What are considered to be the best TMT groups in LA, NY, and SF individually; please provide both BB and boutique. I know different banks choose to have their TMT groups in different locations, so was just curious where they were. Where is the best TMT group of all!
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Piper Jaffray east coast TMT (NY) hands down best on the street. Don't let the trolls on WSO tell u otherwise.
Serious comment here, but I heard the Stifel Hoboken office is the newest team to beat for TMT.
Source: guy I used to know told me after 6 beers. He used to work in finance.
We can base best off many different things. For example, you can base best off pay, exit opportunities, hours, workplace happiness, deal flow, sub-sector expertise, nightly seamless allotment and many other things. Be clear on what matters to you and then people can help you answer your question. Ultimately, the best place of all is the one that wants you on their team. People who ask questions like this tend to be a bit young-minded/immature in their career thought process.
I'm really trying to find the TMT group that would provide the most experience if I wanted to continue doing M&A in Tech and Media as a career. I want to know which groups would be the best for that in NY, LA, and SF. I've heard MS Menlo Park and GS NY thrown out there as top contenders, but wanted to hear if anyone knew about any TMT groups in LA that were worth exploring as well?
Allen Edmonds by far. Be mindful not to confuse it with the shoe maker Allen & Co.
Also curious. I think lots of people on this board define "best" as the place with the best exit opps. Obviously GS TMT is far and away #1 but how about other firms like CS or JPM?
MS Tech in Menlo is slightly better than or at least on par with GS TMT in recent years
GS, MS, Qatalyst. Then JPM and CS. Then BAML, DB, Barc, Jefferies, Citi. Then... Who cares?
Are you interested in Tech or the M&T side?
I'm most interested in Tech and Media, but know that M&T are usually coupled. I currently work on the West Coast for a Tech and Media focused company in their internal M&A department. I'm looking to transition to a formal TMT investment banking group, regardless of location, I am willing to move anywhere for the best opportunity.
NYC = MT SF = T LA = M
Just go through the normal recruiting process and continue talking up your TMT experience. If things work out, they'll either place you where you best fit or ask you about your preference (in which case you can figure this out later).
NYC has a fair amount of tech also, so I wouldn't discount looking at opps there.
I agree with ranking GS / MS / Qatalyst as the "top" groups and the other BBs as 2nd tier, but you could have a great experience at a variety of places. There are several non-BB shops that are active in tech and would provide you with a great experience as well, including a few elite boutiques (Evercore, Jefferies, Houlihan, RBC, William Blair, Raymond James, probably a bunch more I'm missing...).
As far as post IB job prospects go, you should probably pick NYC. According to the latest rankings, Manhattan is home to 28 of the top TMT hedges funds, while only 8 funds call the the Bay Area home. Not surprisingly, LA has 0 of the top TMT funds... http://www.hedgetracker.com/article/Top-Technology-Media-Telecom-Hedge-…
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For me it's GS TMT / MS TMT in SF/Menlo locations. Then it's everybody else.
You need to stop worrying about who the best group is and first go see which ones actually want to hire you. Corp dev. to investment banking isn't the easiest transition, so I would focus on getting the job offer and then have us help you compare which offer to accept. Banking interviewers are going to question your work ethic, deal flow, and why you want to hop back to the sell side.
Good advice in general. Also keep in mind that being in a slightly less "prestigious" group where you get along great with your team is probably going to be better for your career than being in BlackRock/GS and not getting along with your team.
From an IBD perspective I think Qatalyst has the best one the street.
Boutique hard to compare to places like GS in terms of range of exit ops, may be comparable in some but definitely not on the overall level
It seems like it would be tough for you to migrate from a corp dev job to a "top" TMT group since most of those groups listed above either hire directly out of school or someone else with banking experience. You would be better off targeting for something middle market or a boutique.
In SF, MS absolutely dominates on equity offerings for tech companies.. GS comes pretty close. For tech M&A, Qatalyst and GS are on a lot of the biggest deals. MS is good too, and Allen & Company is very up and coming.
Basically if you want to do tech, GS, MS and Qatalyst are probably your top bets. If you want to do purely tech M&A, Qatalyst is your best bet without a doubt (they only do M&A). Good luck getting offers at these places though.
Best TMT banks? (Originally Posted: 05/06/2014)
Just wondering what everyone's opinion on the best TMT groups around the street. Did a search but it looks like there wasn't anything recent.
