| It was a wild week for IPOs. Now, one company is taking a time out. Roblox is delaying its initial public offering until next year after the video game maker decided it would be too difficult to price its shares, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday night. We took a look at what's been driving the IPO rush and enormous pops in early days of trading for big names like Airbnb and DoorDash. From Alex Morrell: Not since the days of Y2K, GeoCities, and eToys.com have initial public offerings garnered such unbridled enthusiasm from investors. When DoorDash and Airbnb went public this week, their stock prices shot up on the first day of trading, soaring 86% and 113%, respectively. And the average IPO this year has seen a 41% first-day return. The IPO market has notched other staggering figures this year as well, with nearly 430 deals, the most since 2000, and $160 billion in deal value, an all-time high, according to data from Dealogic. The dynamics fueling this frenzy are nuanced. But as retail traders fight over small allocations of popular, high-growth stocks and momentum chasers follow in their wake, market valuations are inflating and some experts are throwing around the "bubble" word again. You can read the full story here: Keep reading for a deep dive on the rapid rise and fall of Coatue's much-hyped quant fund; a look at how peak-pandemic bets on Airbnb are paying off; and to learn why Steve Schwarzman launched Blackstone TV — and doesn't see it getting cancelled any time soon. If you're not yet a newsletter subscriber, you can sign up here to get your daily dose of the stories dominating banking, business, and big deals.
From Bradley Saacks: Steve Schwarzman, the billionaire founder and CEO of private-equity giant Blackstone, revealed his way of increasing transparency at the firm during the pandemic. He launched what he dubbed "Blackstone TV" — a weekly update from Schwarzman and his management team that every Blackstone employee is invited to watch. He plans to continue it, even when the pandemic has passed and employees have returned to the office. "We are not going to get cancelled," he said. You can read the full story here.
From Alex Morrell and Bradley Saacks: Coatue Management, a secretive hedge fund run by the billionaire Philippe Laffont, has had a wave of departures from its vaunted data-science team. The team, run by a young partner named Alex Izydorczyk, had its internal quant fund shut down this summer. Business Insider spoke with more than 20 sources — including 10 ex-employees as well as investors, vendors, and hedge-fund recruiters with firsthand knowledge of the firm — about the rise and demise of Coatue's quant fund. Here's how a 23-year-old Wharton wunderkind seized power, alienated employees, and blew a $350 million opportunity.
From Rebecca Ungarino and Dan DeFrancesco: Betterment's new CEO is replacing founder Jon Stein at a super-competitive moment for the robo-advisory industry. Sarah Kirshbaum Levy, a former ViacomCBS executive, will be tasked with growing Betterment's brand and drawing in new customers from legacy wealth managers that dwarf it in size. While candidates for Stein's role largely felt confident in the brand, some had concerns around the general business model of robo-advisors, a source familiar with the process said. One analyst we spoke with said he sees Betterment as a possible acquisition target rather than headed for an initial public offering, while Levy told the Wall Street Journal that an IPO was in its future. You can read the full story here.
From Carter Johnson: The world of fashion, in many ways, is about standing out. So it's fitting that Chidi Achara, who has worked with brands like Cole Haan, Levi's, and Hugo Boss, will be focused on doing just that for fintech Stash. Achara has big plans for the startup he joined in September as its first chief creative officer. He's tasked with engineering and leading a rebranding effort aimed at helping Stash stand out from a crowded field of rivals. Launched in 2015, Stash is a finance app that offers retirement, bank, investment and custodial accounts for a monthly subscription cost. The New-York based fintech raised $112 million in Series F funding in April, and has enjoyed considerable growth throughout the pandemic. Here's how he made the jump from fashion to fintech.
From Dakin Campbell: In April, just weeks after the raging coronavirus pandemic threatened to shut down the US economy, Silver Lake Partners and Sixth Street Partners made a bold bet. The two private-investment firms together lent $1 billion to Airbnb, the home-sharing company that was then watching its revenue plunge as people around the world stopped traveling. The loan came with a lofty coupon of about 10% and an equity kicker in the form of warrants that converted into one share apiece at less than $30. The following month, Silver Lake bought a slug of common shares off of Belinda Johnson, the former chief operating officer of Airbnb who now sits on its board, for more than $27 million. Here's how those wagers on the future of travel are paying off in a big way.
Careers - Consulting firms with strong turnaround practices are hiring like crazy to meet demand. Here's how to land a job at FTI, according to its head of recruiting.
- The typical cycle is changing for private-equity recruiting. Here are the new trends top hiring execs from firms like Apollo and Carlyle are seeing.
Asset management - Lack of travel has BlackRock rethinking its budget. Here's what the world's biggest asset manager is putting that money toward.
- Airbnb's stock skyrocketed in its first day of trading. Here's how much massive money managers like Fidelity and Principal are up from their original bets.
Investment banking - A Goldman Sachs banker who leads a team that helped clients like Delta and Norwegian Cruise Line raise $120 billion in debt to weather the pandemic shares his 2021 outlook for the travel industry
Consumer banking Private equity - Inside a sweetheart deal for SPAC pioneers Chinh Chu and Bill Foley. How the ultra wealthy dealmakers made millions in what some experts are calling a 'kickback' from Blackstone.
Legal and accounting tech - Here's the 13-page pitch deck that Contractbook, which wants to take on legal tech giants like DocuSign, just used to raise $9.4 million from investors like Bessemer Ventures
- This startup is looking to disrupt accounting with AI and machine learning. Take a look at the 12-page pitch deck that helped Vic.ai nab $11.2 million.
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