot.
Marry me
8:50 hahahahahaha,in the United States of America even the homeless keep up to date with financial news
Chidimwa Kayeyi I guess that's a New York thing :D
he was homeless probably because of the crisis :D
@@cheunhong9769 Yeah six months before that he could have been senior vice president of derivatives or something.
Right, because we know our economy is the hub of the entire global economy...unlike Zambia, where you're from.
The United States of America is a country so developed, even their hobos speaks english.
No matter what your job is, losing your job sucks.
But being oblivious to the state of your company is something completely different.
When u you're your own boss you'll never lose your job or get fired.
In a company of thousands or even tens of thousands you can't really blame low ranked workers. A lot of support staff, IT people, administrative staff, customer services, etc, etc are full of decent people making an honest living and are completely uninvolved in nefarious and overly risky schemas.
Only the top dogs and some of the very highly educated financial experts designing all these packages are really accountable.
The worst part about the Lehman bankruptcy is The Bull (nickname for their CEO) knew of the pending problems and had opportunities to sell his firm to multiple bidders for 6 full months prior to the bankruptcy. The price offered was never high enough for The Bull. Now, The Bull works for a podunk firm doing podunk work. Everyone, even the regulators were trying to convince him to sell and he wouldn't do it. He thought his firm would weather the storm, the government would have to save them, and Lehman was too big to fail. They made an example out of Lehman and him, the rest of the banks suddenly became cooperative. Sometimes a head needs to roll to get capitulation.
You are spot on
Maybe it's a good thing that "The Bull" was so bull headed; he might have infected an even bigger bank with the STINK from his crooked shop.
Esquire
What you are really saying is that government interference is key to banking. Politicians use banking and the monetary system as part of their political games. It allows them to use a really big unending check book.
read of the Bull's arrogance!
@@MrSupernova111 Not necessarily idiots, but naive. and when accustomed to seeing trillions of dollars in revenue each year, people didn't think a misstep was a step away from failure. At most, they thought a few jobs shed and then rebound. But, the well was dry--no funds for trading on Monday, and an eroded asset base.
I was sweating bullets asking a girl I liked to the Fall Formal in 8th grade .....what a storm that week was sep 14 2008
blackice214 Did she say yes?
Will It Break? Yea 😂😂
blackice214 at least something positive happened that week
#neverforget
Are you dating said woman?
This fails to mention the total recklessness Lehman was engaged in.
Not just Lehman but governments, other banks and states and the population as a whole.
Don't expect this kind of coverage from the WSJ.
Everyone likes to go around pointing fingers. and yeah bankers have a lot of responsibility in the financial crisis. but it goes beyond that, lack of regulations for starters. and then lack of basic financial education for the general public is also another issue. the fact that banks and governments around the world were in bed together in this proves that not only bankers but beaurocrats and also people who thought that they could get rich and buy houses with mortgages that they know they should not have gotten all bear responsibility
@@tankito4460 Finance paid the regulators to look the other way. The public is not to blame.
Surreal... Just surreal
I graduated in 2008, thanks for crashing the economy a few months beforehand!
Absolutely the best time to invest was in 2008. Honestly a pretty good time to start adulthood.
@@NotOurRemedy No, best time time to invest was in 2009, at the market bottom.
@@NotOurRemedy Can't invest when you don't have money to invest... You know, because graduates at the time struggled to find work.
2020 graduates send their regards
#firstworldproblems
I would prefer interviews with the low paid staff. They probably have a different story to tell.
Yup, i agree. Make it happen #WSJ
But then the wsj would have to deal with "them"
@hobbes The support staff who tend to get ignored by the corporate structure unless something is broken tend to know way more than they should because someone on the staff has access everywhere and get ignored so they hear things. I have worked in that sort of position and you would be shocked what people will say if they think you are far beneath their position. Not cruel or disrespectful just inner workings or venting of stress as if they were alone.
