The Justice Department apparently doesn’t get out all that often.
In US v. Apple, the ongoing antitrust e-book trial, Lawrence Buterman, one of the government’s lawyers, seemed stunned by the frequency with which publishing-industry bosses get together for dinner.
Grilling Simon and Schuster boss Carolyn Reidy, Buterman asked, “Between 2008 and 2010, you attended dinners with other people who were from competing publishers?”
He continued to press her on the location and the guest list.
“Picholine restaurant?” “The private dining room known as the Wine Cellar?” were among the questions used to imply the cozy nature of book publishing.
Reidy told the lawyer that all that was discussed at these dinners were joint ventures like the new book-finder site Bookish.
Then Buterman pressed her about another dinner, which welcomed new Random House boss Markus Dohle to his post. (We want to know how they split the checks.)
One might think these publishers have the disposition of puppies, given the contracts they ended up signing with Apple, but Reidy showed her mettle by dressing down the lawyer about his misuse of semicolons in one of his exhibits.
The evidence involved some cringe-worthy moments for the feisty Reidy, who also admitted to making disparaging comments about Amazon executives and to describing one of Apple’s top lawyers as a “minion.”
The iTunes lawyer Keith Moerer blushed red in the courtroom. Judge Denise Cote apologized to him, saying: “Sorry, Mr. Moerer, but we’re all minions from some perspective.”–Claire Atkinson
Prince of a guy
Generally when people talk about bankers, a white knight is an ally in the deal. But in the merger of New York banker Christopher O’Neill and Princess Madeleine of Sweden (pictured yesterday at her wedding), he renounced his princely duties prior to the nuptials in Stockholm’s Royal Chapel.
O’Neill, 38, who works as a partner and head of research at Noster Capital and holds dual American and British citizenship, has declined a royal rank in Sweden, which would have required him to become a Swedish citizen and quit his job.
He has chosen to continue working for the fund in New York and the newlyweds are expected to move back to Manhattan.
Princess Madeleine, 30, known as the “party princess” in her early 20s for frequenting Stockholm’s high-end nightclubs, and who attracted widespread attention for her stylish clothes and glamorous lifestyle, is now living in Manhattan and working for her mother’s charity, World Childhood Foundation.
Invitees include the CEO of fashion retailer H&M, Karl-Johan Persson; golfer Jesper Parnevik, Roxette singer Marie Fredriksson, Broadway’s “Phantom of the Opera” star Peter Joback and Colombian billionaire Alejandro Santo Domingo.–Post staff
Hot shots
Let’s hope Snapchat can hold onto cash longer than its service holds photos.
The hot startup, which allows users to send instantly disappearing photos, is reportedly looking to raise $100 million at a half-billion dollar valuation.
Tech insider Om Malik of GigaOM reported on Snapchat’s cash grab, which comes just months after raising $13.5 million from Benchmark Capital.
Snapchat users share 150 million photos a day. The images are able to be seen for only a matter of seconds before they disappear from a viewer’s phone, giving some security to the sender that the photos won’t be shared more widely.
The company was valued at only about $70 million in February. The founders are in a lawsuit with one of their ex-college buddies who claims to deserve a piece of the company, which was founded less than two years ago.–Garret Sloane
Tips ahoy
Who’s doing well these days? Waiters who moved here from Arkansas.
A survey by savings website CouponCodes4u finds diners in New York and New Jersey are the nation’s best tippers, leaving on average 23.6 percent and 22.1 percent of the bill, respectively, in gratuities.
Yet those gourmet centers Arkansas and West Virginia skritch out a miserly 10 percent and 10.5 percent for their hardworking servers.
Though in fairness we do hear that at the Later Alligator in Wheeling there could be some dine-and-dashers.–Post staff