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Lehman's 25 other partners—many of them still in their 30s or early 40s—also serve as management consultants, economic forecasters and raisers of venture capital. Last year the firm arranged $604 million worth of corporate mergers, sold $946 million of securities by privately placed financing, and marketed $1 billion in municipal bonds. Top Lehmanites gather daily in what must be one of the New World's most Old World corporate dining rooms, savor epicurean food prepared by a former chef of Le Pavilion restaurant. There they discuss ice-breaking new ways of investing—and making—money. Explains Bobby Lehman: "Investment banking is applying money to ideas and ideas to money, with the seasoning of imagination. In business, nothing happens until the two are mixed."
A Rich Mix. In the mixing process, Lehman's partners have enriched both their clients and their firm. When Charles ("Tex") Thornton and several associates quit Hughes Aircraft in 1953 to acquire Litton Industries, Lehman raised $1,500,000 for them. In return, the firm got 75,000 shares of Litton stock—for 100 to $1 a share. Last week, after three splits and seven stock dividends, each of those 75,000 shares was worth $737—though the firm has by now sold some of them. Lehman has also enhanced its growth and prestige by creating two of the largest U.S. investment trusts: Lehman Corp. (assets: $441 million) and the One William Street Fund (assets: $247.5 million). Beyond these, Lehman Bros, operates an Investment Advisory Service for blue-chip clients (minimum account: $500,000), who pay a minimum of $2,500 for its advice. The service has grown rapidly into the largest (more than $1 billion) run by any investment house.
Bundles for Space. Despite their belief that today's trend toward more government financing of vast new ventures will accelerate, the men of the house of Lehman contend that private banking faces more opportunities than problems. Power needs will triple in 25 years. Railroads and their terminals need reorganizing to handle both high- and low-speed trains. There will be satellites, undersea dwellings, passenger travel through space. All will require investment capital in the giant bundles that investment bankers collect. While nothing is so constant as change, the Lehmans feel certain of one thing: nobody is likely to devise a substitute for money.
* Yale Graduate Lehman last week gave New York University, of which he is a trustee, $1,000,000 to endow a professorship and five student fellowships in the fine arts.