A battered Lehman Brothers plans to spin off the majority of its real estate investments into a new company and sell more than half its interest in its investment management division. The bank also predicted a third-quarter loss of $3.9 billion. [WSJ, Dealbook]
In a morning conference call to announce the changes, Lehman CEO Dick Fuld sounded "both wearied and defiant." [Dealbook]
HSBC's chief executive says it has no plans to acquire a stake in a U.S.-based investment bank, quashing rumors it would come to Lehman's aid. [Bloomberg]
The Bill Gross-managed Pimco Total Return fund earned $1.7 billion from the US government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. [FT]
George Pataki has joined the board of private-equity firm MidOcean Partners. [NYP]
Bear Stearns will pay $28 million to settle an FTC suit. [Reuters]
Apple CEO Steve Jobs says the rumors that he'd suffered a recurrence of cancer came from "hedge funds with a big short position in Apple." [NYT/Executive Suite]
George "Woody" Young, formerly of Lehman Brothers, will be heading up Merrill's global technology, media and telecommunications group. [WSJ]
Ex-Bear Stearns CEO Alan Schwartz has landed temporarily at Rothschild. [NYP]
Russian investigators raided the Moscow offices of Rupert Murdoch's outdoor advertising firm, News Outdoor. [Dealbook]
Yahoo has hired former Microsoft exec Joanne Bradford to lead its U.S. advertising sales force. [AP]
Accounting firms are cutting back due to the slowing economy. [Dealbook]
