NYCB to be renamed New York CitiBallet in exchange for a $200M do

[mussel]

According to the today's New York Ledger, a deal is being finalized between NYCB and Citigroup for a $200 million endowment donation to be paid over 10 years at $20 million per year. In exchange NYCB will be renamed New York CitiBallet effective August 1, 2011.

Is Citigroup in a position to make this kind of commitment? Didn’t it receive Federal bailout money not long ago? I don’t understand.

[canbelto]

Good April Fools Joke.

[Mme. Hermine]

[Farrell Fan]

Reminds me of the time Lincoln Kirstein wanted to rename it New York Kitty Ballet.

[bart]

There must be a mistake. The version I heard was that the name change was to be to New York Cindi Ballet, in honor of Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit's beloved lhasa apso Cindi. The amount was actually $200 billion, which comes to approximately 10% of the Citigroup upper-level executive compensation package for 2009.

[carbro]

Good April Fools Joke.

One can only hope . A good April Fool's joke works when it is not beyond the realm of conceivable, and these days, deals like this are all too ... not merely conceivable but frequent.

[Balanchinomane]

Mussel, what an evil deed!!! I thought I would have a heart attack after I read

your post. I poured a huge glass of wine and started weeping. I would believe

anything in today's corporate culture, especially after hearing about the recent

activities of our previous benefactor:

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/campaigns/gl...koch-industries

[Juliane]

That really scared me!!!!

[bart]

That really scared me!!!!

Not to toss a wet blanket on this topic, but, here's something by Paul Boutin from yesterday's NY Times:

Separating April Fools' From Fraud on the Web

There's also something from the education supplement Katherin Shultin:

What Pranks, Jokes, Hoaxes or Tricks Have You Ever Fallen For or Perpetrated?

[mussel]

My joke was pretty lame. There're some hilarious April's fool ballet jokes in another ballet forum site, like Royal Ballet's going to stage SB on ice at the ROH; a long lost Giselle 3rd act was discovered at, of all places, Univ. of Montana; and new EU safety rules to limit the number of pouettés and to require dancers to wear hard hats during performances. Even funnier were people's reactions, they fell for the jokes, their posts were pure gold, ROFL funny. I wish I could post the links to the jokes but I understand posting links to another ballet forums is forbidden here.

[Helene]

Is Citigroup in a position to make this kind of commitment? Didn’t it receive Federal bailout money not long ago? I don’t understand.

Public funding for ballet!!!!!!! (if only...)

[kfw]

My joke was pretty lame.

Lame? I'm still laughing at it!

[Helene]

Just a quick note: discussions about other forums' content is off-limits on Ballet Talk. Other forums are easy to find -- there aren't many of us -- and Google, bing, and PM (for BTers with 10 or more posts) are your friends.

[Mel Johnson]

Now, Ballet Talk for Dancers may be all right, but any transient readers should be warned: The Gossip Rule is even stricter there, and the most inside information you're likely to get is the 14-year-old from Peoria who's having trouble with bourrées. Now that's REALLY TMI! The site is really for students and their significant mothers and others really close to them (who can send them to Summer Intensives and such).