The third-quarter and nine-months revenues not only illustrate the balance Lehman Brothers has achieved among its equity, fixed income and investment banking businesses, but also show the financial and strategic potential of new businesses the firm has been building, including private equity and high-net-worth activities.

Given the less-than-favorable market environment, posting our second-best quarter ever underscores the broad-based strength and diversity of the firm's franchise businesses, and our continued success in building our high- margin activities.

Despite continued difficult markets, resulting in an industry-wide slowdown in some investment banking activities, the second quarter proved to be among our best ever in terms of net income and revenues.

In what was clearly one of the most difficult operating environments in several years, Lehman Brothers posted significant year-over-year increases in the fourth quarter.

The firm is well on its way to having its most profitable year ever, a clear indication that our strategy of expanding key business franchises and broadening our international presence has been successful.

While the market environment remains difficult, we are beginning to see positive signs for our industry, as demonstrated by the improvement in the equity markets, as well as a rise in announced mergers and acquisitions transactions.

Sandy's unsurpassed experience working with governments, industries, and businesses worldwide clearly makes him an ideal choice to help us further expand the Lehman Brothers' footprint in the global marketplace.

In the second half of 1998, we showed that the firm could be profitable in difficult market conditions, ... In the second quarter just ended, we demonstrated Lehman Brothers can be among the top performers in the industry in good market conditions.