October 7, 2007 — Victor Niederhoffer appears to be a two-time loser.

Niederhoffer, the father of modern hedge funds, who lost his entire $130 million portfolio in 1997 when he bet wrong that stocks in Thailand were ready for a bull run but then slowly and carefully rebuilt his business and his reputation, was been forced to shutter his flagship Matador fund last month after getting blindsided by the subprime mortgage meltdown.

The incredible story of loss, redemption and then loss again, which was lost amid the hedge fund disasters at larger firms like Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, is unfolded in the next issue of The New Yorker, on newsstand tomorrow.

The Brooklyn-born, Harvard educated Niederhoffer, 63 tells the magazine, the subprime mortgage mess is one of the greatest turmoils in Wall Street history.”

I was caught wrong-footed in the market turbulence,” said Niederhoffer, whose $350 million of assets under management was puny compared to the multi-billion dollar blow-ups down the Street. We were prepared for many different contingencies, but this kind of one we were not prepared for.”

No, it wasn’t the size of the blow-up that made it so poignant but that Niederhoffer was a lifelong gambler who’d tip-toed about the rim of stupid investment moves - and fallen hard - just 10 years ago. It was the so-called Asian contagion that did him in then.

It could have been hubris that knocked him down this time.

A member of the squash hall of fame and a collegiate champion at Harvard, Niederhoffer’s first memory of putting money on the line was a $2 bet he placed on the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1951. On Yom Yippur that year, an eight-year old Niederhoffer sneaked out of synagogue to place his Dodgers bet - which lost spectacularly when Bobby Thompson hit the shot heard ’round the world.

After losing his entire $139 million portfolio, Niederhoffer went into a depression for years. By 2003 he was finally ready to start anew. >PAGE 1>

(12-13) 05:42 PST New York (AP) —

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the nation’s No. 4 investment bank, on Thursday said equity trading and investment banking fees drove its fiscal fourth-quarter profit above Wall Street expectations.

For the three months ended Nov. 30, profit after paying preferred dividends was $870 million, or $1.54 per share, compared to $987 million, or $1.72 per share, a year earlier. Revenue fell to $4.39 billion from $4.53 billion a year earlier.

Lehman, the largest U.S. underwriter of mortgage-backed bonds, said its strategy of expanding beyond fixed income helped limit losses from the subprime mortgage and credit crisis. Quarterly results surpassed Wall Street projections for earnings of $1.42 per share on revenue of $4.26 billion, according to analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

“Despite what continues to be a difficult operating environment, the Firm’s results for the quarter highlight our ability to perform across market cycles and deliver value to our shareholders,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Richard Fuld in a statement.

Investment banks this year have been hurt by deterioration in the mortgage market, especially among subprime mortgages given to customers with poor credit history.

During the third quarter, Lehman took a writedown of about $1.3 billion due to the credit crisis Д smaller than many of its competitors.

In the fourth quarter, the New York-based investment bank took a net writedown in its fixed income business of $830 million Д but stemmed further risk from its mortgage-backed securities portfolio with transactions specifically designed to offset its losses.

Lehman’s equities business Д which includes investment banking Д posted revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, up from $900 million a year earlier. Lehman said results in this business were driven by gains from private equity and its investment in European asset management firm GLG Partners.

Lehman is the first of the nation’s biggest investment banks to report fiscal fourth-quarter results. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bear Stearns Cos. and Morgan Stanley release earnings next week.

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AP Business Writer Stephen Bernard contributed to this report from New York.

REDLAND, Calif., June 6 (UPI) — California-based AquaCell Technologies, Inc. announced Monday the acquisition of GPM Inc., the world’s only patented solar-powered air conditioner.

AquaCell’s solar-powered air conditioner uses less than 25 percent of the power of traditional air conditioners of the same size. Using direct current power, AquaCell’s air conditioners can be powered by only two photovoltaic panels, freeing the user from the electric utility grid.

“This acquisition, the culmination of eight months of combined effort on the part of AquaCell and GPM, solidly positions AquaCell in the emerging alternative energy space,” said James Witham, AquaCell’s chief executive officer. “Having an air conditioner powered through the energy of the sun has far reaching applications for daily cooling requirements for homes and industry, including modular buildings, as well as for emergency backup cooling, such as senior citizen housing and remote telecommunication facilities.”

The AquaCell air conditioners are the only climate control equipment in the world to take direct, renewable DC input to power its internal 24-volt operating system. Use of the air conditioner eliminates the risk of loss of air conditioning due to power shortages and blackouts.

The initial versions of the solar air conditioner have been purchased by the U.S. military, corporations and international real estate developers. In connection with the acquisition, the manufacturing will be relocated from Texas to southern California.