Air France-KLM, Lufthansa and International Airlines Group (IAG, which owns British Airways and Iberia), are all in the same fix. Low-cost rivals such as EasyJet and Ryanair now dominate short-haul services. Europe's national flag-carriers are struggling to stay in short-haul, to ensure they have passengers to feed into their more profitable long-haul routes
http://econ.st/1sDuxik
Wife's Trades Sink Banker
Swiss National Bank President Hildebrand has resigned in the wake of a scandal involving currency trades, removing a bank chief who has generated both controversy and plaudits during his two-year tenure.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. INFORMAL SAYING
said when you recognize that something is in a satisfactory state, and there is no reason to try to change it
John A. Thain won plaudits as Wall Street's Mr. Fix-It by revitalizing the embattled New York Stock Exchange. Now, he has been tasked with turning around
Merrill Lynch, the once-proud Wall Street firm battered by losses from the mortgage debacle.
The challenge officially began Wednesday, when Mr. Thain, who had risen to co-president of
Goldman Sachs but left for the stock exchange, was named chairman and chief executive of Merrill. Mr. Thain was selected, not just because of his success at the exchange but also because of his understanding of risk management systems at Goldman, which has largely avoided the problems plaguing its rivals, The New York Times said.
Bloomberg News notes that Mr. Thain is the first chief executive in Merrill's 93-year history with no prior links to the firm. The hiring of a complete outsider, it said, amounts to a "recognition of the mess made by [his] predecessor," E. Stanley O'Neal, it wrote.
Breakingviews points out another potential reason why Merrill tapped Mr. Thain. If fixing Merrill should require drastic steps, such as merger, his record of deal-making at
NYSE Euronext suggests he's well-equipped to achieve it -- unlike Mr. O'Neal, who Breakingviews says bungled his last-minute approach to
Wachovia.
Go to Article from The New York Times»
Go to Article from Bloomberg News »
Go to Article from Breakingviews»
Go to Press Release from Merrill Lynch»
Below, more coverage of Mr. Thain's move to Merrill from The Times and DealBook:
-- Many were surprised that BlackRock chief
Laurence Fink was not offered the job
-- With Mr. Fink passed over, will
ties between Merrill and BlackRock be strained?
-- Mr. Thain is out of the running in
Citigroup's C.E.O. search
--
Goldman's high-powered alumni continue to extend their reach
-- The
new chief of NYSE Euronext will face his own challenges
-- Mr. Thain and the man he's replacing have
a few things in common
NOUN
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alumnus Show phonetics
noun [C] plural alumni MAINLY US
someone who has left a school, college or university after completing their studies there:
the alumni of St MacNissi's College
Several famous alumni have agreed to help raise money for the school's restoration fund.
An alumnus (masculine, plural alumni) or alumna (feminine, plural alumnae)
is a former student or pupil of a school, college, or university.
Commonly, but not always, the word refers to a graduate of the
educational institute in question.[1] An alumnus can also be a former member, employee, contributor, or inmate, as well as a former student.[2][3] If a group includes both sexes, even if there is only one male, the male plural form alumni is used.plaudit plau·dit (
plô'dĭt)
n.
Enthusiastic expression of praise or approval:
a new play that opened to the plaudits of the critics.
[Short for Latin plaudite, pl. imperative of plaudere, to applaud (used at the end of Roman plays).]
