Craig Coben

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...

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...

The City of London losing its Shein Please, just stop chasing trophy IPOs

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...

Largest hedge fund IPO raises $2b Marshall Wace LLP raised 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion) in the largest initial public offering (IPO) of a hedge fund, a sign of widening demand for riskier investments that may offer greater returns.

From 2006 m.economictimes.com/markets/ipos...

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 Mastery requires showing up, putting in the effort and sometimes staying late

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...

YouTube video by Financial Times Michael Saylor's $40bn bitcoin bet | FT Film

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...

Even with AI, junior bankers still need the grind Mastery requires showing up, putting in the effort and sometimes staying late

Great line by @thekrazykobra.bsky.social:

“Competence s more often absorbed than taught and rarely develops on a schedule.”

I’m nicking that one!

www.ft.com/content/e4eb...

My column in today’s @financialtimes.com tries to tackle the vexed question whether AI will replace the “apprenticeship” model of investment banking and what it may or may not mean for junior bankers

Such a good dog. @thekrazykobra.bsky.social on.ft.com/4j2GJcL

Grateful to appear in stellar @financialtimes.com film on bitcoin binger Strategy (ex-MicroStrategy). One of the wildest capital markets stories — and yes my dog Dara makes a cameo at 1:30 mark.
His 2nd doc credit.

Kudos to presenter @katie0martin.ft.com and producer James Sandy for superb film

Tell It Like It Is – Craig Coben on what it takes to be an Investment Banker  – St. Gallen Business Review

Offered some career and industry thoughts in this lengthy discussion with the student review at University of St Gallen Business School stgallenbusinessreview.com/tell-it-like...

Wow! Mazel tov!