BARRON’S Editor Ed Finn is moving to restore order in his house after two of his most senior staffers publicly humiliated a third at a recent meeting of the Barron’s roundtable.
Finn plans to have a sit-down with columnist Alan Abelson and Associate Editor Kate Welling to discuss their recent attack on Mutual Funds Editor Sandy Ward.
The powwow will not happen in the near term, though, because Abelson’s wife recently died.
The brouhaha started at the roundtable earlier this month when Welling read a letter of apology from Abelson to Morgan Stanley’s Asset Management chief Barton Biggs for a story about him by Ward.
Ward’s “piece was mean-spirited, malicious, shoddy, lacking even the pretense of logic or coherence, a bag of bile from start to finish,” Abelson wrote in the letter, obtained by The Post. “I can only speculate on the author’s motives; the 029 . 0000.00least reprehensive might be a consuming envy. You, Barton, write like the wind, while her prose is irretrievably arthritic.”
Abelson was not through.
He went on to attack Barron’s, where he was once editor.
“I would have hoped that the magazine might have had the taste to refrain from reprinting a gratuitous, unfounded smear of someone who so often graces its pages with his wit and insights, someone who has been such a great and treasured source and staunch supporter of Barron’s over the years, and who is a valued guest at this meeting.
“I guess not. Apparently, it doesn’t know the difference between spittle and substance, between 029 . 0000.00adolescent posturing, and uncompromising journalism.”
After finishing the letter, Welling put in her two cents. “Before I move on, I also want to tell you publicly, Barton, that I was sickened and appalled to read that excrement in Barron’s. And I, too, apologize.”
The incident has compelled some Barron’s staffers to push for some sort of censure of Abelson and Welling.
At a staff meeting last week, Finn heaped praise on Ward and her Dec. 28 story on Biggs.
“Management totally supports her,” Managing Editor Richard Rescigno told The Post. “She’s a very valuable and accurate reporter.”
Says Ward: “I think they’ve embarrassed themselves and the publication. It’s very sad to see where their true loyalties lie. That took all of their colleagues by surprise.”
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AT&T dropped its plan to issue a tracking stock for its cable business for 029 . 0000.00several reasons.
For starters, the company wants all its businesses to work together. Perhaps more importantly, AT&T shares are so high the company doesn’t need the tracker.
But there might be another reason, as well: Peace among top managers.
There has been tension between Tele-Communications Inc. President Leo Hindery Jr. and AT&T President John Zeglis, who is to be his boss after AT&T’s acquisition of TCI closes. If they worked for an independent company, Hindery would report directly to Zeglis.
Without the divide between their unit and the parent, Hindery can effectively keep reporting to AT&T Chairman Mike Armstrong.
Hindery is a rich man now, has an interest in politics, and is ready to walk if the new environment doesn’t suit him. And this would be lousy time for Armstrong to lose him.
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