Moelis & Company vs. BB (SA)

How do you guys think Moelis & Company compares against other top BB (think CS NY/LA, Lehman, JPM, UBS NY/LA) for summer analyst positions and especially in this economy. Is there some risk in accepting a position at Moelis for the summer and would it be better to think of Moelis for full time opportunities so I can see how the company has done 1 yr after starting up? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

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Best Response

If you are relatively confident in your credentials and your ability to interview for and land jobs, then I think that the opposite strategy makes just as much sense.  That is, you could test the waters at Moelis for a summer and if it's not quite right for you, move to a BB.  You'll get a detailed look at how the place operates (few people really know at this point) and you'll get to see if their DLJ/Drexel-inspired culture works for you.  As long as you don't screw up, you'll probably hold onto the option to get into a BB at the end of the summer if you so desire.

 

Yeah, they're all laterals - they have about five or six starting full-time in LA and two in NYC this summer.  Maybe one to Boston, but less sure about this.  None of the UBS LA kids lateraled, though (except at the associate level).  Most heavily represented bank among the laterals is BofA.  Had a couple of Citi LA kids but they quit after two weeks because they couldn't handle the DLJ culture and the 120-140 hr workweeks.

Incoming analysts are from Harvard, Wharton, Princeton, Claremont McKenna, Cal, UMich, and UCSB, I believe, with two or three coming from Wharton.

 

And with regards to the original poster, I would personally take Moelis over any of those options at the SA level. That way, as justanotherbanker mentioned, you can at least see how you like the environment and whether you can take the brutal hours and the douchebaggery (at least with regards to work) of Navid. As long as you interview well, an SA position at MoCo should open whatever doors in IBD you want.


This is just my opinion, though.  Go for the bank with the people you hit it off with the most - all those you listed are great.

 

They were recruiting pretty hard around the street in June / July of this year.  Also, BofA's Media and Telecom group has a lot of legacy DLJ guys, which is why alot of those analysts went there....

Regarding the original post, Moelis is a strong strong name and that is what is important early in your career.  You will be busy, you will be worked, but again... that is what you want early.  Smart, connected, very difficult people... and a firm like this isn't affected by the market... they will just switch their focus...

 

I think it's a great opportunity, however, consider that a lot of their deals lately have been fillers (KRON TV, roughly 100mm sell side, and others) as the market is going down and the Company doesnt have as many relationships with pure strategics and international players that are driving a lot of M&A. I still think when comparing them to another good group you might want to consider the people heavily. Any of those 'top' opportunities opens every full time door regardless of what people think.  

 

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