The last tycoons: the secret history of Lazard Frères & Co (135 page)

Read The last tycoons: the secret history of Lazard Frères & Co Online

Authors: William D. Cohan

Tags: #Corporate & Business History, #France, #Lazard Freres & Co - History, #Banks & Banking, #Bankers - France, #Banks And Banking, #Finance, #Business, #Economics, #Bankers, #Corporate & Business History - General, #History Of Specific Companies, #Business & Economics, #History, #Banks and banking - France - History, #General, #New York, #Banks and banking - New York (State) - New York - History, #Bankers - New York (State) - New York, #Biography & Autobiography, #New York (State), #Biography

BOOK: The last tycoons: the secret history of Lazard Frères & Co
11.54Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

"We'll have a really interesting debate": Ibid. The analysis of the "politics" of the appointment also from ibid.

"That didn't make Michel happy": Andrews, "Felix Loses It."

"Why are you doing it": Woodward,
Maestro,
p. 156.

"squelch[ing] dissident thoughts": Ibid.

"You're crazy": Interview with FGR, January 3, 2005.

"Unlike some previous Fed vice chairmen":
WSJ,
January 19, 1996.

"R-O-H-A-T-Y-N spells stagflation":
Time,
February 26, 1996.

"What will happen if we send you": Woodward,
Maestro
, p. 162.

"financier-pundit Felix Rohatyn": Paul Krugman, "Stay on Their Backs,"
NYT Magazine,
February 4, 1996.

"An example of what should not be done": Transcript of President Clinton's speech at the Sheraton New York, February 15, 1996, from Clinton Foundation.

Felix had already left: Interview with FGR, January 3, 2005.

"Michel has been buttressing himself": Andrews, "Felix Loses It."

"Felix is angry and bitter": Ibid.

"I don't believe Felix ever intended": Interview with Suzanna Andrews, November 9, 2005.

"Steve is so monomaniacal": Andrews, "Felix Loses It."

"I hope you throw away your notebook": Interviews with SR, September 14, 2004, and Suzanna Andrews, November 9, 2005.

"in the past few years": Andrews, "Felix Loses It."

"there is a perception": Ibid.

"You have to understand" and other quotations: Andrews, "Felix Loses It."

"The son is getting too successful": Ibid.

"It is almost a crime": Ibid.

"Culture change is hard": Interview with Arthur Sulzberger Jr., March 29,2005.

"The success and the dysfunction of Lazard": Andrews, "Felix Loses It."

Chapter 14. "It's a White Man's World"

"And here they are at twenty-five thousand feet": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"I have never seen it to that extent": Interview with MDW, November 30,2005.

"She has this house with birds": Suzanna Andrews, "The Scion in Winter,"
Vanity Fair,
March 1997, p. 276.

"Fees for services rendered": Interview with a Lazard partner.

Interview with a Lazard partner, October 27, 2006.

"half of Michel is better": Interview with MDW, January 31, 2005.

"My wife, who is not terribly sensitive": Interview with MDW, November 15, 2006.

"He adored his girls": Interview with a longtime Lazard observer.

"Felix, why don't you go": Interviews with Lazard partners.

"No, it didn't happen": Interview with FGR, May 25, 2005.

"Getting into our building": Interview with Alan McFarland, April 5, 2005.

"moved from bachelor around town": Ibid.

two hookers: Interviews with Lazard partners.

"When I was there": Interview with a Lazard banker.

"Like all these beautiful young girls": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"And sure enough": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"Lazard being the way it is": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"I think the firm was small": Interview with WL, June 30, 2005.

"We were kind of": Ibid.

"She'd been there for a couple of months": Interview with a Lazard banker.

"It was a very small firm": Interview with Mina Gerowin, January 6, 2005.

"I told him to fuck off": Ibid.

"I'm so frosted at this": Ibid.

"He heard what was happening": Ibid.

"So did these things happen?": Ibid.

"You'd walk into their office": Ibid.

"I don't know why she's here": Ibid.

"Why are we firing Mina?": Ibid.

"It was so brutal": Ibid.

"You're not being very productive": Ibid.

"From the beginning": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"Why don't you just go home": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"And while we were one": Interview with Kathy Kelly, April 6, 2005.

"And it was the beginning": Ibid.

"utils," "cogs in the machine": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"Obviously that's where it becomes": Interview with a Lazard banker.

"It's a white man's world": Interview with a Lazard banker.

"I believe that Bill Loomis": Interview with Kelly, April 6, 2005.

"I remember Michel saying to me": Interview with Christina Mohr, January 6, 2005.

