“I recently had a LinkedIn audit call with Arnau as part of my WSO Academy program, and it was one of the most practical and useful sessions I've had so far. I came in thinking my profile was in decent shape. I left with a clear picture of how recruiters and bankers actually see it, and a concrete list of changes that will make it work much harder for me.
Some background: I'm moving from corporate finance into investment banking, corporate banking, and private equity. I have an MBA in Corporate Finance, a PMP, and several years of finance and project management experience. Making that kind of move depends heavily on how you present your story, and LinkedIn is often the first place a recruiter or analyst sees it. That's why this session mattered so much to me.
From the first few minutes, Arnau was well prepared, direct, and focused on what actually moves the needle. He didn't just give generic tips like "add a professional photo." He went through my profile section by section and explained why each piece matters to someone in finance who's quickly scanning candidates. His feedback was honest without being discouraging, which I really appreciated. He pointed out where my profile was underselling my experience and where it wasn't clearly showing that I'm aiming for banking and PE.
What stood out most was how he helped me think about positioning. My background covers corporate finance, project management, hospitality, and real estate, and it can be hard to make that read as one clear story. Arnau helped me connect those experiences to the skills banks look for: financial analysis, modeling, managing budgets and capital, and working with senior stakeholders. He showed me how small changes to my headline, About section, and experience bullets can make that story obvious within seconds.
The session was also very actionable. I didn't leave with vague ideas. I left with a short list of specific edits I can make right away. That matters a lot when you're job hunting and every week counts. He also shared advice on using LinkedIn more actively, such as engaging with the right people and content, so the profile supports my networking instead of just sitting there.
I also want to recognize the overall WSO Academy experience. Between the modeling bootcamp, the company research work, the mentorship, and sessions like this one, the program has given me structure and support during a career transition that can otherwise feel isolating. This call was a good example of what makes WSO different: the people coaching you understand the industry you're trying to break into and give feedback that reflects how hiring really works.
If you're a WSO member and haven't booked a LinkedIn audit yet, I'd strongly recommend it. It's a short time commitment, and the return is significant. Your LinkedIn profile is often your first impression, and having an experienced set of eyes on it is worth it.
Thank you, Arnau, for your time, honesty, and practical guidance. I'm excited to put the changes in place and keep building toward my goal of breaking into investment banking.”
Based on some first-hand experience. Typically the big 4 prices them on an hourly basis. Analyst charge out at about $300, Associates at about $400, Managers below 500, and Senior partners below $600, with Partners over $700. Then do a budget on the number of hours on each segment of the fairness opinion, so it varies greatly on the size of the mandate (which translates to an hourly basis and so on).
Sorry couldn't be of more help.
If you are looking at post-transactions data etc, I haven't seen any disclosures where the costs of fairness opinions are stated explicitly. The closest are the PPAs that companies sometimes disclose...But on a high level, fairness opinion costs are really peanuts relative to the entire transaction value.
Thanks, really appreciate the help. My analyst was interested in knowing, I guess to see if what we charge clients is in the median range, because we are such a small bank... But thanks, I will continue looking.
Fairness opinion fees are usually disclosed in the proxy statement. Check both companies (usually the dates will be a couple months off the proposal). These statements can be pretty big so it's really helpful to know who did the fairness opinion.
The data from the proxy statements is also compiled in a couple of other places in aggregate (mergermetrics and reuters should have this data as well), so you can actually search for fairness opinion fees without digging it up.
In my experience, most fees range from 200k to 2 million dollars or so.
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