Crains New York - July 30, 2012 - (Page 1)

CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS ® VOL. XXVIII, NO. 31 TEQUILA SHOTS WITH BOB PITTMAN The MTV founder and media exec owns the brand P. 21 WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM JULY 30-AUGUST 5, 2012 PRICE: $3.00 Quiet bank suddenly makes noise Apple Bank for Savings acquires 30 branches, but stays mum on growth plans BY AARON ELSTEIN Earlier in July, Apple Bank for Savings did something completely out of character: It made news. The thrift announced it would acquire 30 branches from Emigrant Savings Bank in a move that will add $3.3 billion in deposits to its vaults. And that’s where the announcement basically ended. Apple was mum on several key details about INCREASE in Apple Bank’s the acquisition, its market share after first in 17 years. It it acquired 30 declined, for inEmigrant stance, to say how branches. much it paid, and it didn’t elaborate on how much the deal would increase the bank’s market share locally. (The answer: by 60%.) Such muteness is entirely typical for the bank, which is owned by the estate of a prominent real estate developer and whose website lacks such basic information as the names and titles of senior management or board members. (A spokeswoman said information about Apple officers is published elsewhere on an “as-needed basis.”) “To say they’re under the radar doesn’t fully describe how quiet they are,” said RBC Capital Markets analyst Gerard Cassidy. “But their approach seems to work for them.” Apple may be New York’s quietest bank, but it’s also one of its most successful. It remained profitable throughout the financial crisis, thanks to a stable, risk-averse management 60% F Silicon Subway How the F line links NYC’s most entrepreneurial neighborhoods. Come tour tech’s tri-boro bridge IN THE BOROUGHS BROOKLYN MANHATTAN QUEENS BY AMANDA FUNG Five years ago, in a loft apartment in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn—a halfdozen blocks from the F-train stop at Bergen Street—a tech company was born. A year later, after raising $2.5 million in seed money, founder Zephrin Lasker shifted his company to its first office, on Washington Street in Dumbo, Brooklyn, just two stops down on the F line. Today, with 60 employees, Pontiflex occupies larger quarters across the street, and Mr. Lasker finds himself spending more time than ever on the subway line. “We meet with ad agencies and advertisers in Manhattan, so we just hop on the F train,” said Mr. Lasker, whose company has developed a technology that places ads on mobile phone applications.“It’s a good link for us.” Call it the Silicon Subway or whatever you want, but the fact is that the F train has become more than a line of convenience for the city’s tech companies, funders and staffers alike.Today, it also ranks as a powerful drawing card. Talented tech workers are pitching their tents in Brooklyn bedroom communities like Kensington and Carroll Gardens, and in the morning rolling up the rails to their jobs in Dumbo and Manhattan’s Flatiron district. They aren’t yet traveling north, up to Roosevelt Island,but that is expected to change when CornellNYC Tech opens its 2-million-squarefoot campus there in 2017. That is exactly what Cornell University President David Skorton, who regularly refers to the line See F TRAIN on Page 20 buck ennis See APPLE BANK on Page 20 NEWSPAPER MOBILE PLATFORMS: Zephrin Lasker commutes and conducts business all along the F line. http://WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - July 30, 2012

Crains New York - July 30, 2012
Contents
In the Markets
The Insider
Business People
Real Estate Deals
Opinion
Alair Townsend
Greg David
Small Business
Corporate Finance
Classifieds
For the Record
From Around the City
New York, New York
Source Lunch
Out and About

Crains New York - July 30, 2012