Fuld's year-long battle to save bank fails

Richard Fuld, a one-time international squash player accustomed to playing the angles, finally found one he couldn't master.

The longest-serving chief executive officer on Wall Street battled for more than a year to contain the fallout from Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc's bad bets on real estate. His defense of the 158-year-old firm ended yesterday when Barclays Plc and Bank of America Corp walked away from buyout talks, leaving a bankruptcy filing as his only option.

Over 14 years, Fuld, 62, turned a money-losing bond trading shop into a full-service investment bank. He won acclaim from Wall Street leaders such as Lazard Ltd chief Bruce Wasserstein, who on June 4 called him "very able."