Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc.

Down on Wall Street, the word of the hour is “deleveraging.” In the financial markets, deleveraging is a brutal and unpleasant thing, where lots of innocents get badly hurt.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have become plain old-fashioned bank holding companies. Lehman declared bankruptcy. The bull (Merrill) and the Bear (Stearns) have both been incorporated ignominiously into vastly larger megabanks.

Six years into his stewardship of Charlotte-based Bank of America, Ken Lewis, who was widely credited with turning the bank over from being a regional player into a powerful, diversified bank, admitted to $527 million in losses on debt products.  read more »

Brookfield Properties seems to be moving along with a renewal with Merrill Lynch at the World Financial Center, which, at least as of last month was likely to mean a five-year lease. On a conference call with investors today, a Brookfield executive said the company was in “active and productive discussions with Merrill,” though didn’t expand beyond that.  read more »

The co-president and chief operating officer of the globe’s most boring firm happens to live in Little Italy’s hippest building.  read more »

Crain's reports that Merrill Lynch, the newest New York scourge, has failed to create the jobs that it said it would when it got a $28 million tax incentive package in 1997, and, in fact, lost jobs. There seems to be at least some justice in the world, though, since the company has been penalized $500,000 for the shortfall. - Matthew Schuerman

Michelle Castro and Loren Douglass   Met: March 2003 Engaged: February 2006  read more »

Lois Weiss says Merrill Lynch is considering building a new headquarters downtown, perhaps even at the World Trade Center. But then again, maybe not. -Matthew Schuerman

The first quarter fund-raising numbers are beginning to trickle in, and once again Hillary Clinton is the big winner, raising a hefty $2 million a month each month from January through March. In a distant second place: Rick Santorum, whose war chest now holds $10 million, thanks to large GOP cash infusions -- and a little help from some New York friends.

A quick Politicker once-over of past Santorum donors turned up lots of usual suspects -- think Rupert Murdoch, who has given $4200, and Henry Kissinger, who plunked down $500 -- as well as some genuine surprises, like die-hard Democratic fund-raiser John Catsimatidis. The list also includes baby neo-con Mark Gerson, failed would-be senator Rick Lazio, MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow, controversial businessman Kenneth Langone, and a piggy bank's worth of Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns-ers (we're sure Mr. Santorum's plum position on the banking committee had nothing to do with that). Most impressive, however, was Mr. Santorum's ability to recruit a real, live Frank Sinatra and Robert E. Lee!

-- Lizzy Ratner

More names after the jump:  read more »

Larry Silverstein may be in a better negotiating position than people think. Sure, he is paying the Port Authority more than $10 million a year for 16 desolate acres that yield no manna, but a year ago, Silverstein said he would not need to begin drawing on the $3.5 billion in Liberty Bonds—the center of this whole dispute, remember--until 2009. “Applicant anticipates a series of Liberty Bond closings in 2009,” his April 13, 2005, Liberty Bond application states, in response to a question about when the applicant wants the proceeds from the bonds to be available.

In other words, Silverstein thought he could get by on his insurance proceeds, paying the rent, erecting much of both the Freedom Tower and Tower Two, and beginning design work on subsequent structures, for another three years. And at the time the application was submitted—days before the old design was scrapped—Silverstein was operating on a different timeline, under which the first tower would go up at the end of 2009, about a year before current projections.

Nor should the lack of tenants at 7 World Trade Center, which will open in May, be taken too seriously. According to an April 11, 2005, report by Merrill Lynch, Silverstein put away $57.1 million to pay off interest for the first two years to buy time for leasing up. Merrill guesses that the break-even rent at 7 WTC is really in the low- to mid-30s, meaning that, if desperate, Silverstein can drop his asking rent by another $15-20 a square foot, attract more customers, and still pay off his debt on that tower.

Silverstein's finances are sort of a black box. Mayor Bloomberg claims to have penetrated it and sees bankruptcy looming. But on the basis of this application, Silverstein appears financially strong enough to wait until he gets the deal he wants.

-Matthew Schuerman

Gold, the ultimate pre-postmodern investment, had a big 2002, with its best annual percentage gain s  read more »

Washingtonians have been diverted of late by a dumpy, bearded, middle-aged man running around on Pen  read more »

Only 1,325 days to go. Oh, man.  read more »

Here is the accepted history of New York City real estate: In 1626, Peter Minuit bought Manhattan Is  read more »

The markets havecrashed; the buyers are in retreat. Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley both  read more »

A little over a year ago, the acronyms B2B and B2C stood fora lot more than the Internet business mo  read more »

When Joseph M.  read more »

this oneA little over a year ago, the acronyms B2B and B2C stood for a lot more than the Internet bu  read more »

Before dawn on Friday, Feb. 11, a bomb went off on Wall Street and nobody really cared.  read more »

It was a long time coming–24 years to be exact.  read more »