The last tycoons: the secret history of Lazard Frères & Co (139 page)

"I'm very appreciative that Hancock":
WSJ,
September 30, 1993.

"to do one last deal": "Dressing Up Lazard."

"I wish I had Lazard's asset management franchise":
Financial Times,
December 6, 2002.

Lazard Asset Management IPO idea: Numerous press reports, including
Financial Times,
February 6, 2003, and December 6 and 5, 2002.

"What can I do to get you to stay?":
Institutional Investor,
February 12, 2004.

"Norman Eig misread":
Financial Times,
February 6, 2003.

"What happened at LAM":
Institutional Investor,
February 12, 2004.

"Bruce came in and they started to talk": Interview with Ken Wilson, February 3, 2005.

"worst business meeting he ever had": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"sleazoid": Interview with Wilson, February 3, 2005.

"it's just generally known": Ibid.

"It has to be considered brilliant":
Daily Deal
, December 16, 2003.

"What do you gain":
Newsweek,
February 23, 2004.

"It basically goes to confidence": Ibid.

"maddeningly vague":
NYT,
December 18, 2003.

"Certainly, if you look at it":
NYT,
December 22, 2003.

"It's really weird":
New York Observer
, December 22, 2003.

"A lot of them are big ego trips":
NYT,
December 18, 2003.

"At best, the magazine": Ibid.

"approximately $2.0 billion": Wasserstein & Co. Web site.

"Mr. Wasserstein has stated":
New York Observer,
January 5, 2004, p. 4.

"I think that Bruce was surprised":
NYT,
December 18, 2003.

"just to be clear, Media Maneuvers": Yvette Kantrow, Media Maneuvers,
Daily Deal,
January 9, 2004.

"everybody, i am happy to announce": E-mail from Adam Moss to staff of
New York,
July 14, 2005.

"There's a view at the big firms":
WSJ,
November 13, 2002.

"after twenty-five years of blowing cigar smoke":
Financial Times,
February 20, 2004.

"The capital partners are concerned": Interview with a Lazard banker.

"You can understand that the capitalists":
Financial News,
January 2004.

"You'd go to a board meeting": "The Taking of Lazard,"
BusinessWeek
, November 6, 2006.

"cordial": Interview with MDW, January 12, 2005.

"Bruce has done a decent job":
New York Post,
February 23, 2004.

"If you hire a brash": Matthew Lynn, Bloomberg.com, February 25, 2004.

"Mr. Wasserstein is head of Lazard":
Financial Times,
March 8, 2004.

"ungentlemanly tussle":
Financial Times,
March 5, 2004.

"hyperkinetic":
BusinessWeek,
February 24, 2003.

"I am gratified by the relationship": MDW in Eurazeo 2003 annual report.

"If Lazard goes back to delivering":
Daily Telegraph,
March 9, 2004.

"Because we have not highlighted": Mike Castellano memorandum, March 12, 2004.

"Lazard management is currently leading":
WSJ,
April 2, 2004.

"window dressing": Interview with MDW, November 30, 2005.

"we have been told that this year":
Financial Times,
April 3, 2004.

"all votes on issues": Ibid.

"There were differences over the timing": Press reports, including Dow Jones newswires, of the Eurazeo meeting, May 5, 2004.

"According to the financial statements": MDW memorandum, May 11,2004.

"With regard to the notice": BW memorandum, May 14, 2004.

"This is Michel's greatest nightmare": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"muscle memory": Ibid.

"Mr. Wasserstein is more interested":
Economist,
February 26, 2004.

Lazard had started interviewing underwriters:
Investment Dealers' Digest,
May 24, 2004.

"besieged" by bankers:
Financial Times,
June 16, 2004.

"We are listening and evaluating":
Financial Times,
June 16, 2004.

"We do expect significantly": Ibid.

"If he doesn't come up with a plan": Ibid.

"An IPO could...solve one of":
WSJ,
June 17, 2004.

"Even if Lazard does one day plump":
Financial Times,
June 16, 2004.

"put aside" their "long-standing differences":
Le Monde,
June 25, 2004.

"the two men agreed": Ibid.

