Craig Coben

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 Beyond its small software division, the company’s entire model relies on constantly selling new shares

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...

Man U’s fall after Fergie is the perfect parable for Britain after Brexit.

Strategy’s sagging bitcoin strategy [FREE TO READ] Ahoi Saylor

"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 Hiring star bankers and letting them bring their own posse has had mixed results

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 Hiring star bankers and letting them bring their own posse has had mixed results

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...

Fantastic essay. Really learned a lot - thank you

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 Trading the conference room for seminars may be tempting but won’t provide a second youth in retirement

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 stretches for more cash Michael Saylor is building a pharaonic edifice of financial engineering. Does his latest fundraise give a clue to the endgame?

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? The once-glamorous business may be losing strategic relevance

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

Is investment banking still a jewel in Wall Street’s crown? The once-glamorous business may be losing strategic relevance

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...

Is investment banking still a jewel in Wall Street’s crown? The once-glamorous business may be losing strategic relevance

"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...

The boomerang bankers for whom escape becomes exile It is not just pay and perks that are persuading those who walk away from the industry to return

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.

Italian bank share deal smacks of industrial policy Sale of Monte dei Paschi di Siena shares shows European governments are keen to retain control of key assets

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...