company town
Rupert Murdoch Is Full of Vim, Vigor and Probably Viagra
Photo: Getty Images
MEDIA
• Since he met Wendi Deng, Rupert Murdoch "tends to wear more-casual black fashion outside of work, and his hair appears to betray appointments with a colorist." [Newsweek]
• The Pentagon looks pretty bad in yesterday's big Times exposé, but news organizations look even worse. [Salon]
• CNN reporter Richard Quest is being arraigned today after he violated Central Park's curfew — and voluntarily told police that he had meth in his pocket. [NYT]
FINANCE
• Bank of America saw its third consecutive drop in earnings as it reported that profits were down 77 percent in first quarter. The firm also announced nearly $2 billion in write-downs. "These results clearly did not meet our expectations," the bank's chairman and CEO Kenneth Lewis said. No, really? [DealBook/NYT]
• Is the mayor considering merging his financial news service, Bloomberg LP, with the New York Times? [NYP]
• Scores strip club files for bankruptcy. (That counts as finance, right? Ha-ha.) [NYO]
REAL ESTATE
• A hedge-fund manager paid $801,000 for a storage room in the Dakota, the Upper West Side co-op near Central Park. [Law.com,
• Is this Clear Channel 2.0? Credit-card processor Alliance Data Systems is suing Blackstone, accusing the private-equity firm of breaching its agreement to buy the company. [WSJ]
