Lucas van Praag, Goldman Sachs' head of corporate communications, was kind enough to get back to us a few minutes ago as to whether Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein had any plans to live it up given the firm's blow-out of a second-quarter. Alas, the Dom will not be flowing at Le Cirque tonight, it seems. Says van Praag:
• The New York Times Co. is selling its classical radio station WQXR to WNYC Radio and Univision as part of a "complex deal." One thing that isn't complex: The sale will pump a much-needed $45 million into the paper's coffers. [NYT]
• Is Rupert Murdoch planning to buy the Daily News from Mort Zuckerman? That's what some are suggesting, although Mort is denying it. [DailyFinance]
• McGraw-Hill shouldn't expect to make much from the sale of BusinessWeek. In fact, the company may be forced to give the magazine away. [FT]
• Neil Patrick Harris has signed on to host this year's Emmy Awards. [NYDN]
• Russell Brand will be the host of the MTV Video Music Awards. [Vulture]
Bernie Madoff's prison sentence has been reduced from 150 years to 130 years. Or maybe it hasn't. But for whatever reason the Bureau of Prisons has the fraudster's release date listed for 2139. Math error or evidence Bernie's opened up his wallet and is now dishing out bribes to prison officials? You decide! [Dealbreaker]
The happiest man in New York today? That would be Lloyd Blankfein, the chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, which announced this morning that the bank reeled in a record $13.8 billion in revenue for the second quarter and generated profits of $3.44 billion. It's a big turnaround from a few months ago when the firm was holding out its hand for billions in bailout dollars, of course. But that's water under the bridge. And no one seems to be so sure how Goldman managed to do it. Blankfein attributed the big gains to "the combination of improving financial market conditions and a deep and diverse client franchise" in a news release today, whatever that means. But who cares how Goldman did it? The important thing is to go out and celebrate, right?
Dolce & Gabbana publicist Ali Wise is facing a few felony charges for allegedly hacking into the voice mail of interior designer Nina Freudenberger. And there appear to be other victims of Wise's electronic crime spree, including a fashion designer named Briana Rasinski, according to today's Post. But Wise has at least one friend who's got her back: Stacey Bendet, the founder of alice + olivia. Judging by her comments, we're going to go ahead and assume that Freudenberger will not be asked to design the next home that Bendet and her husband Eric Eisner move into:
Remember about a month ago when people reported seeing couples having wild sex in the windows of the new Standard Hotel? Those couples that managed to cover every possible sexual preference (men/women, men/men, women/women), and were almost always described as gorgeous by passerby? Just in case it wasn't clear that it was all part of an elaborate viral marketing campaign by hotelier (and hottie) Andre Balazs—conveniently timed to coincide with the opening of the hotel's new bar and restaurant in early June—comes a post on the hotel's official blog, which not only touts the "floor to ceiling glass windows" that "offer direct views to your most intimate moments," but also asks "amateur pornographers" to send in their "most erotic photos shot at The Standard" or upload them to Facebook:
Gawker is reporting that hipster artist/photographer Dash Snow died of a heroin overdose last night, and messages posted to Twitter by some of Snow's friends seem to back it up. There hasn't been official confirmation yet. In the meantime, though, you can read more about Snow here, if you're interested. Update: The Times has confirmed Snow's death. [Gawker, photo via Mister Mort]
Ivanka Trump talking on her cell phone ... Elijah Wood walking in SoHo with girlfriend Pamela Racine ... Jay-Z scowling at a photographer in the Garment District ... Heidi Klum holding her son's hand after leaving dinner at Cipriani Downtown ... Gerard Butler shooting scenes for The Bounty in the West Village ... Joan Rivers leaving a movie theater uptown ... Liev Schreiber walking by himself downtown ... Maria Bello drinking wine outdoors ... Drew Barrymore and Justin Long hanging out on the set of Going the Distance in Brooklyn ... Kelly Clarkson signing autographs outside her hotel in Midtown ... and Kelly Bensimon jogging in the West Village.
