Everything Your Facebook Friends Said About The Grammys Is Probably Wrong @4:23 PM
Last night's Grammys caught up to Time's Person Of The Year declaration from 2006 and so they were all about You. You had the opportunity to cover Lady GaGa's "Poker Face" or Beyoncé's "Halo" and appear as a member of a YouTubeMosaic. You had the power to select which song Bon Jovi would exhume from its well-worn back catalog. You had the opportunity to watch the shaggy-haired founder of a cool blogging platform that You might use cover the awards, even if he wasn't 100% clear on who would be amenable to a red-carpet question about his service. And, most crucially, You were able to watch as the artists that You might enjoy were honored by the telecast—provided that the songs and albums You liked had come out before August 30. READ MORE 29
Secretary Shafts Jerk Boss @3:50 PM
This is very dreamy. Though she participated in her lawyer-boss's (alleged!) hiding of fees, once he became a total schmuck, this secretary narced him out hard. The motivation?
[The secretary] said she started getting the cold shoulder in 1999 after she refused to take time from a busy schedule to do some work for Gross’ wife, Heidi Gross, a lawyer in the firm. There were other incidents, one of which ended with Gross calling her a “fucking idiot,” McCarthy told the disciplinarians.
In 2002, not long after Gross scrawled “no” across her vacation request and threw it into a wastebasket, McCarthy told members of the firm about the 1998 check.
It's a done deal: New York dealer and great annoyance (but also a marvel) Jeffrey Deitch will head up MOCA. This seems like such an odd choice—on Deitch's part! What's the commercial upside for him? There presumably is one, hence why this happened. Why is it better than the money-printing shop he currently owns? @2:08 PM 9
U.S. Banks "Very Liquid"–with $1.2 Trillion in Cash @11:51 AM
Today's Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research paper on U.S. banks is five kinds of fascinating—spelling out as it does that banks are currently cash-rich, yet still fairly lending-averse. (Consumer loans were, however, up slightly in December, which is a yearly bump.) While sitting on $1.2 trillion in cash—$1.2 trillion is also the total value of China's exports in 2009, by the way!—GS notes that, in the fourth quarter, "Loans were down slightly after 3Q's 4% decline." How are they filling this big kiddie pool up with cash? A good chunk of it is your card use fees, various "late" and service fees, and, natch, that old standby, credit card interest. In case you speak bank, then you can understand this, and can translate in the comments: "Credit card early delinquencies have turned, and consumer is 40% of provisions for large banks. We think the next product to turn in 2010 will be commercial (C&I) with improving corporate defaults." 11
Well, This Happened @3:05 PM
Clusterstock notes: "This is pretty much the perfect metaphor for 2009." Dealbreaker notes: "We Are Doomed." 8
Won't You Please Take Our Tiny Reader Survey? @11:45 AM
Hello Awl readers! This is David Cho, "business guy" of The Awl, here to ask a favor of you. We currently need a little information about who you are, so we've put together this small little survey (so small!) that asks a few questions about you and your entertainment-consuming habits. If you wouldn't mind clicking this link and taking about 45 seconds to answer the survey as honestly as possible, it would be very much appreciated. Thanks! Here is another link for the survey! As always, if you have any questions, drop us a line. 115
Christmas Card Leaves Gingers Seeing Red @11:25 AM
British retailer Tesco has apologized after one of its Christmas cards, which reads "SANTA loves all kids. Even GINGER ones," unsurprisingly provoked fury in people with red hair, who tend to be the quickest to fly off the handle in explosive rage. "It is never our intention to offend any customer and we are sorry if this card caused any upset," said a spokeswoman for the company, which has withdrawn the card. 20
Goldman Foundation Gives Away At Least a Whopping 5% of Its Assets Each Year @11:29 AM
Isn't that anticlimactic? The Goldman Foundation is one of the ten largest corporate foundations in the U.S., in terms of assets, according to the Times. But they don't even make the top 50 list in terms of giving. With assets of $404 million, in 2008, it gave away $22 million—and the amount of trading the firm did on its Foundation account is out of this world (resulting in, naturally, a loss, though that'll turn around this year). Similarly? The Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund, for 2007, had assets of $431 million and gave $79 million (that's about 16%, in terms of giving v. assets). How does this stack up? READ MORE 1
What Did Google Buy, and Why? @11:40 AM
This map of companies purchased by Google is insanely useful because first you realize that you have no idea what any of these companies are and then you realize you have no idea what Google is up to. I am looking forward to someone explaining it to us; I will report back in short order. One item of interest: they have no interest in news, having purchased only one "news"-related company, FeedBurner, which is actually an RSS service and, more importantly, an RSS ad delivery system. 9
The New HR Stupidity: The Lay-Off-And-Reapply @10:00 AM
Today David Carr writes about how the Journal News (a suburban Westchester newspaper) essentially laid off all 288 of its staff and invited them to apply for the for the 218 or so jobs that remained after "restructuring." This is super nasty! But it's secretly and not-secretly going on all over. For instance, Johnson & Johnson recently did the same thing when it consolidated business units: they laid off a couple dozen senior vice presidents and invited them all to apply for the remaining, much-fewer jobs. This is obviously the best possible way to treat employees. 10
Goldman Sachs, Liars @5:03 PM
The huge fat lie that layoffs are necessary for companies to succeed in these times was exposed today when Goldman Sachs issued its quarter 1 earnings. Dealbreaker notice the key data: the company's headcount was down 7% over the previous fiscal year. And yet! Compensation and benefits for staff were up 18% over the previous year, "primarily due to higher net revenues." Got it, boys. 0
CEOS UNCONFIDENT! @10:53 AM
Business Roundtable has released a report on America's CEOs; it says a survey finds CEOs lacking "confidence"! Why are America's leaders so bereft of confidence? Who did this to them? Well, they will get some confidence the old-fashioned way: "More than two-thirds of CEOs surveyed said they planned more layoffs." 0
