Did you strike a pose for one of our photographers recently? Well then make sure to find your photo and tag it and anyone else you know! Find a Party, Browse it’s Gallery the next day, and Get your Own Directory Page! It’s a great way to procrastinate your work day away! Read the full story

Microsoft (MSFT) shares are down 2 cents at $25.65 in early trading following yesterday’s 0.6% decline after the announcement the company will buy Internet calling firm Skype for $8.5 billion.

The day after stories, and the analyst notes seem largely to take a positive tone despite the sticker shock the Street experienced yesterday.

The Wall Street Journal’s Nick Wingfield writes this morning that Microsoft’s deal is a sign of the consumerization of technology, and makes passing reference to Cisco Systems’s (CSCO) failed effort with Flip video cameras. And Wingfield ends with a quote from Meg Whitman, who bought Skype when she was head of eBay (EBAY) in 2005. “Is Skype worth $8.5 billion? I don’t know, but it depends on how big the platform grows.” Wingfield notes that eBay will make a profit of about $1.4 billion on the deal.

Steve Lohr writes in The New York Times this morning, “by stitching Skype technology into Microsoft products, used by hundreds of millions of people, the software giant could hasten the mainstream adoption of video communications, especially in businesses.”

DealBook’s Evelyn Rusli writes that Microsoft settled on the $8.5 billion price in mid-April, after CFO Peter Klein travelled to private equity backer Silver Lake’s offices and the parties involved had discussions about valuation for several weeks.

A Reuters’s Breaking Views column by Richard Beales and Agnes Crane write this morning that, “the transaction is unlikely to pay off.” They note that past deals have floundered: the $6 billion purchase of aQuantive in 2007, “hasn’t borne any noticeable fruit in the battle with Google. Neither has the software giant’s search deal with Yahoo.”

Ann Winblad, a venture capitalist with Hummer Winblad, was on Bloomberg television last night, saying, “It’s the kind of bold move microsoft should be making … I think it’s a brilliant strategic move for Microsoft. It’s a chess move they need to remain competitive with Apple and Google, and it gives them an opportunity to partner further with Facebook, one of their core partners.”

And Bloomberg’s Dina Bass, Douglas MacMillan, and Joseph Galante this morning write that Skype refused to settle for less than $7 billion in its talks with Microsoft, citing anonymous sources.

The Financial Times’s Lex column writes that it’s all about Nokia: “If voice and video over the internet is going to become a big presence in mobile, it makes sense for Microsoft, desperate to differentiate its mobile operating system from Apple’s and Google’s, to buy the dominant brand. Will the network operators play along?”

And what of the analysts?

Walter Pritchard with Citigroup reiterates a Buy rating on Microsoft and a $35 price target. The deal “makes sense,” he thinks, and he lays out some possible “leverage”: the Kinect line becomes the “killer home video conference system / Win phone”; the business division, where it can integrate with Microsoft’s “Lync.” “Some of these integrations could potentially drive meaningful competitive advantage and augment existing Skype revenue that today is almost all based on calls to landline and mobile phones.”

Tavis McCourt with Morgan Keegan sees benefit to Nokia (NOK), Polycom (PLCM), Logitech (LOGI) and Plantronics (PLT) as “video and voice services will require more headsets and video bridging hardware. Nokia may benefit if Microsoft builds in any unique features not available on other handsets.” McCourt thinks Microsoft’s negotiations with telcos will become tougher as they view Skype as a threat, but, “Ultimately, we believe carriers will lose this battle.”

On that score, Craig Moffett with Sanford Bernstein this morning observes that Skype threatens the most valuable portion of the telco economy: basic connectivity. Voice service produces about $1 per megabyte in wireless services, whereas data service — Web browsing, etc. — commands only about 5 cents per megabyte. Undercutting that rich voice goldmine is an “arbitrage opportunity,” he writes, and tech companies love arbitrage. “Perhaps it was the threat of Facebook acquiring Skype that moved Microsoft to pay 10 times revenues,” writes Moffett. “Just don’t expect the carriers to be amused.”

