Blackstone Vs. Goldman

They are both terrible. In terms of exit opps I would recommend the french military, no better experience. Seriously though you are splitting hairs an entry career with either firm will be very highly looked upon.

If banking, GS. If PE or Restructuring, obviously Blackstone.

If banking, GS. If PE or Restructuring, obviously Blackstone.

comparing BB firms and elite firms like blackstone is dumb as shit. They are all awesome. go beat off.

actually, blackstone M&A kind of sucks, but your exit opps will still be awesome from there.

getting ass raped at bs restructuring or m&a probably sucks but having 75% chance (50/50 chance) of placing into 1st tier pe is unmatched, not even goldmna tmt beats that

And realistically - so does TMT if you are in the top 2 tiers of analysts - there's just so many of them compared to UBSLA/MSM&A (18 or so at GS, 5 or so at MS, 7-8 or so at UBS).

Also, I've heard lots of people talking about how UBS LA doesn't place well in NYC - that's absolutely not true - they put someone in Apollo NY this year, guys had KKR NY offers last year but chose SF,guys go to Bain Cap East Coast every year etc.

Plus the limited deal flow at BStone M&A (mostly sell side too) can arguably not prepare you as well for PE modelling (monkey work) as GS / MS / UBS LA. When I went through the process at BStone several former DLJ bankers told me to go to UBS LA if I could, other former MS bankers said MS M&A too. The consensus with the senior guys seemed to be that Bstone is a great place to be at director +, but at the analyst level the structured training / deal flow of other places might be more valuable, or atleast that was the impression I got. The most telling sign is that Bstone PE hires max one guy from the banking unit yearly.

That being said - smart people rise above. I'm not trying to start an argument - that's simply a rehash of what I felt / heard throughout recruiting and by talking to several people in industry and at top PE shops.

Disclaimer: I had a BS M&A offer full time, summered at one of the other three, and currently work at one of the other 3. (ie. summered at GS TMT went to MS M&A)

Haha, you pretty clearly work or will be working at UBS LA since you are always, always talking it up. No offence. It's obviously a great place to be regardless. Also, your profile says "class of 2007 analyst," so how do you "currently" work at one of the three shops you mentioned?

Anyway, I know little about the office besides what one of my buddies has told me. He had an offer there for an internship and ultimately opted for MS NY (not M&A) as his research seemed to show that while the firm places excellently into westcoast PE, it doesn't seem to place any better into NY PE than GS/MS/top boutiques but the hours and firm culture are notoriously nightmarish. It seems like it would be harder to interview for NY jobs if you're on the west coast just from a logistical standpoint anyway - it's not like you have tons of time in banking to travel back and forth acoss the country. From what he found out, pretty much everyone stays on the West coast and gets awesome PE jobs (kkr, etc.) but only a few end up on the east coast and most go to bain capital (which is a great shop obviously). It could just be self-selection - everyone at UBS LA wants to stay on the west coast anyway, but he seemed to think that they had trouble (logistically or just in general) getting offers from top NY PE shops.

Hey guys,

Would you rather work at Blackstone or Carlyle?

neither. I'd rather be in IB, where no matter what the next craze is (private equity buyouts, tech IPO's, hedge funds, junk bonds, whatever), the firm will be making money.

If you think the PE boom is a lasting market trend you're being shortsighted in the same category as those who jumped ship to get rich quick as the CFO of a silicon valley startup.

At least Blackstone is pretty well set up in restructuring, which is inherently countercyclical. There's also probably more room for steady career progression than at a pure-play PE shop.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-buyouts21nov21,1,1011847.story?col...
http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/cheap-debt-underpriced-risk-forever-...
http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3525718

summered at UBS LA tho, but wanted to be in NY, and brand name was an issue. If you notice I talk up all the big 3, but there is a lot of info about GS/MS. The 2007 is just because when it said 2006 I was getting too many pms, but guess the cat is out of the bag.

I think those are fair comments - I personally think GS / MS are better to be at than UBS LA / Bstone M&A just basically because your net is wider leaving. Ie. you aren't limited to financial jobs and the MS/GS names are global.

For PE however, Bstone M&A / UBS LA / GS TMT / MS M&A are all good. MS M&A tends to place at the top tier PE the best in NY - Goldman has a lot of diversity (ie people going to law, UN, corp dev at disney etc).

westcoasting... you have your info mixed up. i think you have misheard or youre just an idiot. "westcoasting" is a suspicious name for someone who's talking up ubs la. i am a 1st year associate at a bulge bracket and believe me if you had the chance you would definitely choose gs tmt over ms m&a. but ms m&a possibil over bs m&a. but ubs la does not belong in this conversation. you'll get most pe modeling at bstone m&a, then ms m&a, then gs tmt. the kids at bs m&a do m&a and sponsors work for the pe arm at blackstone (equityoffice, freescale, kindermorgan). the kids at ms m&a work in the most prestigous m&a group on the street and have the most resources backing them. and gs tmt is all over the place, but they offer the best overall experience. debate all you want... but i speak the truth.

UBS LA is without a doubt one of the top 3 places to start your career in banking. you get tremendous modeling experience there, along with the opportunity to work with some of the best bankers on wall street. ridiculous amount of revenue per banker.

in terms of PE placement, they place VERY well (i know they were at 100% a few years back, but dont know if that is still true). we are talking about KKR, Bain, etc.

let's not be naive here. to the average folk, GS and MS are your best bets, but those in the industry know that UBS LA is a top-notch office.

My info isn't mixed up. The way the industry works for BS M&A is that BB pitch Blackstone PE. They reward those firms with the lead positions in the advsiory environment. BStone M&A does a lot of the exits and secondary advsiory work. Take a look at their website, the deals they advertise most are large sell sides. They were on Equity office but along with 5 other banks.

MS M&A is the best M&A group on the street, and GS TMT is no doubt excellent. Look, I think UBS LA is a good group - I'm not talking it up more than say mikesdaboss who clearly said he s an analyst in NY at a competing BB. If you talk to ex-bankers that were around when DLJ was dominating high yield thye lll all tell you the DLJ LA office was dominant.

Tony James (pres of Blackstone) and former head of DLJ has been quoted numerous times about how the LA office there was their leading revenue generator by a long shot.

Look at the big deals in the last 6mths alone:

- TPG/Apollo - Harrah's
- Tribune and Napster Advisory
- Univision
- Adelphia
- NBC Universal's Radio Asset Sale
- Wynn Financing etc etc.

Look - I'm not arguing the dominance of those other firms and I agree that GS TMT or MS M&A are arguably better choices if you want to work on your career and I would probably chose either one. However, it's naive to not understandd the significance that DLJ played in the 90's in LBO work and not realise that both CS LA and UBS LA are very good groups.

this debate is stupid. All of the groups mentioned are great, trying to rank or differentiate them is like comparing ferrari and lamborghini - you can't go wrong and neither is superior.

for sure

does anyone on WSO even have a job at either these 2 places? i have a feeling very few real ibankers are here. who the fuck compares and asks about blackstone vs. goldman. stparsley i guess.