@@vagabondwastrel2361 true. if you want to know what happens at the board and C-level, befriend administrative assistants and secretaries of those people. they're scheduling the emergency meetings and connecting the emergency calls, and there when X tells Y "you have a chemical imbalance if you think that idea will work!"
@utubewatcher806 I wouldn't go for the administrative assistants because the information they would get would be privileged and they could get nuked via lawsuit if something gets spread with them as the source.
Odds are that Lehman Brothers paid for the tickets to the US Open. I wonder how that conversation went down...
"We may be going bankrupt soon... I know, let's go buy tickets to the most expensive tennis match in the world!"
Board: "Sounds good! I enjoy a good weekend!".
In the first minute you can see exactly the reason why it was possible that Lehman Brothers fell. The whole bank is in hazard and yet most executives are just watching a tennis game at the u.s. open..
I was working as a credit derivatives trader at another bank 3yrs out of college during 2008. A lot of Lehman employees got picked up by Barcap in NY and Nomura in Tokyo. I’m not saying they didn’t go through something traumatic but if you didn’t have to go into the office and trade those markets for the next three months you were lucky. Sep-Nov 2008 is just a blur to me now, going onto that trading floor every day literally trading for the survival of your firm and career with little sleep and then having to go home and hear everything over again on the news. I had a tooth extraction done during that period and I distinctly remember heading to the dentist for an hour in the middle of the day glad to be off the floor, when I got there I told him ‘no need for anaesthetic, I’m numb already’.
You know what???
Based on your mumble jumble comment content, I can tell you ain't into anything financial career but a SIMPLE low skill job average Joe.
@@arrowb3408 oh really Sherlock? Well since you seem to have the background knowledge to make such a call tell me is it better to use a StochVol or LocalVol model when pricing a DNT FX option? If there’s a window KO with a narrower barrier width would that change things? What considerations does the buyer need to take into account if the option is traded under a single currency CSA that is different from the FX pair of the option? I’ve forgotten more about finance than you’ve ever known.
@@arrowb3408 “I can tell you ain’t into” yeah ok..
I'm loving these interviews about 2008 WSJ. Like a horror movie
More of a tragedy film...
@@ToiYeuYAHWEH true
That they caused are the creators of their own horror movie so I don't zero sympathy watching it I almost felt a little gleeful
have you seen the movie Big Short, its about this moment,, is really good.
Ruben Diaz I have, thanks! I also enjoyed the audiobook, "The Big Short", even though it made me furious listening to it at times haha
Wish they discussed how long it took for each one of these folks to land on their feet and what they’re doing now. Seemed more like a sappy nostalgia story covering a really unethical company.
I spent 5 years cleaning up the junk paper Lehman sold and marketed "same as cash." They may have been a family but there were a lot of bad apples in that family
I was working in San Francisco for a competing investment bank when Lehman went down. I went into work that morning and asked the receptionist if _we_ were still in business. All through the previous weeks I'd see people leaving the building (BofA building / 555 California) carrying a box or two with that defeated look (or relieved, as I was when I was finally laid off in 2009 with a nice severance). By the time I got canned I HATED my job so was glad to be outta there. I didn't hate the company or my coworkers but my boss...I enjoyed what I did at the firm but I'd grown to DESPISE the person I was doing it for.
I lived in Nashville, TN back then and strangely, I was playing golf at a local course sometime in late 08/early 09 and I found a golf ball with Lehman Brothers stamped on it. I knew it would be sort of a unique relic and I’ve kept it for all these years. Just my little weird connection to Lehman’s failure.
Commenter McCommentFace do you still have the golf ball🤷♂️
Barry Obama I do. Keep it in my golf bag.
Its amazing how they try to rehabilitate lehman right at the end lol
That lady whos first day was sep 15, i really hope she got some good karma afterwards, if anybody derserved it at that point it was her.
The last 20 seconds of the video are just priceless. That look on his face says it all.
Sorry but I'm out of tears.
