That’s a far cry from the policy of the USofA, which has so far allowed SWF’s to swoop in and bail out troubled financial firms with mega chunks of money.

Apparently, that’s not something France is prepared to invite.
    
“There is no question of France not acting … France will make the political and strategic choice to protect its companies, to give them the means to defend themselves and to develop,” Sarkozy told a news conference.
    
He said state bank Caisse des Depots would play a role in implementing this strategy. 
     
So it’s probably safe to assume that while SWF’s are interested in pulling in American/European talent, they’re not scouring the market for French speakers.

(Image credit: Reuters)

Two years of haggling and a blessing from Beijing couldn’t save Singapore Airlines’ $920 million bid for about a quarter of China Eastern Airlines. Bigger rival Air China is now expected to bid for China Eastern, the third-biggest carrier in China. Analysts say loss-making China Eastern will try to return to the negotiating table with Singapore Air.

For the first time since the private equity giant went public, its stock finished below $20 on Monday, even as the Dow and S&P ended higher. That’s right. It’s trading in the teens.
    
It’s a milestone few expected in the spring, when Blackstone IPO hype was at its height, or even when shares priced at $31 in June and sprung higher when they opened. Then the stock fell, and has continued to do so. The sub-$20 dip came on a day when Blackstone took a bit of a bruising in the press. What a difference a few months makes.   
    
The New York Post came out swinging on Sunday with a Blackstone gut shot in an article on its CEO’s response to the PHH deal falling apart. The article seemed a tad hysterical in its accusations, and made mention of Blackstone Chief Steve Schwarzman offering peace pipes to the CEOs of the two banks that were supposed to finance the deal but didn’t: JPMorgan and Lehman. 
    
In fact, Deal Journal said that according to a person familiar with the matter, no such meetings took place, though the person did concede that duking it out with the banks wasn’t worth it.
    
The fact that Blackstone didn’t put up a fight shows that the firm probably wasn’t all that bummed by the collapse. PHH’s exposure to real estate market woes would be enough to make any buyer cringe — not to mention their bankers — when the mortgage mess and credit crunch came into full view during the summer.

And so it is that the private equity darlings and its CEO who shined during the height of the buyout boom endured another down day–symbolic in its representation of a leveraged buyout market brought to its knees by the credit crisis.

(NYSE trader. Reuters file)

I don't know down-market from up, but it looks like someone on the new team encouraged the folks down at wsj.com to have a little more fun with their headline style. While the top story on Monday leads off with the headline, "Starbucks Chairman Schultz To Take CEO Job as Well ," here's how the homepage headline reads: "Venti Changes at Starbucks."

Big changes take time of course. The next story features a photo of Democratic presidential candidate and Sen. Hillary Clinton and the headline "Campaign Takes Its Toll " rather than something to the effect of, "New Hampshire Proves a Pill for Hill."

UPDATE: You're going to have to make that a "grande." The wsj.com headline now reads: "Big changes at Starbucks."