2008-09-11 — iht.com
Lehman shares traded for about $64 then. In the next six months, the company spent $1.1 billion repurchasing shares, at an average price of about $60 per share... Lehman was so confident that in January it stepped up its share repurchases, spending half a billion dollars in one month.
In April, it discovered it could use some capital. It raised $4 billion selling preferred stock. In June, it raised another $2 billion in preferred, at much harsher terms, and $4 billion by selling common shares at $28.
Floyd's write-up is really good. It makes me wonder if the people running these banks are simply too ignorant to run their own corporations. And I mean "ignorant" in the original sense of the word -- "not wanting to know the truth".
Update: Also see The NakedCapitalism news roundup on Lehman. This part is particularly interesting, in terms of hard numbers:
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. entered into talks with potential buyers of the securities firm after Moody's Investors Service said the company must find a ``stronger financial partner'' and the shares plummeted...
Without a ``strategic arrangement'' in the ``near term,'' Lehman's credit-ratings may be downgraded, Moody's said yesterday ...
Lehman would have to post $4.4 billion additional collateral for its derivative contracts in the event its rating is downgraded two notches, according to the firm's quarterly report filed with regulators in July.
Ouch.
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