In the mentioning of principles guiding Lehman Brothers, there is no mention of integrity, no mention of ethics, no mention of morality. Yet surely all of this is more important than profit for investors and shareholders, and working in a friendly environment.
9:54 when I saw that mug it reminded me of scene when Christian Bale is taking mugs ..... as souvenirs or hunting trophies
super Joshi so true 😂
ah yes The Big Short
They remind me of Pan Am employees.
Employees were friends to each other, but the top executives screwed the company.
They sounded like they were proud to be part of such culprit, such a shame.
@@iagree8628 Kinda goes to show, people born evil/greedy shits lol. They would work for a criminal enterprise as long as they get payed good money....
@Dark Knight
Wish that were true for my neighborhood. I lived in a bad neighborhood in Chicago when I was a kid.
My bike got stolen 2x and my brother's car got jacked with 4 broken windows. Our house got broken into and stole anything valuable. My dad's car got looted.
@@yvindgielink2379 the funny thing is that women actually ran at an event for charity. Banks like these have thousands or tens of thousands of employees, most of whom are just ordinary people like me and you doing uninspiring work at a major company. As simple as that.
Only top executives and the highest tier of financial experts had anything to do with the shady practices of this bank.
The Banks got a Bailout and they took the money and started giving each other bonuses, while refusing to help homeowners save their homes.
@Not Bob and the executives pocketed the money. Your point is lame.
All that Lehman brothers stuff those employees held on to over the last 10 years must be worth as much as the stock was at the time of bankruptcy
Wrong! It was around $4 in 1994 and 3 cents once all was said and done…
Can't wait to watch the future Citadel video like this
They all ran Lehman into the ground with their bonus packages.
Family doesn’t tell you to get out with no notice. I feel bad for people that feel like work is family. It’s not and the only way to find out is the hard way which is painful.
9:57
Yeah, okay, dude. Lehman Bros. is known worldwide-it is legendary-for how sturdy and functional it was
What is weird is that in this year 2022, there are still some Lehman Brother's employees still at work, closing down all the companies assets and settling court cases.
2:38 "I was working...very hard...from home", lol sure.
floppeur89 it was on a weekend. That’s also why he said he’s not sure if he would still have a job on Monday.
floppeur89 hahah if you don’t believe that then you have never worked in finance or law...everyone is always working, no matter where they are lol
true
I believe the law part. But finance.
I laughed too. Working hard for these guys is sitting on a conference call so everyone can hear themselves talk while making beaucoup $. Ask someone who works on their feet all day while making around minimum wage what working hard is. I know. I've been a part of both. I'll take "working hard all weekend sitting down looking at a computer making 6 figures" for 800 Alex.
You know it’s bad when a homeless person turn down taking money from you because they heard that you’re going to be POSSIBLY homeless just like them! 🤷🏽♀️💯
The jacket is like a lot of Lehman things. Its very sturdy, and functional... and worthless 😂
what's funny is lehman brothers stuff is selling at a premium on ebay rn. that would probably be $500 - $600
I guess those people did not have to answer the question "why did you leave your former employer?" at their job interviews.
Thanks for sharing your experiences.
lol the banker who doesn't know what bankruptcy means.
Exactly! Who did you know to get that job.
He probably, probably meant that he didn't know what that meant for his immediate future.
Well your buisness can keep existing even if you are bankrupt. For example another company can buy your company and keep the employees.
probably was wondering if it was chapter 11 or chapter 7 (restructuring money or forced liquidation)
@@MrSupernova111 If you worked at Lehman, you probably would have graduated from an Ivy League.
“We had a hand in the tone” LOL
When I was in college I did limo airport driving on the side, to pay for College. The limo company I worked for had a Lehman and Bear Stearns account, basically to pick up their Jr and Sr executives and take them to their homes offices or airport. These executives were the most smug cold arrogant people Ive ever encountered. They all had this bourgeoise elitist ivy league Hampton snobbery about themselves, as if they were chosen by the gods to rule the world. So happy they came crashing down, humiliated, and tossed on the street like garbage. It was a joyous time to see all these wall street gods crash, and seeing a bleak future. I hope it happens again. And it will!
