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Amazon critic not pushed out of Lehman

Suleman Din

Thirty-year-old Ravi Suria is no dry convertible bond analyst. The Madras native has admitted that he favours squash as a sport, cigars as a habit, science fiction as reading material and jazz clubs as places to hang out.

But people know him better by his reputation as the 'Amazon Killer', the man who saw the Internet boom ready to bust long before anyone else.

His move from Lehman Brothers to Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Capital Management on Wednesday was headline news in publications such as The Wall Street Journal and The Industry Standard.

So it is a possibility that the folks at the hedge fund created in the 1980s by Stanley Druckenmiller were caught a bit off-guard by all the media attention.

After five phone calls, a Duquesne spokesperson finally told rediff.com: "We are not ready to comment, we are a private firm," in an apologetic tone.

"We really have nothing to say at this time, maybe in a week."

Suria remains a hot item on Wall Street after he wrote a report last June suggesting that Amazon.com, the online retailing giant, would run out of funds.

The company's stock price plummeted 20 per cent after his report. It irked Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos so much that he called Suria's reports 'complete, absolute, pure, unadulterated hogwash'.

Eyebrows were raised again when he wrote a second bleak report on Amazon.com two months later, only to see it replaced by Lehman Brothers with a milder warning from his colleague Holly Becker.

Becker would not comment on Suria's departure.

But an Indian colleague still at Lehman Brothers (speaking on condition of anonymity) was quick to dispel any rumours that Suria was pushed out.

"There's no surprise here," he said. "Suria always expressed his wish to do something outside of bonds and in investment management instead.

"When he left, there was no hostility. The only thing people are trying to pick up on are the reports he did about Amazon.com, and if there was any infighting, but that's just flighty rumours," the analyst said..

"Having worked with him for many months, I can say I benefited from having him as a colleague," he continued. "We enjoyed having him here, both professionally and personally."

Suria told The Industry Standard that he thinks his new job with Duquesne "is a fabulous opportunity... it's more in line with what I want to do".

He came to the US in 1991 and mixed an engineering background with an MBA from the A B Freeman School of Business at Tulane University in New Orleans. After graduating, Suria joined Paine Webber and won a high ranking from Institutional Investor magazine before joining Lehman.

Other financial professionals say it is because of his engineer-like ability to analyze and dissect company finances that his reports are must-reads.

Though you can be sure Bezos wishes Suria had favoured his company too.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE TO SEE:
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EXTERNAL LINKS
Is Ravi Right?
A 'Best-Seller' You Won't Find at Amazon.com
Amazon cash to run dry by 2001?

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