• Oprah got all teary today when she announced she'll end her talk show two years from now. Meanwhile her upstart cable network announced it'll launch in January 2011, eight months before her talk show goes off the air. [EW, THR]
• Oprah isn't the only one planning her goodbyes. Bill Moyers announced today that he's…
Letterman's Ratings, Rather's Suit & The Post Parody
• Barack Obama's appearance on David Letterman's show last night helped the Late Night host score his second-highest ratings ever. [NYT, WP]
• Dan Rather scored a couple of victories in his suit against CBS: A motion by the network to dismiss the case was denied by a judge; and Rather's lawyers will be permitted to…
The Real Housewife and the Gray Lady
Reports surfaced recently that media mogul David Geffen had expressed an interest in buying a piece of the New York Times. As the story goes, Geffen had offered to buy Harbinger Capital Partners' 20 percent stake in the paper; but Harbinger, the hedge fund operated by Phil Falcone, had rejected the overture because…
Newsday, The Times & The Gloomiest Cannes Ever
• Jim Dolan's Cablevision says that Newsday is not for sale, which is good since there isn't a company on the planet that wants to buy it. [E&P]
• David Geffen made an offer to acquire the stake in the New York Times Co. controlled by Phil Falcone's Harbinger fund; Harbinger passed. [Fortune]
• The mood isn't too…
Wall Street: Tuesday Morning
• Bank of America sold off a $7.3 billion stake in China Construction Bank as it seeks to raise cash. Good news: only $26.6 billion to go! [DB]
• Andrew Cuomo is expected to announce that Hank Morris has pleaded guilty in the pension fund probe and will be cooperating with the investigation. [WSJ]
• Citigroup has lent…
Phil Falcone Likes 'Total Control'
It looks like it's been a good year thus far for Phil Falcone, the hedge fund kingpin who resides in the ornate Guccione mansion, is the owner of a pet pig named Pickles, and made a fortune last fall betting against the British bank HBOS. (He also controls a big chunk of the New York Times, which probably won't go…
Citi and Morgan Stanley Close In on a Deal
• Talks between Citigroup and Morgan Stanley continue as the two banks discuss a plan to combine Citi's Smith Barney unit with Morgan Stanley's brokerage division in a joint venture worth $20 billion. [FT, Bloomberg, WSJ]
• It remains unclear if Vikram Pandit will be able to hang on as Citigroup's CEO, especially amid…
No Bailout for Detroit Yet, New Lows All Around
♦ The effort by U.S. automakers to secure a bailout hit a major roadblock after execs from the Big Three were sent home by Congress empty-handed. The behind-the-scenes negotiations continue. [WSJ, Bloomberg]
♦ Shares of JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America are at multi-year lows as the Dow hovers at a…
'Greedy Pig' Gets Richer
If you're a vulture investor and you're profiting from the current market turmoil, it's only expected that you'll generate a bit of negative press. When you make your big bets in England, though, you get to see yourself described as a "greedy pig" in the headline. The Mirror reports today that New York's very own …
Street Talk
Street Talk
Winners & Losers
The Wall Street Journal has the skinny on the hedge funders who are "defying skeptics who questioned whether they could keep their runs going." John Paulson's fund is up 20 percent through the end of June; Phil Falcone's Harbinger Capital Partners I is up 42 percent; and Daniel Arbess, who oversees Perella Weinberg's…
Silicon Valley launches a takeover of the New York Times
The digital barbarians are at the gate. Harbinger Capital Partners, a private-equity fund which owns 4.9 percent of the New York Times, has written a letter to the newspaper's management suggesting that it buy more "digital assets." Scott Galloway of Firebrand Partners, an affiliated investment firm, is proposing an…
