Crisis takes toll on Lehman and Bear Stearns

The hardest hit of the top investment banks have been Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers. On the surface, this seems logical. They ranked as the top two firms in mortgage-backed securities underwriting. Bear Stearns' hedge fund woes have been well documented. And Lehman has already said it will take a $52 million hit to shutter its subprime mortgage operation. But the New York Sun notes that Lehman has been, in some ways, quite successful in its recent attempts to diversify its revenue stream. It has really built up its equities business and booked nearly half of its revenues from overseas last quarter. But at a time likes this, banks get stereotyped almost always. And given its mortgage and deal loan exposure, Lehman has been judged by Mr. Market to be more like Bear than like Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley. Then again, no one is arguing that Lehman is a takeover target. You cannot say that about Bear.  

For more:
- here's the Sun article