Social Networking for Ex-Lehman and Bear Stearns Workers
A year after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, former workers keep in touch with each other on a niche social network called Forever Lehman. Strangely, it was founded by an ex-Bear Stearns employee.
Sanjeev Naraine spent eight years at Bear Stearns, most recently as a global vice president of videoconferencing. After being laid off in October 2007, the 31-year-old decided to create a network for his colleagues on the social-networking-creation site Ning, “almost like a virtual elevator where you can meet and say hi,” he said. He launched Who Killed the Bear? in May 2008.
When Lehman went under, Mr. Naraine figured he might as well create something for its staffers too. “It was more of just a gut feeling that I should just reserve the [Forever Lehman] name, and if things get bad, I could just launch it,” he said. “It was a pretty good guess on my part, anyways. And it only cost me a couple of bucks to buy the Web site.”
