REVENUE STRATEGY - LEHMAN BROTHERS

1. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was on the brink of failure in 1998 but pushed ahead with a plan to diversify beyond its U.S. bond-market base.
2. It has become the largest broker of shares on the London Stock Exchange and third-biggest on U.S. bourses.
3. Its team of U.S. equity-research analysts has ranked first in Institutional Investor magazine's annual survey for four years.
4. In 2003, it became a bigger player in money management with the $3.2 billion purchase of Neuberger Berman Inc.
5. It boosted profit faster than Morgan Stanley or Merrill by resisting pressure to slash costs during industry downturns. While Morgan Stanley fired more than 10,000 people following the dot-com bust of 2001, Lehman hired more than 3,000.
6. It relied on hiring to catch up on overseas business.
a) In the past four years, it lured Christian Meissner, Goldman's co-head of European equity capital markets; Morgan Stanley energy banker William Vereker; Francesco Mengozzi, the ex-CEO of Italian airline Alitalia SpA; and Edmond Alphandery, a former French economy minister.
b) In Asia it hired Pankaj Vaish from Citigroup Inc. to run Indian equities and fixed income; economist Kenichi Kawasaki from the Japanese government; and Goldman's John Adair in Japan.

Diversification and hiring and guts are ingredients of revenue.

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