"He yearns to be an industrialist":
Financial Times,
October 9, 2004.

Steve Golub's role as intermediary: Interviews with Ken Jacobs (December 6,2005) and Steve Golub (October 31 and December 2, 2005).

"When we first started out": Interview with Golub, October 31, 2005.

"Not good": Jeffrey Sonnenfeld,
WSJ,
July 14, 2004.

"No firm decision has been made":
WSJ
, August 20, 2004.

buy the combined 36 percent: Emily Thornton, "The End Game at Lazard,"
BusinessWeek,
August 26, 2004.

"David-Weill is one of the wiliest":
Bloomberg News,
August 27, 2004.

"crazy": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"It's a mess": Ibid.

"We don't want to go from having a king":
Financial Times,
October 4, 2004.

"Rumpled, ruthless, Bid 'Em Up Bruce":
New York Observer,
September 20, 2004.

Bruce gave a presentation: Press reports (see
WSJ,
September 27, 2004) and interviews with Lazard partners.

"The public is going to be along":
WSJ,
September 27, 2004.

"There are several issues":
New York Observer,
September 20, 2004.

"People fearful for their jobs": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"We are not going to sign under duress":
Financial Times,
October 3, 2004.

"I would completely agree with that":
Sunday Telegraph,
October 10, 2004.

"We're paying Michel out at a premium":
WSJ,
October 4, 2004.

"He was shocked and not very excited": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"serene ambience":
Financial Times,
October 6, 2004.

"floating a company like Lazard": Ibid.

"I remember being surprised": Interview with MDW, January 31, 2005.

"They are all at a canonical age":
Le Nouvel Observateur,
October 14, 2004.

"Now he has to consult":
WSJ,
October 6, 2004.

"Many of us are already rich": October 6, 2004.

"For Bruce it's a great deal": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"Bruce seems very sure of himself":
Financial Times,
October 9, 2004.

"the firm is in a complete state of disarray":
NYT,
October 5, 2004.

"putting lipstick on a pig":
NYT,
October 3, 2004.

"We have informed the capitalists": BW to Lazard partners, October 5, 2004.

"I'm wedded to history": B
usiness-Week
, November 6, 2006.

"It is less a charm offensive":
Sunday Telegraph,
October 10, 2004.

"He draws energy":
Financial Times,
October 9, 2004.

"When you hire an investment bank":
Financial Times,
October 7, 2004.

"As far as I'm concerned":
Sunday Times,
October 17, 2004.

"The people who are suffering":
WSJ,
October 13, 2004.

"After having consulted with my partners": MDW e-mail to BW, October 22, 2004.

"If I just say no": Interview with MDW, January 12, 2005.

"Michel tried to find a successor": Interview with Jean-Claude Haas, February 1, 2005.

"strong belief in the future of Lazard": MDW e-mail to BW, October 21, 2004.

"satisfied that enough of the partners":
Financial Times,
October 21, 2004.

"I was very pleased to learn of your decision": BW e-mail to MDW, October 21, 2004.

Chapter 21. "The End of a Dynasty"

"Everyone then knew this was a stress sell": Interview with a Lazard banker.

"Frenchman who was prepared": Vicky Ward, "Lazard's Clash of the Titans,"
Vanity Fair,
April 2005.

"Absolutely. But Wasserstein had the money": Interview with Jean-Claude Haas, February 1, 2005.

"The conditions are not seen as that important":
Times
(London), October 22,2004.

"just trying to do what is best for the firm":
Financial Times,
October 23, 2004.

"blessed with the psychological trait":
WSJ,
December 7, 2004.

"We have to be as unselfish": Ibid.

"an extra steel beam and a cement support": Ibid.

"better, more intimate relationship": Interview with MDW, November 15,2006.

"very good about the letters I wrote in May": Ibid.

"I feel good about my letters, too": Ibid.

"the history of ambiguity": Ibid.

"There are clearly two different points of view": Ward, "Lazard's Clash of the Titans."

"an act of faith": Interview with Jean-Claude Haas, February 1, 2005.

Lazard's financial performance: S-1 document, December 17, 2004.

