Lehman Brothers put itself up for sale- Wall Street

The day has arrived. After so much talk about mounting losses in billions, Lehman Brothers could not help much in stopping eroding stock price which closed 45% down to $3.97. Analyst has recently downgraded the stock value seeing $7 bn losses.

I had previously mentioned in my blog about possible sale of Lehman Brothers , though people close to bank still denied the fact.

As per CNN, The No. 4 U.S. investment bank is scouring Wall Street for a financial lifeline as its losses soared to almost $7 billion in the last two quarters alone, primarily because of wrong-way bets on mortgage securities and other risky investments. Its shares nose-dived a staggering 42 percent Thursday to close at $4.22. That's down more than 94 percent from their 52-week high of $67.73.
Bank of America Corp., Japan's Nomura Securities, France's BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank AG and Britain's Barclay's PLC have been mentioned this week as potential buyers.

I think HSBC too will take a chance to bid for it.

However as per The Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported Thursday that Lehman is actively shopping itself and said that suitors included Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) and British bank Barclays (BCS).

Company officials are trying to get a deal wrapped up and announced by Sunday night, people close to the deal tell CNBC.- CNBC

Bank of America is name which is looking positive as front runner.

Lehman Brothers- Next Bear Stearns?

US financial body Fed is trying its level best to avoid another bear stearns by pushing Lehman Brothers struggle and overcome their losses. Read this in businessweek recently!!!
Well , Lehman bet on mortgage business has taken them into bad debt and now they are next bear stearns in making. Fed however is trying best to avoid this situation since that would take away all the trust from i-bank world.
Although, Lehman is smallest of top10 i-banks, its fallout could further worsen the global economy through ripple effects