vip in the city

Wall Street, You Rule

Strolling through the financial district this afternoon, I found Wall Street buzzing with even more activity than usual. Yesterday, the street was awash in Tiffany blue. Today, we saw this giant red banner draped over the pillars of the New York Stock Exchange — I can’t resist these ads! — and the street in front lined with regal red carpet leading up to a giant LCD screen, broadcasting Virgin Mobile promos on continuous loop.

All this pomp was to commemorate the cellphone services company’s initial public offering. In honor of the occasion, Virgin Group Founder and Chairman Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Mobile USA CEO Dan Schulman rang the market’s opening bell. (The company’s shares, trading under the “VM” ticker symbol, closed at $15.75 — up 5.5% for the day.)

Also thrown into the celebratory mix, a quartet of nubile angels, cheerfully handing out bottles of Virgin-branded water and causing more than one trader’s head to swivel. The girls, though, remained strictly hands-off, unlike their naughty animated Canadian counterparts.

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