Evercore vs Lazard vs Moelis
Hey everyone,
If you have offers to Evercore, Lazard, Moelis, how would you choose?
I'm interested in how the three differ in terms of analyst experience, exit opps, culture, and pay.
All in NY offices.
Reputation of Lazard and Moelis on this forum seems to be sweatshops. But how are the people themselves? I'm fine with the hours as long as people are nice. Also I think especially for Lazard a lot of the rumors are based on its culture years ago. From speaking to a couple ppl I get the impression that culture has improved now? Can someone attest to this?
Thanks.
Bump
Do you have offers? If not, none of this really matters.
Thanks for your curiosity, and I do
Offers exploding - any insight will be great
I don't know anything about people/culture aside from knowing that Moelis and Lazard are sweatshops as you mentioned above. Evercore has fantastic presence and placement on the street and seems like a top EB with top talent. That being said, what vibe of the company did you get during the interviews? That's usually a big seller for me because you can tell what the overall culture of the company is like and if you'd like working there. That's about all the insight I can offer. Just go with your gut. Best of luck.
Evercore > Lazard > Moelis. Pay is higher at Moelis and Evercore by a decent margin.
Evercore, one of the best culture I've seen
I have older and younger friends and classmates who've had both intern and analyst stints at all three of these firms, both in prior years and currently.
Evercore has a fantastic culture. It is not a facetime place, seniors actually treat juniors like human beings, and you'll be hard-pressed to find analysts who aren't enthusiastic about where they work. That should be the ultimate sign.
Pay is also above street (i.e. back when street was $70 base and $15 signing, they were $75 base and $25 signing). Their conversion rate from the summer class is always high (high offer rate plus high acceptance).
Lazard and Moelis are known to be sweatshops, and that hasn't improved. Both place really well, Moelis in particular because the seniors absolutely go to bat for you (calling their clients at the private or public market funds you're interested in). Moelis also pays above street (bonuses were at or beyond base the only year I have a datapoint on).
Ultimately this comes down to where you feel most comfortable. These are three fantastic firms that will open many doors for you later as you progress through the industry. The difference in pay is marginal; an $80k bonus vs. $65k after-tax is not worth the premium that being comfortable around your team, enjoying the people you spend your entire waking life boxed in with, and working on the product or industry team you prefer carries.
The difference in reputation is marginal; any megafund you want to interview at is going to talk to an analyst from each of those banks. You're above all the mid-tier and lower-tier BBs, the whole MM universe, and it remains to be seen whether PJT is now a comp to these three or maintains the legacy BX Advisory reputation and punches above them.
Do what feels most right after talking to the people. I'm serious - pick up the phone and talk this through with the people at each firm. Be honest and say you have offers from these three firms and want to wind up at the place you feel most at home. The staffers will put you in front of alumni from your school and MDs in the groups you say you're most interested in.
It actually works really well in your favor. You get a leg up in group placement (seniors know you vs. not knowing the other summers who are all faceless when placement time comes), whichever place you end up will view you as thoughtful and scrupulous, you got to know a lot more people at the two places you didn't wind up (and maintaining these relationships long-term is smart), and if for some reason you want to lateral at the end of the summer, you have a shit ton of people who know you already.
I think the analyst experience in terms of learning opportunities would be best at Moelis since it's generalist across industries and products (M&A/RX). That kind of exposure offers broader exit opps than Lazard or Evercore since those two place you into an industry group for M&A and have separate RX groups. Both Moelis and Lazard offer associate promotes after 2 years if you decide to stick with banking and I know the Moelis signing bonus for the promote is very very generous. One thing to note is that Moelis does many sponsor deals (may be changing since they're on Dell/EMC and Pfizer/Allergan) while Lazard and Evercore are oriented more toward corporate deals.
Culture is super chill at Moelis and Evercore while Lazard is a bit more uptight.
Pay is about the same at Moelis and Evercore, lower at Lazard (last year all in was around 140) but pay definitely shouldn't be too big of a factor in your decision.
Moelis is still on the rough end in terms of hours but better since expanding the analyst class. Lazard hours vary immensely depending on the group, IND/TMT/Power analysts leave at like 9 or 10 on the reg while HC/Consumer ones basically don't leave the office. Can't comment on Evercore.
Honestly as others have said, all 3 are top tier offers and will get you wherever you wanna go. Can't really go wrong just trust your gut and think about where you'll mesh the best.
Thank you all. Could someone give more insight about exit opps? Agree that Moelis' senior guys would help with this; what about Evercore and Lazard? What are placement like in recent years? (Don't have premium on Linkedin and a quick search didn't yield very clear results)
I used to be skeptical about this but Moelis really does have the best placement out of all the EBs. They have the best financial sponsors group out of all the EBs (and it's not even close) and also one of the best RX teams. Because of this the MDs at Moelis have incredible relationships with all the top funds.
Moelis LA & NY guys are everywhere (MFs, Top MM PE Funds, Top HFs). I actually didn't even realize how good their placement was until I was talking to a friend there
Easy, you pick Lazard.
Reasons?
I mean in all seriousness, These banks are relatively equal. They will all work you to death, pay you like a king, and allow you to do whatever you want afterwards. I would use what you learned in interviews regarding the MDs and their specific client relationships (which will give you insight on specific dealflow, client coverage and post-IB placement), the "Warm fuzzy's" that you may have gotten when talking with these groups, and any thoughts on how the bonus structure will shake out while your there (ie leanness of team, recent poaching between groups, etc.)
Lazard has the best restructuring practice, but I hear in NY and Evercore's IBDs have more exposure to the restructuring than Lazard does (group dependent, for instance Lazard Houston IBD has a ton of restructuring dealflow).
Short story long if you are considering these 3 offers you got it made. congrats.
Moelis > Lazard in placement
Evercore > Moelis in deals
Ergo Lazard is best
Can't go wrong here. Congrats. Would pick based on culture / your experience. Moelis / Lazard are pretty sweaty. Exit opps are all good across the board. I would probably go with Evercore. I'm biased just cause I knew more kids that went there, and all seem to have done well. There's really not a reason to expand on this more since they are all great shops / cant go wrong.
Whoever said Moelis/Evercore placement is better than Lazard doesn't know anyone at these firms. Laz analysts regularly go to the megafunds/HFs - KKR, TPG, Bain, Warburg + Citadel and the top activist funds
Given that Lazard has a larger analyst class (not to mention far superior deal flow to go along with it), some analysts choose not to go buyside which probably comes across as "not placing" whereas the reality is that headhunters are chasing down these analysts constantly
I think Lazard is generally considered the best out of these 3?
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