"So we're at the beginning of a resurgence": BW lecture at Yale University School of Management, September 29, 2005.

"His timing as always is exquisite":
Bloomberg,
December 17, 2004.

"I'll be stunned": Interview with Damon Mezzacappa.

"First of all, I think Bruce": Interview with FGR, January 3, 2005.

"I was wrong": Interview with FGR, October 17, 2006.

"I'm very uncertain it will occur": Interview with MDW, January 12, 2005.

"The tax part was only":
Financial Times,
December 20, 2004.

managing directors to sign so-called retention agreements: Lazard Ltd. S-1.

"I'd sure hate to be": Lazard chat room on Vault.com, December 24, 2004.

"following the hiring of new senior management": Lazard Ltd. S-1.

"These provisions [in the buyout agreement] are inappropriate": Correspondence between various Lazard partners, January 14, 2005.

"They believe in a strong attack": Ibid.

"Which is just not right": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"He was found at his Geneva home": Swiss press reports, March 2, 2005.

"I called my daughter Beatrice": Interview with MDW, April 12, 2005.

"He was rich, he got on people's nerves":
Le Figaro,
March 2, 2005.

"He was not only ruthless":
Evening Standard
(London), June 10, 2005.

"He was a discreet man":
Tribune de Geneve,
March 3, 2005.

"I was thinking, maybe he slipped and fell": Bryan Burrough, "The Man in the Latex Suit,"
Vanity Fair,
July 2005.

"Good, Mr. Stern is home":
Tribune de Geneve,
March 3, 2005.

"I went to the door": Burrough, "Man in the Latex Suit."

"He was aware of men watching":
Mail on Sunday
, April 24, 2005.

"And she's some kind of artist": Burrough, "Man in the Latex Suit."

"Edouard and Beatrice no longer sleep": Interview with MDW, January 12,2005.

"He gave them both affection and energy": Interview with MDW, April 12,2005.

"It is very sad": Conversation with Annik Percival, May 31, 2005.

"Edouard was very upset": Burrough, "Man in the Latex Suit."

They had also discussed:
Tribune de Geneve,
October 18, 2006.

"I'm never going to see her again": Burrough, "Man in the Latex Suit."

"Only two people know what happened": Ibid.

"I don't think you negotiate": Ibid.

"He presses a button":
Paris Match,
March 24, 2005.

"A million dollars is expensive":
L'Express,
May 9, 2005.

"Some people are always Machiavellian": Interview with MDW, April 12,2005.

"but as my father used to say": Ibid.

"She is a desperate woman": Press reports.

Eurazeo sold its IRR stake: Press reports and Eurazeo's 2005 annual report.

price range for the equity: Amended S-1, April 11, 2005.

"hedge funds": Interview with Steve Golub, December 2, 2005.

"the firm lost money in each of the last three years": Amended S-1.

"I am flabbergasted, I have to say": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"There is a clear pattern of greed": Interview with Ken Wilson, April 11,2005.

"All this raises the question:"
Economist,
April 14, 2005.

"Add it all up":
BusinessWeek,
April 25, 2005.

"one of the most complicated things": Ibid.

"Bruce Wasserstein joined Lazard three years ago": Thomas Tuft, Lazard IPO road show, New York Palace, April 27, 2005.

"The threshold issue when you're thinking about Lazard": BW, ibid.

"Lazard is a very special place": Ibid.

"The more complicated the structure": Reuters, April 29, 2005.

"How awful is this Lazard IPO deal?": Jim Cramer, "Lazard IPO No More Than a Buy-Off," RealMoney.com, May 2, 2005.

"It was a complicated deal": Interview with Wilson, May 17, 2005.

"Given the change in the debt market":
Financial News,
May 5, 2005.

"Goldman priced right through the static": Interview with Ken Jacobs, December 6, 2005.

"Bruce had all the cards":
NYT,
May 5, 2005.

"I was associated with Lazard for 45 years": MDW press statement, May 4,2005.

dinner at Per Se: Interview with Tom Tuft, February 6, 2006.

Lazard IPO first-day trading: From NYSE.com.

"When you see it trading near the offer price":
Bloomberg,
May 5, 2005.