Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Time Warner started cutting costs across its Time Inc. publishing division this week and is hoping to save as much as $100 million by paring back expenses and slashing several hundred jobs. One way the company could have made up the difference without sacrificing any of its employees? By selling off the three Gulfstream jets it owns! More

The Return of the Private Jet? | Another way you can tell the recession has ended (in addition to hearing it from the chairman of the Federal Reserve, of course): When you start seeing articles with headlines like "How to Buy Your Own Private Jet." Too soon for this sort of thing? Maybe, but prices are down 25 to 50 percent, according to Barron's, "so planes are (relatively) cheap!" Emphasis on "relatively." Naturally. [BusinessInsider, photo]

Do As We Say, Not As We Do | Not only have House lawmakers proposed blowing half a billion dollars of taxpayer money on eight new jets to ferry them around the world—the same taxpayer money that auto companies and banks were scolded for spending on their own corporate jets a few months ago, of course—now it turns out that the government is probably significantly overpaying for the planes, too. [WSJ]

Back in March, the New York Times Co. put its 1997 Dassault Falcon jet up for sale for $9.5 million. Several months passed without a buyer stepping forward, and now we hear the plane has been pulled off the market entirely. Did the company finally find someone to take it off its hands? Did Arthur Sulzberger Jr. decide to hang on to it? (Probably not.) Maybe the paper is planning to give it a good scrub-down before putting it up for sale again in the fall? We have no clue. But if you do, let us know! [Previously]

Did the Wall Street Journal really think people would fall over in disbelief at the news that the CEOs of a few bailed-out banks used their corporate jets to fly off on vacation? Like, last Christmas? By now, you've probably figured out that these companies blow tons of money on not-so-important things. (Like, say, office renovations, or jaunts to the Olympics and Wimbledon aboard their company jets.) If the paper really wants to break a story open wide, perhaps it could look into why a JPMorgan Chase-owned Gulfstream G-V was on the tarmac at a small airport in Brazil that happens to be known as a major transfer point for South American drug cartels? (See above.) Now that could be something big! [WSJ] 

Mixed Messages at Pfizer | When we revealed recently that Pfizer had put two of its corporate jets up for sale, we assumed it was a cost-cutting measure on the pharma conglomerate's part. It may be. But not necessarily! David Collins of the Connecticut newspaper The Day attempted to get to the bottom of things last week and was initially told by a press rep that the company was selling the planes as a "function of cost reduction initiatives." A couple of days later, though, Pfizer reversed course, informing Collins that the company would evaluate its options "for replacing these vehicles." So if you were concerned about poor Jeff Kindler having to deal with the indignity of commercial air travel, guess you needn't give up hope just yet. [The Day, previously]

When we mentioned yesterday that Pfizer had put two of its planes up for sale, we were reminded of that moment in late 2008 when every company in America seemed determined to dump their flying palaces in response to the downturn. That had us wondering about the fate of some of the jets that had been placed on the market in the waning days of 2008. Did Citigroup's Vikram Pandit manage to dupe someone into taking a couple of planes and a helicopter off his hands? What about that New York Times Co. jet? Sadly, very few of them have found a new home (or hanger) yet. But some of them are cheaper than ever! And since the thought of these jets sitting forlornly at Teterboro pains us all, we've rounded up a bunch of corporate planes that remain on the market. Print out the used-plane ad above, hand it around the office, and spread the word: A little word-of-mouth marketing goes a long way!

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer raised $10 billion with a big bond sale in the UK on Tuesday. Closer to home, it's looking to raise $64.75 million by selling off two of its Gulfstream jets. The world's largest drugmaker has put a Gulfstream V up for sale for $29.25 million; the company is also looking for someone to take possession of an even fancier Gulfstream 550 for $35.5 million. It's unclear when the planes were put up for sale exactly, although both were reduced in price recently. And while there's no indication if Pfizer chief Jeff Kindler would be willing to negotiate a little package deal, if your company is flush with cash and your logo is blue, you'll save a small fortune by not having to repaint them. (They come in matching shades of Pfizer—Viagra—blue, naturally.) Click on the photo above to see the planes that millions of impotent men around the world so generously paid for.

