Morning. Here’s an Alphaville post from @thekrazykobra.bsky.social on how the massive US IPO pipeline could cause a big slash in markets this year — and suck attention away from the UK, Europe and Asia. Plus ca change. www.ft.com/content/d9c1...

Who benefits when big tech takes up all the bandwidth, asks @thekrazykobra.bsky.social as.ft.com/r/84fcc0f1-c...

Column I wrote today ⬇️

My @alphaville.ft.com post below. BTW, if you haven’t seen the @financialtimes.com film narrated by @katie0martin.ft.com on $MSTR from last May, it is well worth a watch as (so far) a remarkably prescient work of video journalism

The MD moment in an investment banking career on.ft.com/4ajQClA

It’s that time of year again: investment banks are announcing their latest slate of managing directors. Here is @thekrazykobra.bsky.social on how that unfolds and what the MD title means www.ft.com/content/e8eb...

Around this time of year, investment banks announce who has been promoted to the ranks of managing director. My @financialtimes.com column looks at the committees, politics, rankings, and the occasional tears of joy and asks what this milestone really means www.ft.com/content/e8eb...

A Strategy update from the finite money grinch, @thekrazykobra.bsky.social on.ft.com/48kKIxY

Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) was knocking on the door of the S&P 500 barely two months ago. Now the conversation has flipped to whether it can survive. My take in $MSTR in @alphaville.ft.com www.ft.com/content/1f63...

Column I wrote in today’s @financialtimes.com - have financiers been captured by an industry whose greatest strength is the financial freedom that working in it purports to offer?

another nice piece on MSTR from @thekrazykobra.bsky.social

My take on the largest London IPO since 2021 — the flotation of Princes Group. Free to read at @alphaville.ft.com : www.ft.com/content/4141...

Saylor’s Strategy (née MicroStrategy) is hailing a “historic” credit rating from S&P. It’s B-minus — deep in junk. My latest for @alphaville.ft.com on a “bitcoin treasury company” craving TradFi approval while its stock badly trails the asset it worships. $MSTR www.ft.com/content/f087...

Revenge against the banking nerds is near - @thekrazykobra.bsky.social's column on AI replacing a lot of the modelling grunt work is drawing a lot of debate... www.ft.com/content/0b7f...

Column I wrote today in @financialtimes.com about OpenAI hiring over a hundred investment bankers under “Project Mercury” to program AI to build financial models and automate junior banker grunt work. on.ft.com/4ohgEu3

Article I published today in @financialtimes.com on reunion I attended last month for my old investment bank. www.ft.com/content/5504...

I’m mentioned briefly in this Daily Telegraph article on my brother Harlan! Paywalled: www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2025/10/1... Archived version: archive.is/ImXPa

(Micro)Strategy raised $128 million last week but only bought $22 million of bitcoin. What’s going on? My take and what it says about $MSTR business model

Robert De Niro in “Heat” had a rule: be ready to walk away in 30 seconds. Is that the ultimate career goal? I wrote in today’s @financialtimes.com on the trade-offs of a "portfolio career" vs. a singular role. It's not all freedom and laptops on the beach.

The jury is still out on S&P’s rejection of Strategy - column here @thekrazykobra.bsky.social here on the bitcoin investor that is now one of the largest companies outside the S&P 500 with a market cap of $93bn www.ft.com/content/57c4...

The S&P 500 just left Strategy (fka MicroStrategy) outside the index after most recent rebalancing. My latest for the @financialtimes.com on why it wasn't invited: it acts like a bitcoin fund, not an operating company. The rejection is a blow to its business model. www.ft.com/content/57c4...

"The previously successful treasury strategy seems now to be preventing stockholders from fully participating in the very bitcoin rally they are funding." on.ft.com/3JR070i

“The previously successful treasury strategy seems now to be preventing stockholders from fully participating in the very bitcoin rally they are funding. In fact, the rush of stock sales by Strategy insiders in November 2024 appears to have been well-timed.” My take in @alphaville.ft.com

Reuniting the old crew at a new bank is tough on.ft.com/4lJVUsG | opinion

Reuniting the old crew at a new bank is tough - @thekrazykobra.bsky.social here on Citi’s hiring spree and why such move rarely deliver sustainable gains. A great look at what goes on inside a bank - and it cites The Blues Brothers www.ft.com/content/0719...

In this “On Wall Street” column in @financialtimes.com, I look at Citigroup’s bid to “get the band back together” under Viswas Raghavan — and why star hires alone rarely change an investment bank’s trajectory. www.ft.com/content/0719...

Ex-bankers often think angel investing is the natural next step. It can be stimulating, but it’s no road to quick riches. My column in the @financialtimes.com on the seductions & realities of backing start-ups

Figma’s IPO soared 250% — cue outrage. $3bn left on the table? A rigged game? Not so fast. In @alphaville.ft.com, I argue that the “broken” IPO process may just be the least-worst option. $FIG Free to read: www.ft.com/content/9fa9...