"I think that Christina Mohr": Interview with WL, June 30, 2005.

"Basically she came back": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"Michel sent us over there": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"And there were no walls": Interview with Kate Bohner, May 2, 2005.

"Remarkably, it wasn't as jarring": Kate Bohner, "Stiletto Feminists,"
George,
August 2000.

"I was very naive": Interview with Bohner, May 2, 2005.

"still wouldn't have been": Ibid.

"Back then, if I was a client": Ibid.

"I lived at Claridge's": Ibid.

"I didn't understand": Ibid.

"I don't understand why a girl": Ibid.

"It was sort of just like constant": Ibid.

"She's getting killed": Ibid.

"When somebody confronted me": Ibid.

"The tally of people": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"I think that it is a remarkable": Interview with Kelly, April 6, 2005.

"blissfully unaware": Interview with FGR, May 25, 2005.

"Without going into personalities": Interview with a Lazard banker.

regular visitor to Bohner's office: Interview with Bohner, May 2, 2005.

Account of a senior vice president at Bohner's apartment: Interviews with Bohner (May 2, 2005), Mary Conwell (August 2006), and Lazard partners.

"throw me into a brick wall": Interview with Bohner, May 2, 2005.

"If I had gone to Bill Loomis": Ibid.

"I was embarrassed by the whole situation": Ibid.

Account of Kate Bohner's relationship with Ward Woods: Ibid.

"There were a series of very difficult": Interview with WL, June 30, 2005.

"I'd say, in 1980": Ibid.

"Kate came into my office": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"Then all of a sudden": Ibid.

"And of being a class act": Ibid.

Account of Robert Agostinelli incidents: Interviews with Lazard partners.

Account of Kate Bohner's post-Lazard activities: Interview with Bohner, May 2, 2005, and press accounts.

Chapter 15. The Heir Apparent

"We are at our very core": MDW memorandum, March 1, 1996.

"The article in
New York Magazine":
FGR memorandum, March 4, 1996.

"There's absolutely no excuse": Interview with FGR, January 3, 2005.

"Look, what happened, happened": Ibid.

"He's a complicated guy": Interview with SR, September 14, 2004.

"We were both viewed in the firm": Ibid.

"She was a dreadful woman": Interview with FGR, January 3, 2005.

"Which wasn't quite true": Ibid.

"They ought to have somebody": Ibid.

"And I said to Elizabeth": Ibid.

"You know, Mr. Rohatyn": Ibid.

"So I gave that to Vernon": Ibid.

"There is still no decision": Ibid.

"really, really terrible": Ibid.

Perella denied: Author's e-mail correspondence with Perella, March 17,2006.

"He had immense charm": Bryan Burrough, "The Man in the Latex Suit,"
Vanity Fair,
July 2005.

three facets of the Stern biography: From press accounts--especially Burrough, "Man in the Latex Suit"; Kate Bohner Lewis, "I Just Detest Incompetence,"
Forbes,
November 20, 1995; and Suzanna Andrews, "The Scion in Winter,"
Vanity Fair,
March 1997--and interviews with Jeffrey Keil on January 26, 2006, and March 8, 2006.

partridge, pheasant, and duck shoot: Interviews with Keil.

"I knew this was the way": Bohner Lewis, "I Just Detest Incompetence."

"True, it was the family bank": Ibid.

"Everyone said Edouard stole": Burrough, "Man in the Latex Suit."

"the person she had loved": Interview with MDW, April 12, 2005.

"Edouard was like a tornado":
Le Nouvel Observateur,
March 10, 2005.

"Beware of self-made men": Andrews, "Scion in Winter."

"The single most distinctive": Burrough, "Man in the Latex Suit"; and interviews with Keil.

"Those of you who trust me": "Stern: La mort enigmatique d'un homme presse,"
Le Figaro,
March 12, 2005.

"Edouard sauntered onto the plane": Interview with Jon Wood, February 1,2005.

"He always wanted to challenge": Burrough, "Man in the Latex Suit."

Account of investigation into Stern's purchase of Consolidated Gold shares: British Department of Trade and Industry, chap. 19, pp. 576-90, published in book form in 1994.

"were concerned to ascertain": Ibid.

"deliberately failed to ensure": Ibid.

"There is no evidence": Ibid.

"I see it as a learning experience": Bohner Lewis, "I Just Detest Incompetence."

"In Paris there were people": Interview with MDW, December 1, 2004.

crook: Interview with a Lazard partner.

"I think it had a huge impact": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"He can be absolutely": Andrews, "Scion in Winter."

