Sauron's Nine BBs of Power: Who shall be the next ring-bearer?

Sauron distributed Nine BBs of Power to leaders of men, who became "mighty in their day, kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old". They gained unending lifespans, and the ability to see things in worlds invisible to mortal men. But then a BB abandoned Credit Suisse, and fell off it's finger. Who shall bear it next?

1) Goldman Sachs

2) Morgan Stanley

3) JP Morgan

4) Bank of America

5) Citi

6) Barclays

7) Deutsche Bank

8) UBS

9) Wells Fargo/Jefferies/RBC?

16 Comments
 

Of course it has to be 9, what a ridiculous statement. What are the other three rings going to do? Float in a river and eventually corrupt some poor,innocent mm/boutique firm? Horrible. And they might be rings of power, but not pimp-level power, so I don't think anyone can have more than one. 9 rings, 9 firms. 

 

Since CS will probably own a good chunk of the spin-off (i read somewhere that CS first boston will still generate 14% of revenue) - wouldn’t it still hold BB status? Kinda like DB owning a good chunk of DWS (asset mgmt. unit) 

 

Nah, lol. You know how long it'll take for them to gain some semblance of a reputation back? They're going to need a lot more than just Michael Klein as CEO. Atm, it's a long shot that CS can even retain many of their existing customers due to their loss of B/S. Resources are going to be allocated for building their teams anew and paying for continued damage control.

 

This. The comp guarantees alone for key employees and new hires on the MD side will be crazy. Likely structured all cash with lower than market deferrals so they'll be largely hemorrhaging for quite some time until they get regular dealflow in. And starting that in this market is just so tough.. 

 

Get the joke, but I honestly think CS First Boston (which will probably pay thru the nose to get the trademark back for just "First Boston") will be a great opportunity for a lot of people. It's going to be more of a bigger Guggenheim or up-market Jefferies, and given the sponsor reach I believe it will compete with banks like mine on the independent/Boutique end of the spectrum. From the perspective of junior bankers, would argue CSFB will be more popular than CS, given the platform. 

As a more senior associate...to be candid...I am personally thinking this could be an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a rocketship (akin to joining PJT in 2015), if and when they start recruiting. 

 

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