LEHMAN BROTHERS ALUMNI

I DO!

First of all apologies for this long period without posting but my work kept me busy and also many thanks for the emails of support I have received.
So I was anxious about finding a topic to dicuss but luckily enough and despite not seeing a lot of daylight lately I could not miss the raging press coverage on Nicolas' latest venture: psychoauction.com (note that there had been a first article more than 6 months ago that had already created a fair amount of buzz within the Lehmanites community of London). First thing first, selected excerpts:

an investment banker has launched an eBay-style website that claims to have sold, among other things, dollar bills for two cents and an iPhone for 31 cents: well let's face it that does not have to be Nicolas, other people at Lehman had issues with the use of appropriate valuation methodologies

Dickreuter himself — with that name, can the whole thing perhaps be a spoof?: Yes I was a bit surprised too first time I heard it

A spoof — or a demonstration of why Lehmans went bust?: Easy there, he was not exactly trusted with the bank's prop books

A city trader involved in billion-dollar deals: The one I knew was a first year analyst in Investment Banking within the European Tech and Industrial teams - not exactly The Last Tycoon

I do have great respect for money," said the former Lehman Brothers hedge-fund manager: Cute

"If I keep on losing money I may have to look for investors,": If only he had been introduced to Dick Fuld in time...

The Swiss-born 30-year-old made a fortune during a five year spell at Lehman Brothers as a merger and acquisitions expert: lol

He realised the world of finance was not for him: no comment

More seriously I had a chance to know Nicolas and learnt to appreciate him a lot. He is a very kind person and extremely smart: just spend 2 min understanding how the scheme behind his penny auctions works, you had to come up with something like this. But let's face it, at the end of the day, it is a cunning and sly business model. Abusing naive people and using the Lehman story to get tabloids coverage is quite vile. Let's hope he realises it soon and drops the whole thing for another smart but more respectable idea.

Links to articles quoted in this post:
Times Online Mail Online Sun Online