Leiman Brothers
The Rise and fall or Lehman Brothers
Introduction
The Lehman Brothers, an investment bank dating back to 1850, filed for bankruptcy in 2008. An institution that managed to survive the Great Depression, two world wars and even all calamities in more than 158 years is no longer in business. On September 15th 2008, the Lehman Brothers, which was once know as one of the biggest investment banks, provided that it was going to file for bankruptcy protection (Mamudi). This news was received by the world at the time the market was expecting that someone will come out and help this organization.
The bankruptcy of the Lehman Brothers was not expected by anyone, and many people hoped that either a private company or the government was going to bail out the firm and prevent the bankruptcy move. Before that, there were talks indicating that, Barclays bank and Bank of Africa wanted to take over the investment bank (Sorkin). However, other organizations like the Federal Reserve that aided Bear Stearns to deal with the US Treasury were not willing to help the Lehman Brothers with their problem (Sorkin).
The firm filed for bankruptcy with about $639 billion in assets and about $619 billion in debt, which makes its bankruptcy filing the largest in history, while its assets surpassed the assets of the previous bankrupt giants like Enron and WorldCom. According to Qatinah (2012), the organization was the fourth largest US investment bank at the time it collapsed, with more than 25,000 employees.
The history of the Lehman Brothers can be traced back to 1844 when Henry Lehman travelled to the US for Bavaria and decided to settle in Montgomery, Alabama. He opened store “H. Lehman” that dealt in dry goods. The name of the firm was changed to “H. Lehman and Bro” in 1850 after Emanuel Lehman, Henry’s brother, arrived in the city. The firm managed to pull off its operations and succeeding in several fronts. However, even with many successful operations, the firm at last
Introduction
The Lehman Brothers, an investment bank dating back to 1850, filed for bankruptcy in 2008. An institution that managed to survive the Great Depression, two world wars and even all calamities in more than 158 years is no longer in business. On September 15th 2008, the Lehman Brothers, which was once know as one of the biggest investment banks, provided that it was going to file for bankruptcy protection (Mamudi). This news was received by the world at the time the market was expecting that someone will come out and help this organization.
The bankruptcy of the Lehman Brothers was not expected by anyone, and many people hoped that either a private company or the government was going to bail out the firm and prevent the bankruptcy move. Before that, there were talks indicating that, Barclays bank and Bank of Africa wanted to take over the investment bank (Sorkin). However, other organizations like the Federal Reserve that aided Bear Stearns to deal with the US Treasury were not willing to help the Lehman Brothers with their problem (Sorkin).
The firm filed for bankruptcy with about $639 billion in assets and about $619 billion in debt, which makes its bankruptcy filing the largest in history, while its assets surpassed the assets of the previous bankrupt giants like Enron and WorldCom. According to Qatinah (2012), the organization was the fourth largest US investment bank at the time it collapsed, with more than 25,000 employees.
The history of the Lehman Brothers can be traced back to 1844 when Henry Lehman travelled to the US for Bavaria and decided to settle in Montgomery, Alabama. He opened store “H. Lehman” that dealt in dry goods. The name of the firm was changed to “H. Lehman and Bro” in 1850 after Emanuel Lehman, Henry’s brother, arrived in the city. The firm managed to pull off its operations and succeeding in several fronts. However, even with many successful operations, the firm at last
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