Craig Coben

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 It’s a fraught and familiar time as banks select their new managing directors

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

The MD moment in an investment banking career It’s a fraught and familiar time as banks select their new managing directors

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...

‘Infinite money glitch’; meet arithmetic [FREE TO READ] Micro Strategy, major strife

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...

Revenge against the banking nerds is near With progress in AI, the showhorses may yet eclipse the more technically skilled workhorses

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 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...