Up Front
Edited by Sheridan Prasso
Talk Show
"This is the demarcation point between what was--the Roaring '90s--and whatever now is." -- Bank One CEO James Dimon
Hard Hit at the World Trade Center
The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center devastated businesses both large and small. Companies such as Morgan Stanley, the largest WTC tenant, lost offices linked to larger operations elsewhere. But smaller companies headquartered there, such as investment bankers Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, had their entire operations obliterated. Here are the major former tenants:
1. MORGAN STANLEY
WTC's largest tenant, with 3,500 people employed in individual investor and asset management services in the WTC complex. CEO reported "most" were evacuated.
2. PORT AUTHORITY OF NEW YORK & NEW JERSEY
Occupied 859,000 sq. ft. of WTC space, with offices for 124 people.
3. AON RISK SERVICES
Chicago-based insurance conglomerate had 1,100 employees on high floors of South Tower.
4. EMPIRE BLUE CROSS & BLUE SHIELD
Headquarters of largest health insurer in New York; employed 1,914; 39 missing as of Sept. 12.
5. MARSH & McLENNAN
Insurer and parent of Putnam Investments and Mercer Consulting; had accounted for only 1,000 of its 1,700 WTC staff by Sept. 12.
6. BANK OF AMERICA
WTC administrative offices employed 400; most escaped.
7. DEUTSCHE BANK
German financial services company, with U.S. headquarters in Midtown, had 350 in WTC complex.
8. OPPENHEIMER FUNDS
Mutual fund with more than $125 billion in assets; occupied 261,000 sq. ft. of South Tower. All 600 employees accounted for.
9. GUY CARPENTER
Leading reinsurance intermediary owned by Marsh & McLennan, on eight floors of South Tower.
10. CREDIT SUISSE
Global investment bank; 800 employees evacuated from 5 World Trade Center, next to the towers.
11. KEEFE, BRUYETTE & WOODS
Institutional securities broker and investment bank; leased two floors at WTC with 175 employees.
12. CANTOR FITZGERALD
Largest government bond broker and trader of fixed-income securities on 4 floors at the top of the North Tower; half of 2,000 employees missing as of Sept. 12; had provided rent-free office space to a cystic fibrosis charity.
Data: Bloomberg Financial Markets, Company Reports
VITAL LINKS
This Was Why the Net Was Created
The Internet, born 32 years ago as a decentralized network designed to work in adversity, triumphed in the most severe emergency in U.S. history. With Northeast phone and cellular lines clogged with twice the normal levels of traffic, companies and people found the Net the best way to communicate.
Companies such as Coca-Cola e-mailed employees to go home. Motorola also sent e-mail updates, including how to make donations. Others, including Credit Suisse First Boston, posted updates for clients. AOL logged 1.2 billion Instant Messages, thought to be a record. Several Web sites created search tools to track survivors. In Seattle, 50 CIOs at a tech conference abandoned their geeky topics to go online. David Reed, who helped develop the Net as an MIT professor, received e-mail updates from New Yorkers. "It gave me a better picture of what was going on than what was on TV," says Reed.
Not every use was positive: News sites were jammed and postings to Sina.com in China said the U.S. "deserved" it.
By Roger O. Crockett, with bureau reports
CAR TALK
A Run on Rentals
Complete chaos. Car rental counters nationwide experienced it when, suddenly, the only way to get anywhere on Sept. 11 was by road. Rental offices and reservation lines were jammed, as travelers on more than 5,000 flights were required to land at the nearest airport, hundreds of miles from their destinations. The scene at the Eugene (Ore.) airport, where several West Coast corridor flights had to land, was typical: Long lines of stranded passengers snaked out the door as National Car Rental ran out of cars by 9 a.m. and was quickly followed by Avis, Hertz, and the others. Chicago-area rentals were depleted by midday. "There are indeed a lot of folks who are stranded or who are nervous and trying to get out of the area," says a spokeswoman for ANC Rental, which owns National's and Alamo's 268,000 cars.
The biggest problem was matching cars with people, most of whom wanted one-way rentals out of airports. Those scheduled to return cars were unable to get there. Budget Rent a Car alerted customers that "due to the national crisis, availability can't be guaranteed" and waived additional one-way drop-off charges. National and Alamo did likewise. It will take weeks, if not longer, to sort it all out.
By Sheridan Prasso
At the Top of a Terrible List
The destruction of the World Trade Center will be the most costly man-made disaster in U.S. history. Damage from 1992's Hurricane Andrew reached $18.4 billion*, and losses from the WTC attack will be comparable.
Insured losses from the following man-made disasters:
1. WORLD TRADE CENTER TERRORIST ATTACK: $10 billion to $30 billion**
2. THE GREAT CHICAGO FIRE, 1871: $2.3 billion
3. LOS ANGELES RIOTS, 1992: $775 million
4. WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMBING, 1993: $510 million
5. OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING, 1995: $125 million
* Adjusted for inflation
** BW est.
Data: Insurance Information Institute
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Copyright 2001 , by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
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