How did banks like Salomon Brothers, Lehman Brothers, Drexel, Smith Barney, and Bear Sterns compare to the likes of Goldman and Morgan Stanley from the 1980s onwards? Were the other banks (now-defunct) more like bulge brackets or are they more comparable to the CVPs and PJTs of the world today? Just wondering how the dynamics have shifted, and what the best banks were in the past.
| +1,739 | Bank of America - Juniors Strike to start Monday May 6th | 198 | 13m | |
| +605 | BOFA ALREADY TRYING TO COVER UP THEIR TRACKS | 69 | 9h | |
| +416 | This is a dark day for Wall Street. | 24 | 34m | |
| +154 | Investment Banking US League Table YTD 2024 (FactSet) | 85 | 20h | |
| +150 | Big Layoff at Barclays - 5/1/24 | 86 | 3h | |
| +93 | “Americans just work harder” | 54 | 16h | |
| +73 | Shame on you, BofA. But also, the industry needs to change. | 12 | 5m | |
| +73 | Analyst at Bofa FIG-Thoughts | 7 | 16m | |
| +72 | Sleeping on Jefferies??? | 35 | 17h | |
| +67 | BofA List | 7 | 15h |
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.
You can actually read old posts for prestige and it really echos size, which also puts the crisis in perspective for people who weren’t old enough.
Lehman was the 4th largest investment bank, Merrill was 3rd, bear stearns was also large and Wachovia. All the firms were closer to BB’s in the sense that they had balance sheets hence why they collapsed. Part of the M&A/ exclusively advisory based shops I.e. EB’s were a reaction to the crisis and firms/ bankers realizing they didn’t want to necessarily underwrite transactions and were many times just paid for their advisory services.
So in context, it would be like 3 of Citi/BofA/JPM/DB/UBS going under.
https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/investment-banking/goldman-sachs-…
That was a wild read. I was a dipshit in high school back then who had no idea what investment banking was, lmao.
BofA took on Merrill Lynch and Barclays took on Lehman US
I honestly think it’s pretty noticeable today too. Nowadays, a lot of the older folks at Barclays or BofA refer to the place they work for as “Barclays-Lehman” or “Merill Lynch” instead of where they actually work at
Were Barclays and Lehman equivalent or in similar tiers in terms of prestige and reputation?
Fuck those firms. The real prestige is with places like white weld, Blythe, Kuhn Loeb.
Dude Drexel, probably has some of the biggest bankers to ever walk this earth come from their alumni.
Heres a Few:
Leon Black - Founder of apollo
Richard Handler - Jefferies CEO
Michael Milken - Legendary junk bond trader
Ken Moelis - founder of Moelis
Yeh it seems like most of big shots in the distressed debt industry had something to do with Drexel
I still bleed Lehman green
Aut placeat nobis eius dignissimos nemo qui ratione et. Ea quibusdam et aut voluptas. Asperiores veniam laudantium cupiditate delectus minima.
Nisi adipisci deserunt illum tempore aliquam aut. Minus non tempora fuga odio nihil consequatur est. Earum autem tempore suscipit deserunt. Et iusto id ea dolor dolor veritatis velit. Quisquam enim assumenda debitis debitis saepe architecto.
Est atque omnis quibusdam id voluptate sint atque tenetur. Cum voluptas ad sit fugiat quos sint. Dolorem fuga hic alias dolores. Itaque sunt consequuntur omnis ullam deleniti. Voluptate veritatis quas commodi ex delectus laborum.
Saepe explicabo quasi dolores quod hic commodi. Consequatur eius deleniti repellat velit.
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...