JPM more prestigious than Goldman...

What is your rationale for saying this? I still feel like Goldman is more prestigious than JPM, and it seems to be harder to get in there as well.

as a corollary to this, i think jamie dimon has established himself as the boss of all bosses

What is with this obsession with prestige? It seems to be a major discussion of yours.

Anyway, I agree with you that JPM is going to rise from this crisis significantly stronger.

I guess while we are on the subject of the changing landscape....Do you all think Morgan is going to get bought out? I do...

the financial industry as a whole has lost a lot of prestige, so it really doesn't matter a whole lot. And for the little that it does matter, goldman is still at the top.

re: MS - Well... I don't see Mitsu paying $25 for something that's selling at close to $10, so, yes, I see a Citigan Stanley in the very near future.

re: difficulty in getting in - there might be differences in obtaining the initial interviews (not sure about this) but my JPM interview was actually a good amount more difficult than my GS one...

My MDs are always talking in internal meetings about how JPM has picked up tons of market share.

Strange - my interviews were just the opposite. My JPM interviews were cake and the Goldman guys totally grilled me. I guess it probably just depends on the interviewers you get.

In regards to MS and Mitsubishi's investment @ $25, they keep saying it will go through but really, with the stock at 12 now and MS facing a potential credit downgrade...

Morgan put up 1000x better 3Q earnings than Goldman, and yet Morgan stock tanked and is in range for a takeover, while Goldman held strong. I see a severe drop in Goldman's stock price in the very near future. Up until a week ago, JPM was actually up in the past year 4% while Goldman was down (40%).

JPM might be in a better position for the coming year, but I still think long-term that Goldman will hold the prestige title. When JPM picked up Chase bank it kind of tainted it - Goldman still seems more old-school even though they are becoming a commercial bank too.

Hopefully you're right, but it's right now a bit of a worry whether Goldman will actually be able to survive this thing independent... the Wells rumors are looking more and more likely... then Goldman guys would be working alongside with *gulp* Wachovia bankers.

Yeah I just don't see how Mitsu would consider paying $25 or so for a firm that seems to be on its way to trading in the single digits.

I just have this feeling that Citi might purchase Morgan...

Insiders that I know at both firms have been hearing things recently... one of the reasons Citi may of walked from Wach instead of upping its bid is b/c of potential with Morgan.

Also another question...

What would be the rationale in buying Morgan Stanley? Isn't there a ton of overlap? If you look at the IBD business, the gap between the 2 firms is not worldly.

What synergies are there?

I can understand the Wachovia rationale (i.e. expand branch footprint), but I do not see the same logic with Morgan.