"There was only one person": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"When things didn't go exactly": Burrough, "Man in the Latex Suit."

"If you had to choose, in France": Interview with MDW, December 1, 2004.

"Maybe I would have felt different": Ibid.

"there were a lot of questions": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"Jupiter turned out to be": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"This sent a clear message": Bohner Lewis, "I Just Detest Incompetence."

"I was not sure absolutely": Interview with MDW, April 12, 2005.

"I had to clean up Stern's mess": Bohner Lewis, "I Just Detest Incompetence."

Stern and the Chunnel bonds: Interview with a Lazard partner.

"Stern negotiated a hell of a deal": Bohner Lewis, "I Just Detest Incompetence."

"the best merchant banker": Interview with MDW, December 1, 2004.

"On the advisory front": Interview with Patrick Sayer, January 31, 2005.

"Which really proves": Interview with MDW, December 1, 2004.

"One can debate": Ibid.

"Which I should have known": Ibid.

"It's important to have somebody": Ibid.

"At one point, Michel had to": Interview with Jean-Michel Steg, February 1,2005.

"The partners there look like": Andrews, "Scion in Winter."

"At first there was a lot of initial skepticism": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"le gendre incontrolable"
:
Evening Standard
(London), June 10, 2005.

"I just detest incompetence": Bohner Lewis, "I Just Detest Incompetence."

"I don't think Edouard": Andrews, "Scion in Winter."

"Beatrice would be better off": Ibid.

"Ms. Lauvergeon's professional":
Le Monde,
November 1996, and
NYT
, November 13, 1996.

"a furious dispute":
NYT
, November 13, 1996.

"Either I am going to be the boss": Andrews, "Scion in Winter."

"I want you to retire": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"I treated him like my son": Interview with MDW, December 1, 2004.

"Michel does know a lot about medicine": e-mail correspondence with WL.

"Michel is the only person": Interviews with Kim Fennebresque, October 19 and 25, 2004.

"enjoys cigars": "Cigars in the Boardroom,"
Cigar Aficionado,
June 1, 1995.

"fucking bushel": Interviews with Fennebresque, October 19 and 25, 2004.

"So some Puerto Rican": Ibid.

"The law is very strange": Interview with MDW, April 12, 2005.

"Lazard is like Wall Street": Description of Lazard at iWon.com.

"Agostinelli had his girlfriend": Interview with Ken Wilson, January 18, 2005.

"He had someone send for his stash": Interviews with Fennebresque, October 19 and 25, 2004.

"She'd call me": Ibid.

"I used to watch Michel": Ibid.

"You know, in life": Interview with MDW, December 1, 2004.

"We do not like to make revolutions": Robert Teitelman, "Divided We Fall,"
Institutional Investor
, May 1993.

"If I were not sane": AE, December 15, 2000.

"Edouard was very impatient": Interview with MDW, December 1, 2004.

"people basically respected my decisions": Ibid.

"What caught me by surprise":
Financial Times
, January 11, 1997.

"Sooner or later": Ibid.

"Any investment bank": John Gapper,
Financial Times
, October 6, 2004, and
Financial Times
, May 2, 1997.

"Michel is in a very tight spot": Andrews, "Scion in Winter."

"Michel always tries to put the best face": Ibid.

"His joy is power and exercising power": Ibid.

"Be careful with him": Ibid.

"Those whose enduring object is power": Thomas Pynchon,
Against the Day
(New York: Penguin Press, 2006).

"There is a fashion": Ibid.

"He said it was a disappointment": Interview with Suzanna Andrews, November 9, 2005.

"For some reason, he decided": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"Edouard has great and real talent":
NYT
, May 23, 1997.

"He always made money": Interview with MDW.

"I love and respect Beatrice": Burrough, "Man in the Latex Suit."

"Felix Rohatyn has been my partner": MDW memorandum, April 15, 1997.

Chapter 16. "All the Responsibility but None of the Authority"

"We demanded that he attend":
Euromoney
, January 2001.

"You don't understand who Bruce is": Ibid.

"We're going to try to merge": Interview with FGR, January 3, 2005.

"You can't merge with Wasserstein": Ibid.

"Felix was deeply skeptical": Interview with Ken Wilson, January 18, 2005.

"They were a bunch of turkeys": Ibid.

Other books

The Language Revolution by Crystal, David
Morgan's Hunter by Cate Beauman
Voodoo by Samantha Boyette
Porcelain Keys by Beard, Sarah
The Testament by Elie Wiesel
Pushing Upward by Andrea Adler
Teacher Screecher by Peter Bently