Adam Holt with Morgan Stanley notes that while Microsoft has been developing unified communications with Lync and Xbox Live and Win Phone 7, Skype has 13 patents and over 400 patents pending “in areas from video delivery to data compression.” Moreover, though the valuation is rich, Skype’s metrics have been improving, the company is gaining more importance in social networking, and anyway, there are a lot more M&A deals being done in the $6 billion to $8 billion range, so what could Microsoft do? Use of foreign cash, he notes, is “found money.”

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

The music festival we’ve been looking forward to for almost a year now is just three weeks away (um, excuse me, but where did March go…??). Although we’re not big on planning ahead either, it’s time to start thinking about what you’ll need for the weekend excursion known as Coachella.  Whether you’re a festival veteran or first-timer, we’ve made the “what to bring” dilemma easier with this Fashion Survival Guide filled with style survival tips tailored to the Coachella experience so you make the most of your weekend and look great doing it. Read the full story

Her mom.

As mentioned yesterday, our personal theory for why Mark Sanchez got involved with a 17 year-old high school girl from Greenwich named Eliza Kruger was that he was looking for a one stop shop when it came to banging a chick who just got her license and unparalleled advice on where to invest his money. Sanchez was able to find the whole package in Kruger, whose father is Greenwich Capital founder and Five Mile Capital partner Konrad “Chip” Kruger. Today brings news that this love story was even more of a family affair than we’d previously thought.

The rich, preppy Connecticut mom of 17-year-old Eliza Kruger — who said she “hooked up” with star Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez after meeting him at a Manhattan nightclub — “likes to party” on occasion with her sexy daughter, sources said yesterday.

“Eliza has been going to clubs since she was 15, sometimes with her mom,” blond Greenwich divorcée Marie McCormick Kruger, a night life source told The Post. “A lot of the club guys in the city know her mom well,” the source said.

It is also noted in Konrad and Marie’s divorce papers that MK “slept with her rowing coach,” which possibly means she has a thing for anyone involved in sports organizations and encouraged her daughter to go for the Jets QB to get an in with Rex Ryan.

Mom Of Eliza Kruger Parties With Daughter [NYP]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

China: No Wild Parties At Taxpayers’ Expense (AP)
As usual, Jim Chanos called this one: “Some of the parties to make headlines have seen officials die after excessive drinking at banquets. One official was arrested after diary entries he allegedly wrote appeared online describing casual sex, drinking and under-the-table payments at parties. Lavish official tours to Las Vegas and other places cost taxpayers about 400 billion yuan ($58 billion) every year, according to state broadcaster CCTV. On one such trip several years ago, officials spent taxpayers’ money on a $700-a-night Las Vegas hotel and visits to a San Francisco sex show. It reached a point where President Hu Jintao gave a speech in April warning officials of the temptations of beautiful women, money and power.

Passenger Outrage Rises as Winter Storm Snarls U.S. Travel (Bloomberg)
Advice for anyone struggling to keep his or her cool: get ornery! What are they going to do, arrest you? Put you in airport jail?

Snowblind Mayor Admits NYC Probably Could’v Done Better (NYP)
Hizzoner is sorry.

BlackRock to Launch Internal Trading Platform (FT)
“We are developing the technology in-house to offer better value by lowering trading costs,” said Rob Kapito, BlackRock president and one of eight founders of the company, in an interview. The plan is that if some BlackRock clients are selling a security and others are buying, the group can “cross” those trades internally without going through a Wall Street bank.

