I have offers at both of these banks and plan to accept one on Monday. Does anyone have any thoughts on the differences between the two? Appreciate any insights into the following:
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Are you out of your mind lol? PWP hands down
Judging from the mixed responses here, I don't think it's "hand down." I was hoping to get more insights into each one
he is right, and you have to understand that any perceived negative post towards a certain bank is going to be met with MS from people who work there. if you were to ask people who don’t work at either PWP or citi which offer you should take, pretty sure you’d get a lot more votes for PWP. Maybe if you had aspirations of working in asia or were really interested in how cool you sound to non-finance people by referencing what company you work for, you’d take Citi. Again, still a well known BB with commensurate deal flow and exits but culture can be notoriously bad.
Citi, unless you really prefer the boutique structure. Most people have never heard of PWP outside of finance. And inside finance it doesn't have the same history as places like Evercore and Lazard.
Could you talk more about the boutique structure and how it differs from a BB?
Positives of boutique structure include less red tape and bureaucracy (very prevalent at big global banks Citi and BofA), fewer people to deal with (No M&A group etc.), and more camaraderie/closer relationships across smaller analyst classes.
Easy PWP. Better pay, better culture, better average exits
Citi’s TMT team is weak as shit. I would take PWP because they are generalist for analyst and have good exits and pay. If this was Citi M&A, FEG, or Industrials this would be a different story.
PWP is actually no longer generalist across the analyst program fwiw.
OP, you have to take PWP hands down. The only things that matter, comp, dealflow, culture, and mentorship will be much much better at PWP
Citi has weak advisory in both of those spaces and really just gets on a ton of deals in a financing capacity (yuck!). Do yourself a favor and go to PWP
This is clearly nonsense. Yes, it may not be as cool as GS/MS/JPM, but they have plenty of relationships and regularly work on some of the largest transactions in the space.
I would only take citi if you are unsure whether you want to stay in finance since the brand is 100x stronger outside the world of finance (no denying this).
However, PWP has better culture, exits and compensation (know former & current bankers there).
The only reason to pick Citi is if you want to leave finance at some point because Citi has a good brand name. PWP has better pay, better exits to PE, and better culture. Even if you exit to corpdev, those departments are mostly ex-IB guys, and so they know the PWP name.
Take PWP all day, it’s not the most popular name outside of finance, but within you’ll get looks everywhere. Greater modeling / M&A experience, pay, and culture. Easy choice
Take PWP, fastest growing EB on the street. It’ll position you very wel
Have heard from analysts that PWP SF has a rough culture, sweaty hours, and bad deal flow. Nyc may be a bit different but I don’t think pwp tech is that great. Hc is another story though.
Your information is wrong for NYC.
How is nyc office?
Sf is also a crummy city
Assuming NY, PWP easy choice. Citi’s TMT and HC groups are awful compared to PWP
FT or SA 22?
Just inputting from what I've gathered.
If SF tech,
would go for whichever group you enjoyed more. However, I've interviewed with PWP tech in the past, got very stressed vibes from them. I've heard from different groups and banks that it's probably their worst group. Rough seniors and lots of pitching. Maybe things changed over covid?
If HC SF
PWP I've heard is pretty much the opposite of its tech group. Would definitely pick them if HC.
PWP obviously lol
This guy Accretionszn's entire post history is him sucking off PWP/Lazard (hes clearly an incoming analyst/SA at PWP) while for some reason shitting on Citi in every single post/comment.
He also began with EB or BB posts that he made before recruitment began. Now instead of making EB > BB threads all he does is post about how EB > BB no matter the situation on every forum where someone is asking what offer they should take.
Before recruitment all his posts were about PWP > all. This dude has no life lmao. This guy has fully lived a complete life-cycle of a WSO incoming SA.
I mean I love it how people here on WSO have some type of different league tables or whatever
If it’s TMT, pick Citi hands down. Simple search on Mergermarket with the following parameters
(1) Target or Acquirer must be from the USA
(2) TMT sector
(3) Time period: 2019 till now
(4) Announced deals excluding lapsed or withdrawn bids
Result:
(a) Citi -> 101 deals with combined value of USD429bn
(b) PWP -> 23 deals with combined value of USD132bn
Any US BB balance sheet bank will do a lot more deals than a boutique such as PWP, which can only offer M&A advice
Knowledge of financing will help you anywhere, be it in PE or Corp Dev or even at a boutique bank such as PWP. Why? Because you can’t do M&A without financing
Pick Citi, it will make you a well-rounded banker and it will expose you to some very good deal flow, as I laid down above
This is irrelevant, Citi has 100x more offices + employees (therefore analysts in ur class), at PWP ur likely to work on these insanely large deals and at Citi ur chance is likely way more slim. Also, “well rounded banker” is usually anyone who is just jealous of the bank’s M&A group which has better exits, learning, and comp.
lol what should I be jealous of? Regardless of how many more offices Citi has, they only have most of the TMT team in two locations I presume - NYC and SF. I’m guessing probably ~20 analysts, that means on average one analyst ~5 announced deals per analyst in the US
PWP has ~4 TMT analysts in London so probably up to ~10 in the US
Let’s say only slightly more than 5, so ~7. That’s ~3 announced deals per analyst
Nice try PWP HR team
I think both of you guys are forgetting that tmt is divided into two groups at both banks (T/MT). Where MT makes up a greater portion of deal flow than Tech. You may want to look into that considering PWP and Citi Tech may vary differently due to that in deal flow.
Again I dont get why people are wanking so much when they hear PWP... I mean I don't really care about "I hear PWP SF team is great" or "my friend works at PWP and their tech team is amazing, deal flow is great" because I like the facts.
Simple search on Mergermarket with the following parameters
(1) Target or Acquirer must be from the USA
(2) Tech (consists of computer services, computer software, computer hardware, semiconductors and internet / ecommerce)
(3) Time period: 2019 till now
(4) Announced deals excluding lapsed or withdrawn bids
Result:
(a) Citi -> 78 deals with combined value of USD202bn
(b) PWP -> 14 deals with combined value of USD16bn
PWP is more $, more prestige, better exits (relative to class ofc), and greater modeling experience.
Citi: More well known brand (outside of finance), much more easily lateral to another industry, larger alumni network, marginally shorter hours, more people to meet during your analyst years, maybe perks like a nicer office/external benefits
PWP: Higher salary (exponential at the senior level), greater learning/modeling experience, more interaction with senior bankers, more “prestige” in the world of IB/PE/HF, better exits to B-school’s like HBS because of the founders, tight-knit group and perhaps a laid back culture.
Main benefits of both; I would personally choose EB over BB, but that’s just preference. Just decide what you like best!
I prefer the advisory model
Can you elaborate? I thought they were in hiring mode? Eg poached MDs from CS
There have been Citi Junior and senior bankers who left for PWP
Citi recruits really early bc they know they’ll get monkey shit if they wait
Evercore
Neither come close to PJT anyway
Citi is awful these days
This guy Accretionszn's entire post history is him sucking off PWP/Lazard (hes clearly an incoming analyst/SA at PWP) while for some reason shitting on Citi in every single post/comment.
He also began with EB or BB posts that he made before recruitment began. Now instead of making EB > BB threads all he does is post about how EB > BB no matter the situation on every forum where someone is asking what offer they should take.
Before recruitment all his posts were about PWP > all. This dude has no life lmao. This guy has fully lived a complete life-cycle of a WSO incoming SA.
Tuff
PWP TMT is not what it was a few years ago. Look up the Business Insider article with this:
After flashy hires and a big buildout, Perella Weinberg's media and telecom team has been gutted. We tracked the exodus — and what it says about the landscape for blockbuster M&A deals.
Take a closer look than what this forum is telling you and talk to people at both banks and in TMT groups at neither bank for an unbiased take
Dumbest comment I’ve ever read, look at their recent deals in 2021 lol (especially in tech & fintech). I’m at another EB, but don’t spread misinfo
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