Weisel, long a feared and respected power broker, is an industry stalwart who has withstood the flux of the market through a combination of dedicated research and savvy dealmaking. In two years, his firm reached half a billion dollars in revenues, while Bank of America, once a partner but now considered the enemy, has all but disappeared from the banking landscape. Analysts and investors alike agree that one should never underestimate Thom Weisel. Powerful, controversial and determined, Weisel found himself in the middle of more than one corporate battle, but like David emerging from his scrape with Goliath, gained the business world’s attention when he trumped Bank of America. This is his story. Dramatic, intriguing and filled with power plays. Power Investor distills Weisel’s approach to success, his hugely competitive nature, love of cycling, and unwavering focus on winning the race. He delivers a view of the investment banking world from someone who is actually shaping it.
Book Details:
- Author: Richard L. Brandt
- ISBN: 9780470232729
- Year Published: 2002
- Pages: 336
- BISAC: BUS027000, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS/Finance
About the Book and Topic:
Weisel, long a feared and respected power broker, is an industry stalwart who has withstood the flux of the market through a combination of dedicated research and savvy dealmaking. In two years, his firm reached half a billion dollars in revenues, while Bank of America, once a partner but now considered the enemy, has all but disappeared from the banking landscape. Analysts and investors alike agree that one should never underestimate Thom Weisel. Powerful, controversial and determined, Weisel found himself in the middle of more than one corporate battle, but like David emerging from his scrape with Goliath, gained the business world’s attention when he trumped Bank of America. This is his story. Dramatic, intriguing and filled with power plays. Power Investor distills Weisel’s approach to success, his hugely competitive nature, love of cycling, and unwavering focus on winning the race. He delivers a view of the investment banking world from someone who is actually shaping it.
Thom Weisel became a major player in the investment banking world in 1971 when he became a founding partner of Robertson Coleman Siebel & Weisel, and solidified his reputation as a no-holds-barred businessman in the years that ensued. After a bitter feud with co-founder Sandy Robertson that led to Robertson leaving to start his own firm, Weisel renamed his company Montgomery Securities. He began to rack up first tier tech deals including Yahoo, Real Networks and Seibel Systems and further solidified his reputation as a risk-taking financier hell bent on being first in every race he entered. The ability to win the race despite all odds and at any cost is a metaphor that has shaped both Weisel’s personal and professional life. These successes foreshadowed Weisel’s most intimidating opponent and signifies his largest victory to date, and adds an element of truth to the adage: “the bigger they are, the harder they fall.” Bank of America became the next and most visible casualty in Weisel’s growing dominance. In 1995, now leading the investment banking field, Montgomery Securities had the opportunity to merge with NationsBank who paid $1.2 billion for the firm. NationsBank went on to merge with Bank of America. (Bank of America had previously bought and sold Sandy Robertson’s firm, but the rancor lingered.) The stage was set for conflict. It only took a few years before Weisel became fed up with the way he and his colleagues were being overshadowed by Bank of America execs and Weisel made his next move. In 1998, he negotiated a package allowing him to leave NationsBank to start his own firm with more than $500 million in cash and stock options and the ability to hire anyone he wanted from the firm — an unprecedented act in business, let alone for Bank of America. With enough capital to bankroll his new firm, Weisel demonstrated the art of comeuppance when he hired the best Montgomery employees from top management to the cleaning lady. Weisel and Partners was founded and within 2 years the firm reached a half a billion dollars in revenue. Thom combines his professional image with personal interests, the most striking example of this was when he brought Lance Armstrong onto the U.S. Postal team and personally secured the athlete’s salary after no other team would touch him. Lance has embodied Thom’s own edict about winning the race with 3 consecutive Tour de France victories.
* Introduces readers to Weisel’s approach to investment banking. * Features other influential power brokers such as Sandy Robertson and William R. Hambrecht.
About the Author
RICHARD L. BRANDT is one of the few journalists who has gained Weisel’s trust, and has contacts deep within the worlds of finance and technology. A veteran journalist with over twenty years’ experience, Brandt was formerly Editor-in-Chief of Upside magazine. Prior to joining Upside, Brandt was a senior reporter for BusinessWeek for fourteen years. THOMAS WEISEL has led his most recent firm, Thomas Weisel Partners (TWP), to the top of the investment banking world. His negotiation tactics, strong stomach for risk, and ability to ferret out influential investment trends are legendary. Weisel has expanded the firm into a multifaceted merchant bank that, in only four years of existence, has orchestrated $135 billion worth of public and private stock offerings and mergers, invests in private companies with two funds totaling $1.6 billion, manages over $5 billion worth of assets for private clients, and acts as a prime broker for many of the world’s largest financial institutions.