http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/top-… http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/business/12bank…
Anyone else see this?
The top producing banker at Lehman Brothers, George H. Young III, resigned abruptly late Friday, raising questions about the investment bank on Wall Street.Mr. Young, known as Woody, had run the global communications group, the most profitable unit of the investment bank's advisory business, for several years. He is perhaps best known as a telecommunications banker and confidant to AT&T's chairman and chief executive, Edward E. Whitacre Jr. Mr. Young advised AT&T, formerly SBC, on its $90 billion acquisition of BellSouth and on Cingular's $47 billion merger with AT&T Wireless. He also led Sprint's $25.1 billion recombination of its Sprint and Sprint PCS tracking stocks.
The reason for the departure is unclear, although people close to Mr. Young said it was the result of a long dispute with senior management over the strategic direction of the firm.
...
The departure is a blow to Lehman, whose rank as a mergers and acquisitions adviser rose over the last two years, in large part as a result of the efforts of Mr. Young's group.
According to MergerMarket, which tracks deal making, Mr. Young topped the list for all of Wall Street for advising on the biggest volume of deals, $231 billion, in 2006. He had also been close to Lehman's chief executive, Richard S. Fuld Jr., and had helped bring in Felix G. Rohatyn in August as a senior adviser. As an investment banker in the 1970s, Mr. Rohatyn helped New York City avert bankruptcy; he later became the ambassador to France.
Sounds like a huge hit to Lehman.
Thoughts?
anyone know where he is going?
sucks for lehman - that group really drives their league table presence / profitability
ouch.
wow...that is quite a major hit. Especially to their image. Whether he quit due to something shady we don't know or that he was having problems with co-workers looks bad for Lehman...
and retail/consumer are their better groups too... their semis team also got poached last year.
also in that article, interesting that CS signed boutros to another year... losing him to some new quattrone outfit would suck for them too
is what has made some people think that lehman is third best BB after GS/MS. Telecom group is much more famous and respected compared to consumer group in terms of deal flow and feess.
i'm curious as to why he quit, but big blow for Lehman's prestige and rise in telecom.
Some more news:
Young's plan to focus on the top tier companies makes sense to me.. Wonder why others at Lehman disagreed with him.
i want to see some new analysts try and back out of their contracts cause the big boy bounced.
he's also already in negotiations with someone else.
Which firm?
GS/MS....they focus on largest, most prestigious firms and are very strong in TMT space.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/17152322
Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (LEH) 83.65 0.82 +0.99% NYSE
Quote | Chart | News | Profile | Add to Watchlist [LEH 83.65 0.82 (+0.99%) ] investment banker Woody Young abruptly left the firm last week after several testy conversations with CEO Dick Fuld, who told him he wouldn't get a senior management job at the firm, CNBC's Charlie Gasparino has learned.
Speculation has swirled around why Young, one of Wall Street’s top telecommunications investment bankers, gathered his staff at Lehman last Friday and told them he was resigning, Gasparino said. Young then promptly left the firm’s midtown Manhattan offices.
The speculation has centered on whether Young had “philosophical†differences over how best to run the investment bank, namely how to handle smaller investment banking accounts.
But that turned out to be untrue, Gasparino reports. When it came down to it, Young left after several months of trying to convince senior managers at Lehman--including CEO Fuld--that he was management material. Fuld didn’t think so and told him that during a meeting in December.
Last Friday, when Young walked into Fuld’s office and told him that he was resigning, Fuld did nothing to keep him at the firm, Gasparino said
Officials at Lehman told Gasparino that both sides parted amicably. But Young’s departure does say something about the culture of Lehman where CEO Dick Fuld rules with an iron fist, Gasparino said.
Fuld felt that Young may have been a great investment banker but he didn’t have the chops to be a manager, and he was willing to watch a top producer leave rather than be bullied into doing something that he didn’t think was good for the firm, Gasparino said.
Sources told Gasparino that Young has spoken to at least one firm thus far, and there is speculation that he’s going to Goldman Sachs but that couldn't be confirmed.
The last paragraph got cut off, coogikat:
If he goes to GS's TMT group, that would be an insane group to be in. However, I don't imagine GS would give him a management position either, if he couldn't cut it at Lehman.
If he wants a management position, and he's as bad a manager as everyone says, he would probably be going to a more desperate bank that would be willing to give him a senior management role in order to boost their Telecom group.
Dick Fuld does sound like a hardass though. I don't think too many CEOs would have the balls to tell their top producing banker to stuff it.
i dont know if he's more hardass or more dumbass. this move could really rock LB, especially if woody takes some top talent with him.
Yes, but Goldman has "The Partnership"
How about Allen & Co.?
Allen & Co. is more media focused than telecom, isn't it? Or do they do everything TMT?
I'm not sure that Woody is the ideal cultural fit for Goldman, but he'll clearly be a prize catch wherever he ends up.
Effects of Woody Young leaving Lehman's Comm & Media Group (Originally Posted: 03/12/2007)
thoughts?
bump
uh the group sucks
There was a thread about it a while back (the day he left, I think). Do a search.
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