Pope To Issue New Bank Norms Amid Laundering Probe (ABC)
The Vatican planned to issue new rules Thursday designed to make its financial transactions more transparent after a money laundering probe resulted in the seizure of 23 million euros ($30.21 million) from a Vatican account. The rules are expected to create a compliance authority to oversee all Vatican finances, as required by EU and other international organizations involved in the fight against money laundering and terror financing. Vatican officials confirmed Wednesday that Pope Benedict XVI’s executive order — called a “motu proprio” — making the rules into law, would be released Thursday.

Pandit Praises Citigroup’s ‘Rebirth’ (Dealbook)
“External audiences are starting to give us the recognition we have earned,” Pandit said in a memo to employees. “Our credit spreads have tightened, analysts increasingly like what they see, and the public is starting to acknowledge the many signs of real progress…The successes of this year significantly add to the transformation and rebirth of our Company. We have a great deal of hard work ahead — hard work that I believe can and should lead to even better years in the future.”

Ashton Kutcher toughening up for Armageddon (SFGate)
All of this: “The movie star and produce fears a major U.S. energy meltdown is nigh and he’s trying to get super fit so he can deal with the chaos that will follow a blackout or worse. Kutcher discovered combat training Krav Maga last year as he prepared to tone up for his role in “Killers” and now he’s obsessed with running, Bikram yoga and Muay Thai fighting with the French national champion – and he insists he’s committed to his extreme workouts, so he can dominate in desperate times. The 32 year old tells Men’s Fitness magazine, “It will not take much for people to hit the panic button. The amount of convenience that people rely on based on electricity alone. You start taking out electricity and satellites, and people are going to lose their noodle.”

AIG Stock’s Unlikely Comeback (WSJ)
The magic touch of Bobby Benmosche: “On Tuesday, AIG’s publicly traded shares closed 45 cents lower at $58.93, capping a nearly 97% gain in the year to date and over 42% in December alone. The insurer is the fourth-best performer in the S&P 500 index this year.” Benmosche has been signing his emails “get somea this” ever since.

SEC Probes Trading in Facebook, Private Firms (WSJ)
If there’s a raid, Zuckerberg should promise us pictures now, and a status update re: what he’s feeling at the time.

Sugar ‘dady (Sun)
Prize-winning dealer Mike Baghdady wants to find ten new recruits who he can turn into future stars of the stock exchange. The lucky ten will each be given £100,000 of cash in the new year to play the markets – be it betting on TESCO shares or buying and selling oil futures. “Trading has always been an elusive dream for most people,” Baghdady said. “But, humbly, I’m confident I can turn someone into a Rooney or Ronaldo of the markets.”

Hard Call For The FDIC: When To Shut A Bank (WSJ)
It’s an art, really: “Killing a bank too soon could mean getting rid of a financial institution that might recover to make solid, profitable loans. Waiting until all of a bank’s capital is gone deepens the losses suffered by the FDIC’s deposit-insurance fund, putting additional strain on surviving banks that pay into the fund.”

Trump Evokes Doubts of Fading `Apprentice’ With Golf as Brand (Bloomberg)
Trump has acquired nine golf properties in the U.S., including four since 2008, after mostly steering clear of using his own money to buy real estate since 2005. In July, he started building a 750 million-pound ($1.15 billion) luxury golf course and resort in Scotland. Trump says that putting his name on the courses increases membership sales and the fees he can charge.

Tucker Carlson: “I Personally Think [Michael Vick] Should Have Been Executed” (Mediaite)

Programming Note: We’re on an abbreviated vacation-esque schedule ’til Monday (opening/closing wraps and very limited updates whenever the urge to reach out and touch you moves us). We still want to hear from you, though, so if someone gets nailed for insider trading, Lloyd announces he’s quitting to join Cirque du Soleil in 2011, or anything else happens that you think might tickle our fancy, do not hesitate to let us know.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Say what you will about 70 Pine Street– the headquarters of AIG, the most majestic insurance company/hedge fund in all the land, but we’ve all had some good times there, whether directly or as the indirect beneficiaries of stuff that went down. It’s incredibly emotional even just to think about the fact that the company is moving out of the building but in times of great sadness like these, we must put on a brave face, celebrate, and pay homage. To that end, management is throwing a little party next week to mark the end of the era. Refreshments– presumably alcoholic in nature, as is fitting– will be served and while the invite doesn’t say, we’re just going to assume that reenactments of the “best of” moments will take place. Such as:

- The day Hank Greenberg signed off on AIG-FP and Joe Casanno saying by calling him “one of the greats”

- The earnings conference call in May of 2008 when they announced they were raising capital AND raising their dividend

- The time Goldman Sachs sent two dudes over in the middle of the night to shove Ed Liddy’s head in a toilet while the following dialogue took place:

GS Thug: Where’s the money, Liddy? Where’s the fucking money, shithead?
Liddy: It’s uh… uh… it’s down there somewhere, let me take another look.

For over 80 years, AIG has had—and remains committed to having—a significant presence in lower Manhattan. Since 1976, 70 Pine Street has been AIG’s New York headquarters and home to thousands of employees who have contributed to our success. As a tribute to this landmark building and to the employees who will continue to serve in the downtown area at 180 Maiden Lane and other locations, please join us for a small reception as we say, “Farewell to 70 Pine.”

Tuesday, November 2

3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

70 Pine Street lobby

Refreshments will be served.

(See attached invitation)

AIG Farewell Invite [PDF]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Are you a man or woman of refined taste based in the UK? Have you been looking for a new bank and require the following:

* A grand opening that involve waitresses toting giant trays of ice cream, batons, “dancers sporting vermilion fright wigs parading on stilts,” white balloons embossed with the legend JOIN THE REVOLUTION!

* A pooch-friendly environment

* A disco-themed lobby

* A founder who lives in an “Italianate mansion in New Jersey”

* The Meredith Whitney stamp of approval

Vernon Hill knows. And he’s got just the place for you.

In the hidebound world of British retail banking, the launch of a new bank last July — the first in 138 years — was certain to make a splash. Even so, the grand opening of Metro Bank was something completely different: On the sidewalk at Metro’s glitzy flagship branch, across from the Holborn tube station, dancers sporting vermilion fright wigs paraded on stilts. Dixieland bands tooted, shoeshine crews buffed, and waitresses toted giant trays of ice cream, 5,000 cups in all. Jugglers’ batons filled the air, along with white balloons embossed with the legend JOIN THE REVOLUTION! Inside, the giant floor-to-ceiling windows and long, open granite counters lined with smiling tellers, sans Plexiglas, recalled the lobby of a fancy Las Vegas hotel. Signs rallied customers to LOVE YOUR BANK AT LAST and pledged NO MORE STUPID BANK RULES. Bicycles stood parked on the polished marble floors, alongside corgis and poodles (DOGS RULE! posters proclaimed) downing bowls of dog biscuits as their masters opened accounts. “I’ve never seen a bank like this,” says a street musician in attendance. “How can you not love a place that’s open on weekends and looks like a disco?”

The impresario behind the party was Vernon Hill, a flamboyant, tradition-stomping American billionaire. Hill, 65, founded Commerce Bank in the U.S. and outfoxed the giants in the business by putting lavish customer service first — the model he’s now transplanting to Britain. Before he was forced out of his own company by regulators, Hill built himself an Italianate mansion in New Jersey that’s almost as large as the White House.

Hill did little to dispel his image as the P.T. Barnum of banking at the VIP party following his grand opening in London. Blond comb-over plastered in place, he wore a double-breasted silk suit with a gold collar pin and cradled his Yorkshire terrier — Sir Duffield, or Duffy for short — in his arms, feeding him canapés from trays that passed by.

