Thursday, July 10, 2008

BusinessWeek's No. 33 - Lehman Brothers

No. 33: Lehman Brothers Holdings

Industry: Financials
Sales: $57.6 billion
Net Income: $3.5 billion

Lehman Brothers (LEH) was expected to get one of the worst cases of subprime flu. The company was known, after all, for its strength in mortgage-backed securities—sort of like the fallen Bear Stearns. But Lehman lives and, unlike Merrill Lynch and Citigroup, still has its top brass, including CEO Richard Fuld. Lehman's losses have been remarkably small, and executives effectively doused rumors of a meltdown when Bear failed. The secret? Apparently, better risk controls, along with fact-filled straight talk to the fearful. Still, the firm is highly leveraged. The final throes of the global credit contraction will test just how good it really is.

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