BB and/or boutiques
GS Allen & Co. Qatalyst
Off the top of my head
I'd add MS to SpacemanSpiff's list. Despite being a competitor, they are arguably the best franchise out here. The general perception is skewed considering the obsession with Consumer Internet/Software deals - MS is routinely locking down left lead on SMid Semis, Data Networking, Infrastructure Software, Etc..
EVR has strong tech and telecom practices. Liontree (although I've heard analysts don't really actually do much analytic work here, and deal credit is mostly due to the senior guys' connections).
lol
@kidflash how much do you know about LionTree? Also isn't deal credit mostly due to senior guys' connections with every bank?
A little bit from guys who worked with them.
Obviously deal credit always comes from senior guys. I mean in the sense that liontree analysts aren't the ones doing the heavy lifting in terms of stuff like modeling/valuation. If you look at liontree's transactions, they're usually co-advisors with other banks.
Goldman, MS and JPM for the BB (at least for Tech) Other than Qatalyst dont know much of the boutiques.
Perella or Pretsky for media and telecommunications, forgot which one (boutique)
GS MS CS JPM and Qatalyst win a majority of high profile deals and everyone else fights for the rest. Jefferies does pretty well for themselves in middle market as well. BAML seems to be on quite a few mandates also, but haven't heard the greatest things about working there.
That
In terms of the BBs, MS Menlo and GS SF are in a league of their own. They're dead-locked for #1. Ex. with GS running Twitter IPO, MS running Facebook IPO, and both working on both deals albeit not as leaders. Ton of other high profile stuff executed out of Menlo and SF (WhatsApp, Investment in Alibaba, etc.)
Michael Grimes at MS is number 1 for tech out of Menlo. If you look at all the big tech deals over the last several years, MS has been lead left on most of the largest ones (except for twitter) and it's got a good shot at getting the Alibaba IPO too (6 banks are leading it so far with no announcement of who's lead left, but CS and MS have been long time bankers of Alibaba). Keep in mind though that this is just a tech group, not TMT. Goldman is 2nd for tech (San Fran) and JPM (San Fran) is a distant 3rd. For tech boutiques, Frank Quattrone's Qatalyst is the best out there and Allen and co is very reputable too.
Not sure how the media and telecom side plays out but from seeing the deals recently I'd say it's a toss up between GS/MS/JPM. All of them are on the pretty big deals, and It's fair to say that GS is probably seen most commonly as number 1, but JP has been having a great couple of years in the telecom space and has been on pretty much everything.
Strongest TMT (Media/Telecom) Groups in NY (Originally Posted: 01/20/2015)
Which banks have the strongest TMT groups in NY in terms of deal flow for media and telecom? I know GS TMT is typically noted for its deal flow, but what is the breakdown? Are they stronger in tech or media/telecom or pretty even? Are there any banks in NY that are particularly strong in media/telecom? Also, do the banks that have strong TMT groups typically run most of their tech out of their west coast offices? Thanks!
LionTree Advisors.
Allen & Co. is pretty strong for media.
BB: GS, MS. EB: LionTree, Allen & Company, Evercore but not close to the others.
GS TMT NY and MS M&T NY and tech west
In NYC, GS TMT consists of mainly Telecom and Media and they have tech out west. Not sure about the personnel breakdown but I do know that about 60% of TMT is housed in NYC
In media and telecom I've always felt that JPM and MS were stronger than GS in terms of dealflow especially on big telecom deals (though GS might still place better due to brand name)
Raine Group
Thanks for all the responses! Does anyone know about the media/telecom groups in the other bulges (BAML, CS, Citi, DB)?
I've heard CS TMT is alright (used to be better, but declining) and Citi TMT is okay. I've never met anyone in BAML TMT or DB TMT.
Evercore gets really solid telecom deal flow
GS
To expand, I believe GS does more media/telecom in NY and more tech in SF. But at the analyst level, their is a lot of cross-staffing between the offices so everyone gets exposure to everything.
Can someone comment on BAML?
Can someone comment on BAML?
UBS has a solid media and telecom group. Even though they are TMT, they focus way more on media and telecom
JPM vs GS vs CS (SF TMT Groups) (Originally Posted: 01/23/2011)
How would you rank these in terms of prestige, culture, compensation, and culture? Thanks!
a kid I was good friends with at my past SA stint went to GS TMT, he was fun to hang out with, you should go there
No brainer GS is the best. I can't believe you can ask this. CS =JPM.
GS still regarded as top dog in the sector, although MS is also a dominant player in terms of deal flow (especially in internet and digital media deals) and prestige. CS and JPM are just a notch below, with both of these also on a lot of good upcoming deals. Compensation is pretty standard across the three - you'd have to go to Qatalyst or another boutique to see any drastic difference.
Thanks! Would you rank JPM above CS or vice versa for a particular reason? That's the main thing I wanted to get out of the question.
No, they're basically the same. Choose whichever you fit best.
Best TMT? (Originally Posted: 01/15/2007)
Which BB has a the best TMT group? I'v heard Citi.
I've been told that it's GS.
MS Media and Telecom is also very good.
Besides GS and JPM, does anyone have all three industries bundled together?
GS TMT
MS, CS are also good.
GS TMT, MS Tech, media not so much, Evercore for the second T, UBS for media, CS for Tech.
I wonder if ML is good for anything, since I don't really hear about its names in any of the top groups.
What about Citigroup? Isn't that good for any of them?
Citi did some good telecomm work.
Merrill isn't known for TMT, they kick ass in FIG.
UBS med is Good eh? Any more info on this? In particular about UBS med in NY and also about media in general
I heard its a very cyclical industry....does that matter at all at an analyst level.
how about the workload and street rep of UBS media for analysts.
They have the Nav who rainmakes like Dustin Hoffman.
You should try for Media in UBS LA vs NYC.
especially out of the LA office.
Media tends to be cyclical, but it shouldn't matter all that much at the analyst level. Agree with BBMandA, go to LA and watch Mahmood (global head of media) just dominate the sector.
I think the offer is only for NYC.
not as hot then sorry.
Who's this Mahmood? (not quite sure who r u referring to).
Also, what does everyone mean by Media being cyclical? When is it hot? When is NOT?
Navid Mahmoodzadegan is arguably the best media banker right now.
For the original poster, Citi isn't considered one of the better TMT houses. Reputable in Telecomm, not so much Tech.
works out of the LA office for UBS and is a Moelis protege. Dude is young (late 30's)and banks like there is no tomorrow.
Like 37 years old or something. Former DLJ guy, and didn't even start banking until 2 years post Harvard Law. So basically like Global Head of Media in 10 years.
His 'deputy' John Momtazee is americas head of broadcasting and like 32-34 years old. His bro ran the HCA deal for KKR. What a phenomenal finance family that would be.
Tech:
1) GS 2) MS 3) CS Media:
1) UBS LA (but still UBS) 2) MS Telecom 1) GS 2) ????
how is UBS's tech group?
Not that great
UBS tech is growing (app. 30 bankers in SF), but still not great. i've heard they're really busy in IPOs though.
I've heard Citi TMT is the best in Europe. Apparently all live deal work, hardly any pitching... the work comes to them.
tier 1 GS/MS tier 2 CS tier 3 UBS tier 4 Merrill/lehman/JPM/Citi tier 5 Banc of america, Wachovia tier 6 Thomas Weisel Partners, revolution partners, montgomery and company
thoughts?
i thought that CS is better MS on west coast.
tech is good, Tech M&A rocks the daylights out of any M&A group.
TMT groups - 2-3 groups after Goldman? (Originally Posted: 12/28/2006)
Who are the next 2-3 TMT groups after Goldman? Let's think more NY than west coast.
JPM has a very good TMT group in NY, I'd say top 5 at least.
I heard Morgan Stanley, though broken up between Tech and Media/Telecom was strong in all three verticals too.
What are the exit opps at JPM in TMT like? How does it compare to other industry groups at JPM and vs. GS and Morgan Stanley?
How do CS and Lehman stack up?
I'll tell you right now. I've said it 1x and i've said it 100x:
The strength of the industry group does not matter anywhere near as much the strength of the firm.
Also, when discussing strength, people often forget that deals at GS and MS are more often large-cap flashy M&A deals, where places like LEH and CSFB skew much more heavily towards fixed income.
That will have a profound impact on your experience. Group X or Y at GS or MS may not be #1 in the X or Y League Tables, but you better believe GS and MS will more ofen be involved in indsutry-changing M&A deals when they come around...
Well working on the westcoast, TMT would play out like this.
Goldman Sachs Morgan Stanley Credit Suisse ---------(GAP)--------- UBS Merrill Lynch Lehman/Citi
who are we kidding? kinda like in their pitch they had the wrong company name (TWICE), got the thing scanned and became laughing stocks of wall street.
Media group in UBS in NY any good?
"Media group in UBS in NY any good?"
Jeff Sine the group head is very well respected and has a lot of clients. The LA office brings some in as well. Tough culture though or so I've heard (no firsthand experience so take this with a grain of salt).
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