• Congress's efforts to recoup bonuses at AIG appear to have cooled over the past few days. And President Obama will make an effort to repair relations with Wall Street when he sits down with a dozen bank CEOs on Friday. [WSJ]
• More on Tim Geithner's proposal yesterday that the government be given the authority to take control of troubled financial institutions. [NYT]
• HSBC is planning to lay off 1,200 people in the UK. [DB]
• Hedge funders may see pay drop by as much as 25 percent this year. [BN]
• A Steve Rattner-less Quadrangle Group has decided to temporarily suspend efforts to raise a third private equity fund. [peHUB]
• More big names have decided to leave Merrill Lynch. [FT, WSJ]
• AIG says it sold two of its jets and has cancelled delivery of two more. [ABC]
• An employee with AIG shares his resignation letter: He says he's been "betrayed by AIG" and "unfairly persecuted by elected officials." [NYT]

JPMorgan Takes a Step Back | So much for those two new jets and a "state-of-the-art" airplane hanger in Westchester—for the time being, at least. A spokesman for JPMorgan Chase now says the bank has no plans to move forward with the deal as long as it is holding on to taxpayer money: "We will not purchase any replacement plane or make any related expenditure until after we have repaid TARP funds in full." [NYT/Dealbook]

JPMorgan Flies On | The Post reported today that JPMorgan Chase, which collected $25 billion in bailout money last fall, has placed orders for two new Gulfstream 650 jets. The total cost? About $119 million. But ABC News reports that in addition to the cost of the planes, the bank is paying another $18 million to build "the premiere corporate aircraft hangar on the eastern seaboard," a structure that will feature "reclaimed wood, quarry tile and a vegetated roof garden." What, no zen garden? [NYP, ABC, photo]

• Andrew Cuomo has won the battle to force Bank of America to turn over the names of the 200 Merrill employees who earned the largest bonuses right before the firm was acquired. He says he'll release the info today. [CNN, NYT]
• As you can probably imagine, it's been "the worst week in a string of bad weeks" for Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. [NYT]
• Of course, it's also been a pretty lousy few days for AIG chief Ed Liddy, who walked into this big mess when he took the top job last September. [NYT]
• A record number of hedge funds were forced to close up shop last year: About 1,471 hedge funds were liquidated in 2008. [NYP, DB]
• The Fed plans to buy $300 billion of long-term Treasuries and hundreds of billions of dollars more in mortgage-backed securities. [BN, WSJ]
• JPMorgan reports the bank's CEO, Jamie Dimon, earned about $19.7 million in total compensation for 2008. And how did you do last year? [Reuters]
• Citigroup has canceled its order to buy three new jets. [Dealbreaker]

It isn't easy to be a gold digger in a deep recession. You can't just expect to hit a club and find bankers standing on banquettes with a bottle of Cristal in one hand and a handful of $100 bills in the other. And you can't just stand outside the Lamborghini dealership on Long Island and expect to meet that special someone. Conspicuous consumption is out and even the men who could afford a Lambo if they wanted one aren't buying them. Fear not! You just need to make a few small adjustments and boost your chances of meeting an absurdly wealthy man willing to shower you with gifts for years and years—or at least until someone younger, blonder, and cuter comes along. After the jump, a few suggestions!More

Editor & Publisher's Mark Fitzgerald and Jennifer Saba report that the New York Times Co. is selling its private jet, news that the company apparently included in its annual proxy, which was filed with the SEC this morning. But it looks like they've been trying to unload the 1997 Dassault Falcon for close to two months now: It appears the plane was first officially listed back in mid-January. Isn't there someone out there who can come to Arthur Sulzberger Jr.'s rescue? It's just $9.5 million! And it's loaded with extras! You'll find the full specs below. [F&J via Politico] More

Six weeks ago, we revealed that Starbucks had put its brand-new, $45 million Gulfstream 550 up for sale the day before announcing plans to cut 6,700 jobs and close an additional 300 stores. It looks like they're not done trimming the corporate fat. The coffee chain put another plane on the market this week—a 2004 Challenger 604 that seats ten. More