And yet consider the guest list. Jamie Reuben and Harrison LeFrak, representing leading real estate families in London and New York, were there — both are investors in Metro. Meredith Whitney, the prominent banking analyst and a longtime Hill fan, was in attendance, as was Gene Lockhart, former CEO of MasterCard International (MA), now a Metro director. Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, who’s backing a fledgling banking venture by Virgin chairman Richard Branson, made an appearance. What these people understand is that Hill — nicknamed “Vernon the Barbarian” by rivals in the U.S. — may just have the best brain in retail banking.

Also:

Hill has another big idea, this one a business that he’s helping to transplant from Britain to the U.S.: pet insurance. He’s a major investor in Petplan USA, which holds the U.S. franchise from Petplan of Britain, the world’s biggest provider of policies for companion animals. “People used to put down their pets when they got sick,” says Hill. “Now they’re members of the family. People will want to save them with kidney transplants and hip replacements. This business will be huge.” Hill’s own dog, Duffy, recently had 11 teeth pulled, and Petplan paid the $2,400 bill. The terrier has since returned to his regular diet of kobe beef and dulce de leche ice cream. Recently Hill persuaded both Tom Fazio and Meredith Whitney’s husband, the former professional wrestler John Layfield — whose ring names have included “Vampiro Americano” and “Death Mask” — to take out insurance for their pets. It’s always showtime for Vernon Hill.

Vernon Hill is the best damn banker alive (Just ask him) [Fortune]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

I’m going to throw something out there that probably shouldn’t come as too much of a shock, knowing what we know about Matt Taibbi, the boy who spent months of late nights hunched over at his typewriter, gnawing the skin off his knuckles trying to figure out how those crooks at Goldman Sachs do it, reportedly threw scalding hot coffee in the face of a reporter who’d offered him constructive criticism and, on at least on occasion, kept a thermos of horse semen in his fridge to later be baked into a pie and smashed into an unsuspecting victim’s face. And here’s what: Matt Taibbi is the kind of guy who will install surveillance cameras in your home and office, without your knowledge, if he is under the believe you’re screwing him over. Ex-girlfriends can probably attest to this fact and now, sort of embarrassingly, Wall Street and Washington can too. Because Matt Taibbi did it to them, and today, in his duty as an American citizen, reports back on what he saw. We’re lucky he did this and will merely describe the scene to us, sparing us the horror show of actually watching it go down ourselves, which would be a harrowing experience.

What happened next was a prime example of the basic con of congressional politics. Throughout the debate over finance reform, Democrats had sold the public on the idea that it was the Republicans who were killing progressive initiatives. In reality, Republican and Democratic leaders were working together with industry insiders and deep-pocketed lobbyists to prevent rogue members like Merkley and Levin from effecting real change. In public, the parties stage a show of bitter bipartisan stalemate. But when the cameras are off, they fuck like crazed weasels in heat.

In light of the fact that the figurative reach-arounds between Washington and Wall Street’s lobbyists/insiders etc isn’t exactly breaking news, and that Taibbi is a real live investigative journalist, I think we can only assume that this is completely literal reporting, in which case, holy hell, James. Wanna watch where you stick that thing?

Wall Street’s Big Win [Rolling Stone]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Jamie and Lloyd weren’t invited (not that they’d slum it at something like this anyway), and James Gorman, Robert Wolf, Brian Moynihan and Bob Diamond declined to attend having other plans but Vikram will be there, Mr. President! With bells on!

When President Barack Obama signs the financial overhaul bill into law on Wednesday, many of the most recognizable faces in the banking world won’t be among the hundreds of people in attendance. Bank of America Corp. CEO Brian Moynihan was invited but can’t attend. Same goes for Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman and UBS Americas CEO Robert Wolf, a close friend of Obama. Barclays PLC President Bob Diamond was invited, though it’s unclear if he’ll be there. Citigroup Inc. CEO Vikram Pandit? He’ll be there.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Lawmakers Reach Accord On Finance Rules (WSJ)
Lawmakers agreed to a provision known as the “Volcker” rule, which prohibits banks from making risky bets with their own funds. To win support from Sen. Scott Brown (R., Mass.), Democrats agreed to allow financial companies to make limited investments in areas such as hedge funds and private-equity funds. The move could require some big banks to spin off divisions, known as proprietary-trading desks, which make bets with the firms’ money. The bill also includes a provision, authored by Sen. Blanche Lincoln, which would limit the ability of federally insured banks to trade derivatives. This provision almost derailed the bill following vehement objections from New York Democrats. Ms. Lincoln worked out a deal in the early hours of Friday morning that would allow banks to trade interest-rate swaps, certain credit derivatives and others.