"very progressive" *facepalm*
8:48 is the most under rated part of the whole financial crisis
🧡💛💚💙 "Don't be silly on Bear Sterns. It's an easy buy." - Jim Cramer, March 2008 🧡💛💚💙
A very nice music in the background in the final part. I mostly heard it before only in classical Russian theaters.
Takes a lot of great cinematography to make NYC bankers look sympathetic
"The one thing I learnt that night was the number of shoes that women have under their desks." haha
So that interview tells you that people were oblivious.
2:38
"I was working VEEERY HARD from home" lol
It was weekend
@Wall Steet Journal i think there is an mistake in the video ,the description says 28k while in the video it mentions there were only 26k
Those poor rich people
you will be poor forever for being a buthurt socialist.
@@jjj8317 oh ok, so saying something true makes you a socialist now.......
J Can (I'm in the top 10% of net worth :p).... in regard to socialism, oh, I totally think you should have a mix of capitalist and socialist, that brings the best results. Being 100% one or the other creates major problems.
@@Alexander-vg4ss so you make 50k a year?
@@Alexander-vg4ss
Socialism is not compatible with capitalism. It is like saying a little bit pregnant. Socialism is about complete control and ownership of everything from money, property and labour by the whole economy.
That means you would not be allowed to own anything and would also be subject to the system of socialism. There is no half way in between.
People confuse a social contract with socialism so you will hear people talking about fire service and police being socialism when they are nothing of the sort.
"the number of shoes women have under their desks"..that is so true and made me LOL
This guy new he was being filmed, knowing countless investors would be devastated, and still, he chose to behave like a tool in this brief interview and in the still photo. 5:46
Greed is so destructive. It destroys everything. Eartha Kitt
Lehman Brothers - September 15, 2008.
Where things are heading, I wouldn't be surprised if this happens again, and sooner rather than later. Those that ignore the past are doomed to repeat it.
Welcome to the future, toasties 😅
@@aclickinthehead Yep. Silicon Valley Bank last week. Who knows what domino will fall next.
The video was interesting, just from the point of view of a 150 year old company disappearing. I don't particularly feel sorry for those fat cats losing their jobs, but reflecting back on it as a historical event is interesting.
Such is the fate of all things.
Lehman Brothers was a 158 years old company?! 😱
Imagine if these folks spent 30 years at the company, relied upon a pension to be paid out, and they lost both their retirement, job, dignity, and we’re too old to gain marketable skills but we’re told “learn to code”.
Yeah, that story is the Midwest. OH, MI, IN, IL, WI, and Western PA.
10:20 Could it get any more boilerplate and generic?
THE INSIDE JOB is a must watch! The entire 2008 Financial Crisis has been neatly documented.
Amazing rare footage.
are we supposed to be feeling bad for these people?
why do i find myself having absolutely no sympathy for these ppl? I actually feel quite strongly in looking at these ppl like they're criminals...
Simple: they were in on the same dirty dealings and KNEW what the ones at the top were doing. Someone did research on their online profiles and they immediately got hired by similar dirty, corrupt companies like this one. If I came across a Goldman Sachs exec, I'd probably smash his head in with a bat. Goldman Sachs was one of several firms that ruined the economy and got away with it. NOT ONE was charged with anything.
So many good people in service to bad causes.
Watching this as the news of SVB collapsing brings back these vibes
These guys made so much money from the CDOs. That’s the price the employees have to pay for it. It’s the fallout that affected the rest of the world that deserves empathy.
I'm watching this after "Big Short" book. LTCM, Lehman... Even geniuses are failed.
The people they interview were the leadership of a bank that crashed because of their own mistakes, taking many of their trusting clients and investors down with them. Now these interviews make them look like the victims? What I am missing...?
