Happy Saturday!
Goldman Sachs announced a new class of partners for 2020 this week, awarding partner status to 60 people worldwide.
Seven out of the 19 new partners in the investment-banking division came from the TMT (technology, media, and telecommunications) group. You can see the full list here.
And Reed Alexander and Dakin Campbell chatted with some of the brand-new partners to learn what it’s like to get the call from CEO David Solomon inviting them to one of Wall Street’s most exclusive groups. Here’s a peek:
When Nick Pomponi, a cohead of global software investment banking, received the call from Solomon on Thursday morning, he knew it was someone from inside Goldman Sachs based on how it was identified on his phone: No Caller ID.
“I was downstairs with my wife and kids and the phone rang,” he said. “So I quickly scooted upstairs and we had a quick chat.”
“He said, ‘Congratulations, welcome to the partnership,'” Pomponi said. “I think my wife was shooshing everybody, all my kids around the house.”
Vista Equity Partners lost a $100 million pension-fund investment after Robert Smith’s tax-evasion investigation came to light
Earl Gibson III/Getty Images
From Dakin Campbell and Casey Sullivan:
When Vista Equity Partners’ founder Robert Smith admitted last month to years of evading taxes, one of the industry’s big questions was whether Smith’s admission would hurt the firm’s fundraising efforts.
As one of the world’s largest-private equity firms, Vista collects money from pension funds, foundations, endowments and sovereign wealth funds, among others, who use a high bar to judge the moral character of the investment managers they entrust with their money.
There’s new evidence to suggest that at least one manager has: the New Mexico Educational Retirement Board, charged with overseeing the state’s $14 billion pension fund for public-school and higher education employees.
Meet 6 top recruiters scouting talent for family offices as the secretive wealth managers to the world’s richest look to grow their teams
Russell Reynolds Associates; Spencer Stuart; BraddockMatthews; StevenDouglas; Samantha Lee/Business Insider
From Rebecca Ungarino:
You’ve heard of the war for talent in different corners of financial services, especially between high-flying startups and Wall Street institutions.
A similar battle is unfolding between traditional firms and family offices, the privately held, loosely regulated wealth managers for the world’s richest individuals and their families.
After placing some searches on hold earlier this year as the pandemic introduced layers of uncertainty, many family offices are again looking to hire fresh talent or reassess their staff, executive recruiters said in interviews.
They are looking to grow their direct-investing and private markets capabilities, poaching investors, and wealth advisors from private equity firms and private banks.
Knotel plans to scale back its global portfolio by 60% over the next 6 months
From Dan Geiger and Meghan Morris:
Knotel, a flexible-workspace firm that once held ambitions to overtake WeWork, is seeking to dramatically downsize its business as it tries to recover from the pandemic and improve rocky financial performance that predated the virus crisis.
In a slide from a recent internal presentation viewed by Business Insider, the company stated that it will seek to cut back its global portfolio of 4.8 million square feet by 60% in the next six months and will aim to shed over 80% of the 3.4 million square feet it leases in the US and Canada.
By seeking to downsize its presence in the US and Canada so dramatically — to around just 500,000 square feet — the firm indicated that it hoped to reduce the rent it owes in those markets from $15 million a month to $2 million.
You can see the full story here.
People moves
- Bank of America is looking to bolster its private bank’s traction with hedge funds, and just promoted an equities rising star to lead the charge
- Mortgage giant Fannie Mae, which has been trying to plot a way out of government conservatorship, just saw another round of top leader exits
Banks
- UBS is doubling down on efforts to link its wealth-management business to its investment bank as it targets more middle-market deals
- Inside Wall Street’s war on WhatsApp: Why traders just won’t quit messaging apps, even as heads roll
Private markets
- End of an era: Blackstone just rebranded its $135 billion credit arm to erase the initials of the unit’s founders
Hiring and talent
- Community banks are facing an ‘existential threat’ as they lose the battle for tech talent. Here’s how they’re getting creative to lure developers and engineers.
- Meet 10 independent recruiters and career coaches that can help you nab a consulting job
- $42 billion Tiger Global is trying to diversify its staff — and its hired a McKinsey recruiter to help it look beyond ‘a limited number of New York investment firms’ for talent
- Goldman Sachs’ CFO explained why he’s feeling more confident about plans to move employees to lower-cost hubs like Salt Lake City and Dallas
Hedge funds
- Bitcoin has helped billionaire Paul Tudor Jones put up above-average returns so far this year. Here’s how he compares with other big-name macro investors.
- Schonfeld is raising money for its $2.2 billion fundamental equity fund. Here are the highlights of its pitch to investors laying out fees, performance, and personnel.
- A $330 million short-seller alleges Fortune 500 company Avery Dennison is using ‘accounting manipulating’ to juice returns
Fintech
- Here’s the presentation digital closing startup Endpoint used to nab $40 million from its parent company, title giant First American
Legal
- Elite litigation firm Boies Schiller is looking to sublet its glitzy NYC office after a firm-wide restructuring and attorney exits
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