The Columbian- The hope at Lehman Brothers is that a management shakeup Thursday will contain the damage of a stunning quarterly loss – yet some on Wall Street fear this is one more step toward a more dramatic outcome for the embattled investment bank.

The ouster of Chief Financial Officer Erin Callan and Chief Operating Officer Joseph Gregory was an attempt to quell investor anger that Lehman’s leadership has failed them. But, with a four-day stock plunge that wiped $4.5 billion from the investment bank’s market value, it was unclear if the upheaval will be enough to satisfy critics.

"These people deserve to be fired," said Dick Bove, an analyst with Ladenburg, Thalmann & Co. "Their mistakes cost their shareholders billions of dollars in wealth." Lehman shares fell 4.4 percent Thursday to $22.70 and are down 30 percent this week. The decline is a blow to investors who bought into a stock offering at $28 earlier this week – including BlackRock Inc. and former AIG chief Hank Greenberg.

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Reuters- Activist hedge funds have struck their first victory in France, building on successes in Britain and the Netherlands, where their aggressive tactics have forced several companies to bend to their will.

Centaurus Capital and Pardus Capital Management got their way at French IT services company Atos Origin on Wednesday, with the ouster of chairman Didier Cherpitel and appointment of Jean-Philippe Thierry as chief executive and the creation of a strategy committee.

The hedge funds had been at odds with Atos management for months, culminating in the company adjourning its annual shareholders’ meeting last week to prevent a vote on the funds’ proposals.

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