• Investment banker Lewis van Amerongen has slashed the price of his five-story townhouse at 13 East 71st Street. First listed last September for $24.95 million, the 8,766-square-foot manse (left) can now be yours for $16.95 million. [Cityfile, BHS]
• Jason Klarman, the general manager of Oxygen Media, paid $2.21 million for a three-bedroom condo (plus storage room) at 201 West 72nd Street. [Cityfile]
• Dr. Richard Kaul, an anesthesiologist and spine specialist, has put his 7,200-square-foot townhouse at 69 West 83rd Street on the market for $14 million. Kaul bought the home for $3.6 million back in 2005. [Cityfile, PDE]
• Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez hasn't had much luck selling off his mansion in Coral Gables. He just dropped the price from $14.9 million to $9.9 million. But he's also said he'd be happy to rent it for $25,000 a month. [Real Deal]
It's a big day for Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter: He celebrates his 60th birthday today! (Gifts, flowers, and cards can be directed to 4 Times Square, 22nd floor.) Others marking off another year today: hedge fund manager Phil Falcone (and the husband of Lisa Maria) is turning 47. Music impresario Tommy Mottola is 60. Movie mega-producer Scott Rudin is turning 51. Fellow film mogul Joel Silver is 57. Howard Lutnick, the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, is turning 48. Upper East Side plastic surgeon Sherrell Aston is 67. Actor Matthew Fox is turning 43. Tech luminary Esther Dyson is 58. Hudson News chief Jimmy Cohen is 51. Legal powerhouse Barry Ostrager is turning 62. Actor Harry Dean Stanton is 83. Interior designer Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz turns 53. Artist Lee Friedlander is 75. And actor Vincent "Big Pussy" Pastore celebrates his 63rd birthday today.
• Tony Romo dumped Jessica Simpson the night before her 29th birthday. The worst part? She was forced to cancel the "Barbie and Ken-themed birthday party" she'd planned for the next day. [NYDN]
• Ali Wise, the publicist accused of hacking into the voicemail of Nina Freudenberger, has a new accuser: A fashion designer named Briana Rasinski has also filed a harassment complaint with the NYPD. [P6]
• Chace Crawford has moved out of the pad he shared with Ed Westwick. [Us]
• "Real Housewives" Jill Zarin and Danielle Staub got into a little tiff at an event the other night. No one was hurt, you may be disappointed to hear. [NYDN]
• Arrivals: Molly Ringwald gave birth to twins last Friday. And Mira Sorvino gave birth to a son after a "difficult pregnancy." [NYDN, Us]
Contrary to what CNBC and the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, convicted con artist Bernie Madoff did not end up at the federal prison in Butner, North Carolina last night. But he didn't go to the facility in Otisville, NY either, which was what the Post and CNN had been claiming. All those "sources" turned out to be wrong, and he arrived at a prison in Atlanta. But no one knows if he'll be staying in Atlanta permanently, or if it's just a temporary stop-off, so the mystery continues, it seems. [NYT, BN, previously]
• Kate Moss is teaming up with Topshop boss Philip Green and Simon Cowell to launch an entertainment conglomerate that will "rival Disney." At least that's what one British newspaper is reporting. [Daily Mail]
• Sad: Escada may be forced to file for bankruptcy in the near future. [Vogue UK, Fashionista]
• Sadder: Jon Gosselin may be teaming up with Christian Audigier to launch a kids' clothing line. [E!]
• Saddest: The rumor floating around Moscow is that Pop editor/It girl Dasha Zhukova and her billionaire boyfriend, Roman Abramovich, have gone their separate ways. [FWD]
• The toughest reservations in town are at Frank Pellegrino's Rao's in Harlem and David Chang's Momofuku Ko, in case you're keeping track. [GS]
• Big clubs and bottle service are out and cheap, dingy dive bars are in, according to the Times, pointing out that Marquee's revenues are down 22 percent so far this year. Possible evidence to the contrary: "table service" at Marquee's new sister spot, Avenue, will run you a minimum of $350. [NYT]
• Related: Marquee appears to be NYC's "most fined" nightspot. It's handed over $100,000 to the State Liquor Authority over the past year alone. [NYP]
• New York's Eat Cheap issue is out. A highlight: Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite's "handbook" to the Neapolitan pizza "revolution." [NYM, NYM]
• Restaurants that recently opened, or will be opening soon. [Eater]
• A roundup of New York's "82 most notable burgers." [GS]
• The Canadian donut chain Tim Hortons landed in Manhattan today. [AMNY]
Right now Bernie Madoff is heading to the prison where he'll spend the rest of his life. Just which prison he's headed to, though, is still a mystery. Late this afternoon, an unidentified source told the Post that Madoff was headed to Otisville, the facility that he'd requested since it's within driving distance of NYC (not to mention renowned for its tasty kosher meals). CNBC, however, has been reporting that its source is telling them that Madoff is going to the medium security federal prison in Butner, North Carolina. CNN is following the Post's lead and going with Otisville. The Post's sister paper, the Wall Street Journal, is backing up CNBC and reporting that "a person familiar with the situation" has indicated Madoff is North Carolina-bound. Presumably we'll find out his destination for certain in a few hours when he shows up and makes his grand entrance. Or maybe this is all part of Bernie's plan to deliberately confuse prison officials and he's behind the wheel of a stolen car and speeding for the Mexican border? Developing!
Marc Ecko's financial troubles are nothing new. Back in March, it was reported that the hip hop designer was looking to refinance more than $170 million in debt, but was having so trouble doing so that it was looking increasingly likely that his empire would have to be dismantled to pay back in creditors; a month later, his publicist confirmed that Ecko was looking to get out of the blingtastic office he's occupied for the last few years, a 280,000-square-foot space on West 23rd Street that comes with a half-size basketball court. It seems things haven't improved much since then. Ecko's office, which apparently costs him a stunning $9 million a year to lease, is now officially on the market. But Ecko's pain may be your gain. The listing on the website of commercial leasing firm FirstService Williams says the "price is negotiable." If you're looking for new office space and you think having an in-house basketball court would be perfect for some of those "team-building" exercises the people in human resources keep talking about, you'll find a few photos of the space after the jump.
Marc Dreier may get to see the light of day again, after all. Although prosecutors had asked a judge to sentence the scheming lawyer to a Madoff-like 145 years behind bars, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff handed him a 20-year term this afternoon. Dreier is 59, so he'll be a free man before he turns 80. Of course, that will still give him plenty of time to befriend big, buff black men, although presumably they won't be quite as harmless as former client Michael Strahan. [AP]
• Looking to buy a struggling business magazine that's losing advertisers right and left? You're in luck. McGraw-Hill has put BusinessWeek up for sale. [BN]
• The hottest interview in TV-land right now? Bernie Madoff, naturally. [B&C]
• Not such great news for the television biz: Most networks are experiencing a double-digit drop in summer ratings compared to last year. [USAT]
• MySpace is no longer a "place for friends." (That's what Facebook is for.) It's a Web site "for accessing entertainment and related information." [WSJ]
• Former Observer reporter Gabriel Sherman takes a look at Observer owner Jared Kushner in this week's issue of New York. Among other things, Kushner says he found the paper "unbearable" until he bought it. [NYM]
• Brüno's $30 million gross made it No. 1 at the box office this weekend. [THR]
It's the of the line for Steve Rattner, the high-profile financier who once managed Michael Bloomberg's fortune, was once rumored to be a candidate for Treasury secretary, but ended up with responsibility for President Obama's auto task force instead. Back in April, the private equity firm that Rattner co-founded, Quadrangle Group, was tied to the pension kickback scheme now under investigation by Andrew Cuomo; now comes word that Rattner is out of a job and heading back home: "The administration said Mr. Rattner decided to return to private life and his family in New York City." [WSJ]
