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.
| +405 | Evercore Intern Seizure | 62 | 6h |
| +113 | UBS IB Americas has failed, now behind Santander and Stiffel | 31 | 44m |
| +79 | JPM M&A is Gone??? Purely Coverage Banking??? | 44 | 2m |
| +60 | How do I understand vs. just memorizing? | 11 | 10h |
| +48 | Losing my personality in Banking | 9 | 2d |
| +45 | The good and bad with Wells Fargo | 14 | 1h |
| +42 | Associate & Above IB exits | 18 | 11h |
| +41 | Sent my Claude prompt to 200+ Teams chat. MD wants to see me Monday. | 23 | 1h |
| +33 | Incoming IB Analyst: Best Ways to Prepare? | 13 | 8h |
| +33 | Some banks are overrated as fuck | 10 | 5h |
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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.
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
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.
.
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
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
Machester top 3 club in the world? You must be joking
Leave it to a banker to try and start the Super League lmao
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).
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!
know some analysts at BX PE that went to heaven after their stint
My buddy left after a year to go back and work for his family mafia, not even fucking joking
Simu Liu left Deloitte to join the Avengers