Lehman Workers Clear Desks, Weep After Bankruptcy

Lehman Workers Clear Desks, Weep After Bankruptcy

Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s employees worldwide are clearing their desks, waiting to hear if they'll be paid, and starting to look for work after the investment bank filed for the biggest bankruptcy in history.

``Everyone's talking on their cell phones, talking to headhunters,'' said Duo Ai, a bespectacled 26-year-old employee in fixed income quantitative research, as he stepped outside Lehman's Canary Wharf offices in London today. ``It's kind of chaotic. The only question remaining is whether we will get this month's pay check.''

The 158-year-old bank filed today for bankruptcy after Bank of America Corp. and Barclays Plc pulled out of rescue talks because the U.S. government balked at funding a bailout. That's left Lehman's 25,000 employees worldwide fearing for their livelihoods and some blaming Chief Executive Officer Richard Fuld for Lehman's collapse. Lehman's workers also own about a third of the bank's shares.

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