“Inside Goldman Sachs, Gary D. Cohn is the man who is waiting â€" and waiting â€" to be king,†DealBook’s Susanne Craig writes. While Mr. Cohn has long been considered the heir apparent of Lloyd C. Blankfein, the chairman and chief executive of Goldman, there are few signs that Mr. Blankfein is ready to step aside, insiders say.
After surviving a firestorm in the wake of the financial crisis, Mr. Blankfein appears to be enjoying himself. Now an elder statesman of finance, Mr. Blankfein is not widely talked about as a candidate for a Washington job. So, he has regrown a beard and begun to embrace the limelight atop Goldman, often joking that he plans to die at his desk. “It is no laughing matter for Mr. Cohn, who as Goldman’s 52-year-old president is the Prince Charles of Wall Street, a man for whom the crown seems just beyond his grasp,†Ms. Craig writes.
“Mr. Cohn is growing increasingly restless, according to friends and colleagues. Some inside Goldman wonder if he will depart if Mr. Blankfein doesn’t move soon. That would throw a monkey wrench into Goldman’s succession plans, leaving the firm without a natural candidate ready to replace Mr. Blankfein.†Still, Mr. Cohn’s options are limited. He could probably make more money working at a hedge fund, but such a move would almost certainly come with less power than the top job at Goldman. “As a result, some people inside Goldman feel that Mr. Cohn is not serious about leaving anytime soon.â€
QUESTIONS SURROUND R.B.S.  | The announcement by Stephen Hester, the chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, that he would leave by the end of the year has introduced fresh uncertainty into the future privatization of the bank, DealBook’s Mark Scott writes. Investors expressed their displeasure with the surprise move, sending the bank’s shares down more than 6 percent in trading in London on Thursday.
The British government owns 81 percent of R.B.S., though the bank had hoped to start reducing that stake in the second half of the year. By jettisoning Mr. Hester, the bank’s board hopes to install a new leader to oversee a privatization process that could last the rest of the decade. But for many, the departure of Mr. Hester, a former Credit Suisse banker, raised concerns about how the bank would navigate the share sale.
“This is a bruising, difficult job,†Mr. Hester said. “I have regrets about not completing the job.â€
ON THE AGENDA  | It is shaping up to be a rocky day in the markets, with stocks in Asia and Europe sharply lower. Japan’s Nikkei index closed down 6.4 percent. Coty is set to begin trading after raising about $1 billion in its initial public offering. Data on retail sales in the United States is out at 8:30 a.m. Mr. Blankfein of Goldman Sachs speaks at a breakfast hosted by Politico’s Morning Money in Washington at 8 a.m.
IN WASHINGTON, FEW LESSONS FROM THE HOUSING CRISIS  | A lot has been learned about housing since the financial crisis, but those lessons do not seem to be reflected in a plan to remake how Americans buy homes, Jesse Eisinger of ProPublica writes in his column, The Trade. “Gingerly, Senators Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, and Mark R. Warner, Democrat of Virginia, have been working up a bill. Yet it’s striking how much the process is being dominated by emotional battles and financial interests,†Mr. Eisinger writes. The Corker-Warner plan calls for a government insurance operation for mortgage-backed securities, in which private investors would shoulder the first losses.
“It’s an appealing notion and the plan has commendable aspects. But if the system worked as advertised, it could make the next housing crisis worse. To understand why, we should revisit what we have learned about the American housing and mortgage market.â€
Clearwire Endorses Dish’s Sweetened Bid  | Clearwire switched its allegiance to Dish Network on Wednesday, recommending that shareholders accept its bid of $4.40 a share over a rival offer from Sprint Nextel. DealBook »
The Management Buyout Path of Less Resistance  | David H. Murdock’s effort to take the Dole Food Company private shows how a recent Delaware case has made these types of management buyouts easier, perhaps too easy, Steven M. Davidoff writes in the Deal Professor column. DealBook »
Safeway to Sell Its Operations in Canada  | The Canadian retailer Sobeys said on Wednesday that it would pay $5.8 billion in cash for the Canadian operations of Safeway, a move that would make it a leading grocery chain in western Canada. DealBook »
Indian Tire Maker to Buy Cooper Tire for $2.5 Billion  | The all-cash acquisition of Cooper Tire and Rubber would give Apollo Tyres of India a major foothold in the United States. DealBook »
Malone May Play Role of Spoiler in Cable Deal  | Vodafone has finally admitted it wants to buy Kabel Deutschland, Germany’s biggest cable operator, but John Malone, the pay-TV magnate behind Liberty Global, may have something to say about it, Quentin Webb of Reuters Breakingviews writes. REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS
Goldman Sachs to Finance Early Education Program  | Through an experimental method of financing social services, the bank is lending up to $4.6 million for a preschool program in Salt Lake City. DealBook »
In Hotel Deal, a Fight Over Preferred Shares  | After a Goldman Sachs real estate fund acquired Equity Inns, a hotel owner, preferred shareholders have seen the value of their holdings plunge, setting up a dispute between the parties, The Wall Street Journal reports. WALL STREET JOURNAL
A Warning From Merrill’s Former Leader  | John A. Thain, former chief executive of Merrill Lynch, who now runs the CIT Group, told Bloomberg TV: “If you are asking about too big to fail and can what happened in 2008 could happen again, the answer is yes, it absolutely can happen again. If anything, too big to fail is a bigger problem because the biggest financial institutions are more concentrated today than they were. Dodd-Frank did not solve too big to fail.†BLOOMBERG TV
Centerview Hires 2 Senior Media Bankers From Morgan Stanley  | Centerview Partners said on Wednesday that it had hired two senior media bankers from Morgan Stanley, in the latest move by the boutique investment bank. DealBook »
New Chief for GE Capital  | Keith S. Sherin has been named chairman and chief executive of GE Capital, General Electric’s finance unit. DealBook »
Wall Street Titans Celebrate UJA-Federation  | The UJA-Federation of New York, a charitable organization focused on Jewish philanthropy, raised more than $2 million at a gala event at the Plaza Hotel on Tuesday. DealBook »
Debt Levels Grow Higher in Private Equity Buyouts  | The acquisition of BMC Software by investors led by Bain Capital and Golden Gate Capital illustrates that high levels of debt are returning to such deals, The Wall Street Journal writes. WALL STREET JOURNAL
Blackstone Plans a Mutual Fund Product  | “We have one product that’s going to be coming out, a mutual-fund complex,†Stephen A. Schwarzman, head of the Blackstone Group, said at a conference in New York, according to Bloomberg News. “This is getting slow and steady receptivity. This is more of an everyday-type offering.†BLOOMBERG NEWS
After I.P.O., SeaWorld Initiates a Dividend  | The 20-cent dividend per share will pay the Blackstone Group, SeaWorld’s majority owner, $20 million each quarter, The Wall Street Journal reports. WALL STREET JOURNAL
Paying for an Early Look at Market-Moving Data  | In a practice that is legal, some investors pay for early access to economic reports from nongovernmental organizations, The Wall Street Journal reports. WALL STREET JOURNAL
With Gift, Loeb Opposes Teachers Union  | The hedge fund manager Daniel S. Loeb donated an additional $1 million to a group of charter schools to demonstrate his opposition to the president of the American Federation of Teachers, who he claims is leading an “attack†on hedge fund managers, according to Bloomberg News. BLOOMBERG NEWS
Cohen Goes Mainstream  | A decade ago, few outside of Wall Street had heard of Steven A. Cohen, the founder of SAC Capital Advisors. But as he faces an intensifying government investigation, Mr. Cohen, “for better or worse, has moved beyond the business pages to the popular press,†Matthew Goldstein writes in the Unstructured Finance blog of Reuters. REUTERS
Coty Raises About $1 Billion in Its Public Debut  | The cosmetics maker Coty priced its initial public offering at $17.50 a share on Wednesday, in the middle of its expected range of $16.50 to $18.50. DealBook »
A Start-Up Benefits From TV Exposure  | VerbalizeIt, a technology start-up that was featured on ABC’s “Shark Tank,†experienced a surge in new customers after its segment was aired, The New York Times reports. NEW YORK TIMES
Kanye West’s Billion-Dollar Ambitions  | “I think what Kanye West is going to mean is something similar to what Steve Jobs means,†the rapper tells Jon Caramanica of The New York Times. DealBook »
British Regulator Looking Into Currency Rates Trades  | The Financial Conduct Authority of Britain says it is looking into claims that traders at large banks manipulated some foreign exchange benchmark rates. DealBook »
The Murky World of Currency Traders  | “If regulators can control matters it’s in ensuring that retail clients are not routinely disadvantaged by sub-optimal rates and poor spreads,†Izabella Kaminska writes in the Alphaville blog of The Financial Times, referring to the report that currency traders may have been manipulating rates. “But it’s no secret that retail clients have been suffering from less than optimal rates for years.†FT ALPHAVILLE
British Lawmakers Take Aim at Google’s Tax Practices  | “The company’s highly contrived tax arrangement has no purpose other than to enable the company to avoid U.K. corporation tax,†said Margaret Hodge, chairwoman of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, according to Reuters. REUTERS
World Bank Predicts Slower but Smoother Growth  |Â
NEW YORK TIMES