Many of them were hurt as well. Many lost their jobs, homes and careers after that. One minute they are working a 70 hour week getting very well paid the next they are struggling with their mortgage and with no end in sight for them.
It was the banks board, government, state and banking industry as a whole that was to blame. The people you see in that video are only mid level management they are not the real deal or decision makers. Everyone you seen in that video was in the dark as to the decisions that were being made.
I know somebody who lost their job in the financial industry and never got it back again. Today their life is a complete struggle and what they had previously seems like a dream.
Some would have recovered but for every one that did there is a person who did not.
Remember Folks, most of these geniuses have master's degrees. 😂
10:12 that's why the bank failed.
Lol. I love the ending!
they should've used that "vision" to see what was coming
What's the music in the background?
Yes, but did you guys get severance package?
"like a lot of lehman things, very sturdy"
Did he forget what actually happened to the company?
"where the vision of bankruptcy is built"
Just amazing video
Thomas' voice sounds so similar to Ray-Dalio. I'm waiting for him to say "Becauuseee-"
2:56 - beautiful lady.
5:45 legendary answer😂
9:56 - Lehman brothers - "Where vision gets built"
Where the bank gets rupt.
This video pretty much tells you all you need to know within the first 30 seconds. While the financial crisis was brewing and the mortage crisis unfolding, the CEO´s of the banks involved were watching tennis.....
That WSJ headline saying "US Plays Matchmaking Role" should have signaled the end. If the Treasury secretary had to get involved you know there was stink coming off this bank that could be detected all the way to London. This Brit's wouldn't touch this PoS.
Get over it. Lehman didn't fail because it was exceptional- all the banks were rotten, all would have failed without federal intervention. Unfortunately for Lehman, they failed before TARP was passed and the Fed claims it couldn't come up with legal justification for intervening as it had for Bear Stearns, the other bank that failed before TARP. Apparently Lehman was the only US bank not big enough to not fail.
I would feel so bad if these people were only making $10/Hr
Even if they were making $10/hr I still wouldn't care
@@cameront3060 hahahaha
Most employees had no idea the business model and how the firm went bankrupt. Sorry for those who lost their jobs. And I knew many things about Lehman were great. Nevertheless, working for a firm engaging tremendous risk and costing so much public pain is nothing to be proud of.
Could have been worse .... "
Theranos" LOL
Melvin and Citadel take notes
To this day they don't get that they were accessory before the fact. Talking about their jobs while allowing the greatest financial crisis of recent history. "It was just a job, we were kind to each others". Just chilling, how detached from reality...
It needed about 4 more big banks to collapse at that time.
I think we would be been worse off
I found a better video on the subject.
Best Documentary of the Housing Market Crash (of 2018?) | Inside the Meltdown | Behind the Big Short
th-cam.com/video/0yZ5mjbB11I/w-d-xo.html
AIG bail out the next day for 85 billion and back for more so 185 billion
And all started by Bill Clinton.
The dot com bubble Boom and bust
My condolences, this was a very sad moment.
Time to dust off this video for what's around the corner
I’ve never understood why the bank did not receive bailout ! They were played out by politicians for other interest financial groups ! Could be nice to check out on these people !
Think you...
thanks algorithm for reminding me lehmans is gone for good, even as our markets plunge rn
I remember that week and day.... Learning how it happened.... ISMH!
the platitudes at the end though...
That's rough. When a homeless guy turns you down for some spare change you know you're SOL.
The background music is annoying and distracting. Both the level (relative to people speaking) and genre
I'm not sure whether to go with "Fuld dicked up the firm" (seems those frontline personnel used that one) or "despite their trendiness, mortgage-backed securities amounted to jack-assetry".
Love the guy that shows off his jacket and describes it as “sturdy” like Lehman. He was old so maybe he forgot that “sturdy” companies don’t file for bankruptcy. Lol
the s is silent.... explains it all
Not the correctly aligned background music. Sounds like it should be for a toy store overview.
Please, music: - 3dB