Dubai World's private-equity arm paid about $282m in 2006 for the trendy W Hotel on Union Square, Manhattan. At a foreclosure auction yesterday, the winning bid was $2m.

The auction at a law firm about two miles from the 270-room hotel was a sign of how far Istithmar World Capital has fallen since it plowed nearly $20bn into investments all over the world, much of it spent near the market's peak in 2006 and 2007. The W Hotel was the first major property asset of Dubai World to be foreclosed on.

Wall Street Journal