Frank Sticks Banks With $20 Billion Tab (Politico)
Barney Frank at 2:52 a.m. moved on to sticking the banks with the $20 billion or so bill to cover the costs of the reform legislation’s implementation. The fee would apply to banks with over $50 billion in assets and hedge funds with over $10 billion and would be assessed proportionally based on a bank’s size.

Congress Includes Ban On Box Office Trading (HR via Heidi Moore)
An amendment banning the trading of derivatives based on boxoffice results was approved just before 1 a.m. EST on Friday morning. Barney Frank said during a short discussion that while there had been controversy about movie futures, the House conferees were not going to exercise their option to alter the amendment banning movie futures trading.

John Paulson Bullish on US, Denies Subprime Culpability (CNBC)
“We had absolutely zero impact on the mortgage or credit crisis,” he told an audience at the London School of Economics on Wednesday. “Instead, that guilt lies with the mortgage brokers themselves. They only cared about generating fees, they falsified appraisals… this was the sad underbelly of mortgage finance in the US…(w)ithout us, the mortgage market would have existed exactly as it did,” Paulson said.

Goldman Sachs Reclaims Top Spot In Global M&A (Reuters)
Haters gonna hate: “Goldman would still like you to believe the firm is run by Gus Levy or John Whitehead, who was famous for saying, ‘Put the client first and the firm second.’ But now it seems like everybody is a (trading) counterparty,” Keevil said.

Liability Questions Loom For BP And Ex-Partners (NYT)
“Other parties besides BP may be responsible for costs and liabilities arising from the oil spill, and we expect those parties to live up to their obligations,” said Tony Hayward, BP’s chief executive, in response to a June 18 statement from one of its partners in the well. That partner, Anadarko Petroleum, has a 25 percent stake in the project, and its joint operating agreement with BP gives it a 25 percent share of the liability, a potentially ruinous amount. On June 18, Anadarko issued a blunt statement intended to distance itself from BP. “The mounting evidence clearly demonstrates that this tragedy was preventable and the direct result of BP’s reckless decisions and actions,” said the company’s chief executive, Jim Hackett. “Frankly, we are shocked,” he said. “BP’s behavior and actions likely represent gross negligence or willful misconduct.”

Is BP Burning Sea Turtles? (Fox)
A boat captain working to rescue sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico says he has seen BP ships burning sea turtles and other wildlife alive. Captain Mike Ellis said in an interview that the boats are conducting controlled burns to get rid of the oil. “They drag a boom between two shrimp boats and whatever gets caught between the two boats, they circle it up and catch it on fire. Once the turtles are in there, they can’t get out,” Ellis said. Ellis said he had to cut short his three-week trip rescuing the turtles because BP quit allowing him access to rescue turtles before the burns. “They’re pretty much keeping us from doing what we need to do out there,” Ellis said.

What recession? This crystal bathtub costs $790,000+
(NYDN)
You need this: “It was crafted from flawless white crystal sourced from the Amazon rainforest. It was sculpted over six months using diamond cuts. It costs a $790,310.” It’s your next tub.

Hedge Fund Regulations Stall In Europe (Reuters)
On Thursday, the parliamentarian leading negotiations with European countries said he had disbanded efforts to reach an agreement this month on rules to clamp down on hedge funds and private equity.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker