Hey Y'all,
Just came across someone who went to my school that left IB to be an officer in the military and is doing some pretty cool things right now. As such, I thought I'd ask the WSO community: what have been the most interesting exits out of IB that you've ever seen?
I know there was a forum on this a while back, thought it would be good to hear some new one's though.
| +90 | [2026 - October] Unbiased Prestige Rankings | 56 | 4h |
| +88 | Who is the final boss in Houston Energy? (GS, JEFF or EVR) | 21 | 1h |
| +78 | You should probably leave IB | 26 | 1d |
| +45 | Why Do We Turn Comments? | 10 | 2d |
| +43 | Tomorrow Will Be Better | 5 | 4d |
| +41 | Moelis PCA vs Lower tier BB Coverage | 30 | 1d |
| +25 | Banking (Un)fortunately Still Needs You: My Case for Bankers in the AI Era | 3 | 1d |
| +24 | Lateraling as Analyst | 24 | 1h |
| +24 | How much should you ask questions / seek feedback as an intern? | 9 | 11h |
| +24 | UBS IB #24 in US M&A in 2026 | 10 | 8h |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
DELETE
doubtful
DELETE
Lamborghini Corp Dev. Old friend of mine speaks Italian and he landed the gig after two years of banking. Networked his ass off.
That's a role many would give an arm for, wow. Hats off to him.
but realistically, why though? sure they make a cool product but what will lamborghini be buying regularly that makes for good experience? various small SMEs who make speciality parts that can be used in car / engine manufacturing? at best some motorbike / electric bycicle manufacturer? unless they have like a used discounted lambo lease programme for employees who cares?
assuming WLB is same as other similar roles why would anyone take more than a 5-15% pay cut vs market for such a role?
unless of course hes part of the greater volkswagen group corp dev team looking at more wider ranging strtegic / corp dev opportunities...
edit: just looked up Lambo SpA on CapIQ and it looks like the last M&A transaction they did was in 2010. Im sure someone with BLoomberg or w/e can do a better search but still. my point stands.
I know a few people working there - you have to be ready to get a MASSIVE pay cut
It’s not all about the money dude…
A buddy of mine used to be in Asset Management at Lazard. Literally said fuck it, moved to Switzerland, and is now getting his Masters degree in music performance from Zurich University of the Arts. He travels around Europe playing the organ in churches and couldn't be happier.
That’s a god tier exit. Just heard an amazing organist this weekend play with a medieval chorus. Guy was in his early 20s, fresh grad from Notre Dame and a phenomenal player.
Goldman Sachs TMT -> Onlyfans top 1%
Drop link for WSO support
Link or didn't happen
Anyone with over 3 subscribers is in the top 1%.
Not surprising she was from GS TMT, that group tends to hire brainless slutty blondes.
Exactly why MS Menlo better by hiring nerd freaks
so GS TMT is really the promise land
drop name
Is she selling feet pic NFTs?!
I'm...asking for a friend
you're giving us a bad name brother
There is a guy from Goldman TMT who now works for CorpDEv at Onlyfans.
What a simp
Early bitcoin investor and now crypto/meme stock trader that's been incredibly successful (he has balls and good luck)
I know quite a few of these
Emmanuel Macron went from IB to president of France in about five years
Nope, he's always been a politician. He was literally airdropped as MD by de Rothschild himself so he could save money before running for president.
Legend.
USL Soccer with a few call-ups to MLS. To be fair, he played D1 soccer and lasted less than a year as a full-time IB analyst.
I remember I saw some Ivy grad play minor league football (XFL I think) after interning at some UMM PE shops. I think he's at a MF now after the XFL or AFL folded.
.
Me: left PE MF as a VP a couple years ago to go into politics, currently a senator/equivalent at a high-tier G7 (think US, UK). Base comp is ~200k USD, "bonuses" come in the form of bribes and gifts from diplomats. Total comp last fiscal year was circa 48MM USD, plus some very illiquid jewlery and antique artifacts.
I have no idea if you’re kidding or not
Its bottombuckethardo, when they’re not falsely claiming to be an Oxbridge grad or MFPE exec they’re normally expanding living space for the Aryans in Europe.
is a joke
Person that was at my firm played in the NFL after college (backup backup QB, nothing material) then joined IB and exited to UMM/MF. So a great exit other way around
Ed Woodward. Big 4 to VP at JPM IBD where he worked on sale of Manchester United football club (top 3 club in the world). Then left to work at Manchester United becoming Director of Transfers and ended up negotiating the biggest transfer in world football at the time. Eventually became CEO of Manchester United. Ended badly though because fans hated him (protested outside his house) and eventually resigned.
Another honourable mention. Matthew Benham Brentford FC owner. VP at BofA and then left to sports betting company, eventually developing algorithms which made him a ton of money from sports betting. Used that money and bought a shit tier 4th division English football club, implemented his data analysis techniques in identifying players to buy and transformed them into a Premier League club now worth 300 million.
Edit: Also don't think anyone's career trajectory can top Rishi Sunak's in terms of prestige. Winchester College (sadly not Eton) --> Oxford PPE --> Goldman IBD --> HF (TCI) --> HSW MBA --> marrying billionaire's daughter --> co-found own hedge fund --> become Member of Parliament --> Chancellor of the Exchequer --> Currently odds on favourite to become next Prime Minister. Only thing left for him to do gain apex prestige after that is found a tech unicorn and go to medical school and become a neurosurgeon
Brentford's story is so inspiring
Machester top 3 club in the world? You must be joking
Manchester City, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Liverpool, Bayern, and PSG have entered the chat.
Don't seem to be considering the time Ed Woodward went there and/or how he may be talking about value of the club (you know, one which has some of the most watched games every year after the El Clasico?)
Manchester United, Real Madrid and Barcelona have consistently been the 3 clubs with the highest revenue, fanbase and club worth over the last 15-20 years. Man United was the most valuable club consistently around the early 2010s
Leave it to a banker to try and start the Super League lmao
Shame Rishi is about 5 ft 6. Doing it for the short guys
Winchester is better than Eton anyway
so bottombuckethardo's life goal
But honestly after marrying billionaire's daughter he made the grim mistake pursuing government instead of the corrupt indian mfg/steel/telecom route
BBH here. The politics part is my life goal. Not the billionaire's daughter or hedge fund part (billionaire = nouveau, not classy/elite enough, hedge fund isn't as prestigious as PE MF. Also I went to a better school (Eton) and a better job (CVP > GS) and more prestigious education (Rhodes Scholar).
His career trajectory:
My current and ideal career trajectory:
Eton -> Oxford PPE -> MBB -> Rhodes Scholar (Econ) -> CVP M&A -> Wharton MBA -> Apollo -> Senator
Ideally, my next steps after senator (which I currently am) is to stage the downfall of current western civilization and ressurect the prestigious Roman Empire via a political coup d'etat. I would be doing this while starting my own PE MF and my own university. My university will have extremely limited enrolment (500 undergrads a year) and only the most prestigious, non-STEM majors (PPE, Classics, Philosophy, Astronomy and Physics, History, etc). My university would be founded on the remains of the Library of Alexandria. I shall call it the Fourth Imperial Institute of Strategem (the third was Nazi Germany).
Sunak just resigned.
Lol yeah. He was bound to take an L at some point
IB to strategy at a leading production house / media house
What interesting stuff do you do at that job really, though? I feel like it could be cool but I genuinely have no idea (for how relatively possible of a role it is)
Not IB, but an acquaintance of mine went to become a stand-up comedian after a gig in a T2 consulting firm.
Jay Shetty went from Big4 -> Buddhist monk -> bestselling author.
Sajid Javid - current Health Secretary for the UK.
Went to a state comprehensive school, both parents immigrated to UK from Pakistan, Dad was a bus driver and arrived in the UK with £1 to his name, went to Exeter Uni and then worked at DB and JPM in S&T selling CDOs. VP at 25.
Left finance (took a 99% pay cut) to become an MP. Has served in 6 cabinet positions for 3 different Prime Ministers - two cabinet positions were great offices of state (Home Sec and Chancellor of Exchequer). Decent fella too and wouldn't be surprised if he was also favourite to become next PM.
Hate him or love him but Steve Mnuchin is also up there. Left GS as a member of the managing committee to set up his own investment firm which included financing movies like American Sniper, Avatar, Borat etc. Also bought a bank (OneWest) during the financial crisis. Then became treasury secretary. Boom!
I mean Steve Bannon exited from VP at Goldman Sachs to forming his own Investment Bank that took royalties in Seinfeld as Payment-in-Kind for a transaction fee. Then sold his bank to Societe Generale to pursue Making America Great Again full time. That's kinda sick too.
True. Liberal bankers might not like it, but this is what peak male performance looks like.
know some analysts at BX PE that went to heaven after their stint
I don't really get it, can someone explain
An exit to rail your moms ass
NFL Corp Dev
Several cool places have been recruiting for Corp Dev manager positions lately.
What would your role comprise of? It's not like they do any acquisitions nor raise capital often...
My buddy left after a year to go back and work for his family mafia, not even fucking joking
This is the best one. Hands down
This takes corps dev and strategy to a whole new level
I’m so curious, do you know what role he’s taking?
.
Simu Liu left Deloitte to join the Avengers
Didn’t the one guy from the league work in banking / finance before bailing to acting … def the best exit I have heard of …
if it's Stephen Rannazzisi, he lied about working at ML
Ahh I thought he lied about being in the tower for sept 11 but not about being in finance but I def could be wrong - so you are saying there is no way for a cool exit from banking … fail
3 Years MBB >> Met Kanye while working at BCG >> 1 Academy Award; 1 Emmy; 1 Golden Globe; 12 Oscars; & 1 Tony (fucking EGOT, jesus) >> hot model wife.
John - Fucking - Legend, boys.
Eww his wife is gross.
Apollo
This one guy left banking and became an agent in the FBI. But now he ended up back in the finance world…
Pierre Lagrange, worked for a few IBs then founded GLG Partners hedge fund. Floated the hedge fund, which was then purchased by Man Group. He made a huge amount of money, retired, left his wife for another man, bought a saville row tailor in London and financed the Kingsman film series.
Is that the part that speaks to you?
French president (Macron), Trump cabin (Ross/Mnuchin/Cohen), Gov of NJ (Murphy)
Tons of other military (know a guy who went from distress banker to Marines)/small biz (another guy opened his own Panini shop)/tech-entrepreneurial (as an employee or founder of a hot start up, one friend launched his own briefcase company after IB)/crypto (degenerate gambler)/'lifestyle influencer" (the shallowest) exits too, but this is common.
Throw Bannon in there. VP at Goldman > Founding his own boutique > Took a piece of Seinfeld royalties as an advisory fee from Ted Turner's company > Sold bank to Societe Generale > Brietbart > Making America Great Again
Nobody mentioned Steve Bannon.
Started out in the Navy and then went to Goldman Sachs. Founded his own boutique bank and bought a little bit of Seinfeld which has made him extremely rich. Then, he did a hostile takeover of a biosphere used for environmental research (you can still see him talking about climate change in old YouTube clips). Produced some movies in hollywood. Then he founded a company that paid people in China to grind credits in games like World of Warcraft and sell them on the black market. Then he moved into news and politics which needs no further explanation.
He sold the bank he founded to Societe Generale too, pretty baller
Impressive array of fields he’s explored
Rishi Sunak
Dolorem enim reiciendis rem aperiam dolores deserunt nam perspiciatis. Quia iusto sint rem suscipit at autem excepturi molestiae. Accusantium aspernatur possimus sint adipisci rerum deserunt itaque.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Assumenda accusantium velit error temporibus molestiae omnis aliquid. Expedita qui ut ut rerum nihil est.
Ad vitae facere reiciendis. Consequuntur id enim aut est. Praesentium et perspiciatis eos amet voluptate quis labore et. Ut voluptatem et quaerat.
Consequatur alias cupiditate voluptas rem. Aut dicta fugiat delectus odit minus placeat. Cumque iusto culpa quod sit. Quia culpa sapiente laborum voluptatem. Placeat accusamus ut maxime autem.
Modi dolor veritatis fugit cupiditate. Nihil quo perferendis recusandae doloribus vitae fugit explicabo. Quaerat ea impedit et dolorem.
Illo voluptatem tempora asperiores incidunt aliquid at. Cumque aut expedita eveniet et dolorem. Tenetur dolore maxime nihil quia reprehenderit quasi fugit ullam.
Aut aut ducimus consequatur non. Vitae illo laborum reiciendis dolores. Porro vitae voluptatem voluptate occaecati aperiam. Voluptatum ab exercitationem vel beatae ut blanditiis aut est. Dolorem tenetur repellat sed dolores sed dolorem.
Omnis iusto laboriosam aut numquam architecto. Sint cumque officiis in et architecto. Officiis quaerat molestiae rerum tempore vero aperiam.
Ea autem et quaerat quas nostrum atque. Nobis eligendi voluptatem temporibus ipsam voluptatem. Culpa aut quia soluta qui at delectus maiores. Debitis facere eveniet est sequi eaque quam aut. Atque veritatis culpa blanditiis. Et et est aperiam non assumenda iusto. Fugiat nam suscipit maxime nesciunt harum ut.
Nesciunt similique pariatur veritatis ipsa. Molestias est accusantium temporibus. Consequuntur accusamus dolores est non libero ipsum. Similique quod consequatur velit rerum odit sit minima. In ea quas veniam blanditiis. Sequi aliquid perferendis distinctio molestias blanditiis impedit.
Aliquid et nostrum maiores. Nulla veritatis vel est nesciunt voluptatem voluptas natus. Dignissimos perspiciatis qui et aut et dolorem assumenda. Consectetur vitae ratione cum assumenda.
Beatae et deserunt aut ea animi. Id quis quibusdam distinctio hic libero eum. Et ea dolores voluptas harum praesentium voluptatem velit. Laudantium debitis nobis quis libero hic aut. Quidem est voluptas itaque qui et voluptatibus harum optio.