eFinancialCareers

With the exception of Goldman, bonuses are all downhill from here, says author and ex-banker William Cohan. As assuredly as the swallows return each year to Capistrano, the closer the Wall Street calendar gets to bonus day, the more assiduously investment banking managers look for excuses to reduce the annual payouts – many of which run into the millions of dollars (and pounds) – to their bankers and traders. Last year, with... Read more

Working in M&A is sooo yesterday, says William D. Cohan, author and former MD at JPMorgan and VP at Lazard. With US$5 trillion worth of transactions likely this year, the global M&A market is booming and on track to have its best year ever by a wide margin. But does that news bode well for those aspiring to a career as a Wall Street M&A advisor? The answer, alas, is "not... Read more

Locating senior women in private equity funds, hedge funds or investment banks is as rare as finding zebras in Antarctica, says William D. Cohan. Despite their bright smiles and elegant demeanours, the sorry state of professional women in the highbrow world of private equity was on full display in a two-page photographic spread tucked into the middle of the May 2007 issue of Portfolio, Condé Nast's new business monthly. The magazine... Read more

William D. Cohan, a former managing director at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and former VP at Lazard Frères, explains why M&A bankers don’t merit mega-bucks. The end of the first quarter of 2007 brought the news that global announced M&A deal volume for the three-month period topped US$1.1trillion – making this first quarter the busiest first quarter on record. Not surprisingly, the investment bankers shepherding all these deals are positively giddy,... Read more