Interviewed in Die Welt newspaper about financial markets, investment banking, and leadership. When I was asked who was my role model leader in Europe, I was unequivocal: Marco Silva, the Portuguese manager of Fulham FC www.welt.de/wirtschaft/p...

Why giving up finance to go back to school can fail https://on.ft.com/4fj0Hjm | opinion

Many late-career pros return to university to seek intellectual nirvana and campus highs, only to find the transition much harder than expected. My “After the Bell” column in @financialtimes.com : www.ft.com/content/3762...

Strategy shows capital stack as a literal pyramid in investor slides for new “Stretch” preferred stock issue. Freudian slip or taunt at critics? Stock down 10% from November peak despite BTC up 25% and MSTR owning another 210k BTC. My thoughts @alphaville.ft.com www.ft.com/content/b4ce...

Opinion: Markets have rebounded. But dealmaking revenue hasn’t. If the gap doesn’t close soon, investment banking risks becoming less of an industry crown jewel and more of a sideshow. https://on.ft.com/45bGhFm

Is investment banking still a jewel in Wall Street’s crown? https://on.ft.com/44UQCnI | opinion

Wall Street avoided a Q2 bloodbath, but dealmaking remains strangely sluggish. Is investment banking losing its strategic relevance? My opinion column in this weekend’s @financialtimes.com, available at your local news agent or online www.ft.com/content/4977...

"The hitherto glamorous business of investment banking may be losing strategic relevance within the modern universal banking model." - line from this column by @thekrazykobra.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/4977...

Michael Saylor’s Strategy just raised $4.2bn via preferred shares — with the fine print allowing it to pay dividends on earlier preferreds. Not a recap, not a refinance. A structure built on momentum and market access. My latest in @alphaville.ft.com (free-to-read): www.ft.com/content/90ea...

Shein’s Hong Kong IPO filing isn’t just about listing. It’s a pressure tactic on London: accept Beijing-approved Xinjiang risk factors language or lose the deal. My latest for @alphaville.ft.com : www.ft.com/content/bb85...

Top column from @thekrazykobra.bsky.social on life after finance and the ‘boomerang banker’ on.ft.com/44BFLjH

Why do so many retired bankers end up back in the industry? It’s not always about money. My @financialtimes.com column looks at the “boomerang banker” – and what it reveals about banking’s hold on its practitioners www.ft.com/content/b240...

This is very good. But also a reminder: people need hobbies, hobbies are good. I am a zealot on the need for people to have hobbies.

Fascinating story of how Italy broke with private banking conventions in its privatization of a major national bank, likely in a bid to maintain informal control.

Sometimes a capital markets deal exposes the machinery of political power, writes @thekrazykobra.bsky.social in this column on an share placing in what is considered the oldest bank in the world still in operation www.ft.com/content/0593...

The European Commission is reportedly probing Italy’s €1.1bn sale last November of Monte dei Paschi di Siena shares. It was a successful privatisation but also - as I explain in @financialtimes.com today - an exercise in controlled execution and industrial policy www.ft.com/content/0593...

Chamath Palihapitiya, the “SPAC King” whose deals burned billions of investor capital, says he wants to launch a new SPAC. His argument boils down to: SPACs > IPOs. But given his track record, should anyone listen? My take at @alphaville.ft.com www.ft.com/content/e859...

Goldman Sachs’s reported decision to return to the SPAC business shows Wall Street’s reputational risk math is fluid. When fees beckon & oversight fades, banks recalibrate fast. My latest for @alphaville.ft.com : www.ft.com/content/d1ea...

Shein’s IPO pivot from London to Hong Kong isn’t a shock or setback — it’s a reality check. No single flotation can save the City. My latest for @alphaville.ft.com on why Shein was always a poor fit (and why the hype in the UK was so odd): www.ft.com/content/448a...

UK govt has finally sold last NatWest shares 17 years after nationalising RBS In FT Alphaville, I compare US & UK crisis responses — pragmatic, quick-exit "Odyssean" approach vs principled but costly "Achillean" path. One prioritized efficiency, the other moral reckoning. Which worked better?

Even with AI, junior bankers still need the grind - column by @thekrazykobra.bsky.social. “the uncomfortable, ambiguous reality of professional growth is that competence is more often absorbed than taught and rarely develops on a schedule.” www.ft.com/content/e4eb...

We made a film! About Michael Saylor and his amazing magic money machine. Take bitcoin, add mind-boggling amounts of financial engineering and a huge dose of very online crypto hype, and suddenly a lot of people are making a LOT of money www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_Wj...