A lawyer with New York firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges was
sending information to all potential buyers on how to bid for the
company. However, the “To” field of the e-mail appears to have
listed the e-mail addresses of all intended recipients. The lawyer
should instead have listed all recipients in the “Bcc” (Blind
Carbon Copy) field of the e-mail message which avoids one recipient
identifying any other recipient. The e-mail was leaked last week to
the New York Times.
The bankruptcy of Global Crossing is one of the largest in US
history. The company has listed assets valued at $22 billion and
debts of more than $12 billion. Among its potential suitors,
according to the New York Times, are Verizon, BT, Deutsche Telekom,
Credit Suisse First Boston, the Carlyle Group and Bertelsmann.
The companies listed in the e-mail had previously signed
confidentiality agreements with Global Crossing’s financial adviser
to keep their interest in the company secret.
Weil Gotshal, one of the world’s largest law firms, declined to
comment to the New York Times on its error. According to the
newspaper, the firm billed the company the sum of $1.5 million in
fees and expenses in its first month of work on the bankruptcy.
