Centerview Partners, one of Financial World's top independent investment banks, has long been known primarily as a democratic front-post base. One of its leaders, Blair Efron, is one of the most influential fundraisers in democratic politics, and the longtime counselor is former Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin. Former Chief of Staff Obama, Rahm Emmanuel, also worked for the company.
This week, Centerview took the widely seen step forward as offsetting. He hired Reince Priebus, the first White House Chief of Staff of the Trump administration and the finance chair of Trump's Second Inaugural Committee, as a senior adviser. In other words, those who can support banks and their blue chip clients can “speak Republican better” during their Trump days.
It's not just about the appearance.
“It's transaction management,” said Steve Lipin, founder of Gladstone Place Partners, at a major gathering of mergers and acquisition advisors last week at the Tulane University Corporate Law Institute panel.
He added that he would be “emailing Howard Luttonick,” a Wall Street financier who is now Trump's secretary of commerce.
The deal advisor plumbed the Rorodex to connect with those who had drawn Trump World. (There are restrictions, one hiring executive said:
These new recruits highlight how much the merger and acquisition business has evolved beyond distribution advice on capital structure and valuation. Clients are increasingly eager to learn how to navigate a global landscape covered in military conflicts, trade wars, oil shocks and political revolutions.
The latest challenge is the second Trump administration, which openly injects culture war considerations into regulations, including anti-trust approval. A proper case: Trump's family business accused lenders of “waking up” and “unloading” for political reasons, suing lenders as banks seek permission to buy Discover Financial in $35 billion. (Centerview advises Capital One.)
Government experts are employed to help layout the landscape for transactions, and in some cases to help call or bend the ears of lawmakers or regulators.
Some corporate advisory businesses also employ Preeves-type executives. This year, financial telecommunications company Brunswick Group hired Jim Bognett, the first Trump administration official. (He also hired Kate Beddingfield, White House communications director under Joe Biden.)
Others are building teams to provide expertise and advice on their operations in Washington and beyond.
In January, JPMorgan Chase said it had created a geopolitical advisory group that was sought to bring together research and experts for its clients. Leading that effort are Derek Charett, former chief of staff for Biden Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and Lisa Sawyer, who served in the Biden and Obama administrations.
In 2023, Goldman Sachs announced the creation of a similar product, Goldman Sachs Global Institute. The group is led by longtime contract maker George Lee and Jared Cohen, president of Global Affairs and founder of Google's Jigsaw Tech Research and Incubator Unit.
The previous year, Lazard established a geopolitical advisory unit, a team of 12, who also counts as an advisor to William McClover, a former naval admiral who oversaw the attack that killed Osama bin Laden, and William McClover, a former general John Abyzaid, who commanded the US forces in the Middle East. A recent project for clients included betting on escalating the conflict in China's Thaiwan and modeling the potential Trump tariff situation.
About three or four years ago, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan called for the creation of a similar team. It is based on both internal research and government expertise and external resources that help advise clients across banks on issues across Washington and abroad.
Many Wall Street Company executives emphasized that, although such teams often stock former government officials, they are not officially lobbyists and focus on distributing advice rather than knocking on Capitol Hill's doors.
The need to open a door in Washington is nothing new. Consider Moelis & Company, who employs former Republican House majority leader Eric Cantor in 2014, to hire Lazard Hiring Vernon Jordan, Clinton's ally with a huge address book in 2000.
But in an era of diplomatic alliances, unexpected conflicts and unpredictable American administrations, advisers bet that they can explain that the best way to approach Washington and other geopolitical flashes is more important than ever.
“There's currently a lack of predictability,” Scott Bershay, a well-known contract maker and partner of law firms Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, told the Tulane Conference. The government's policies are still being organized. Our clients are not sure what the short-term future looks like. ”
– Michael J. de la Mercedo
This is what's going on
Consumers' trust was in a hurry. Sentiment among consumers took 11% in March, according to a new University of Michigan survey released Friday. The metric has plummeted every month for the past three months, down 22% in total since December. There is also an increase in fear about inflation.
The Senate voted to avoid the closure. Sen. Chuck Schumer, a minority leader, of New York, reversed the course and allowed Republicans to pass the funding bill before the midnight deadline on Friday. While some Democrats viewed halting the bill as a way to counter Trump, Schumer argued that if they blocked the law, Democrats would be blamed for the closure. The move sparked solid criticism from Democrats, including New York president Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Stock recovered after a week of turbulence. Stocks rebounded after the threat of government shutdown appeared to have been avoided after slipping into the revision Thursday amid escalating trade wars and mixed inflation reports. The price of gold, a safe haven, reached $3,000 for the first time.
Intel has been named as new CEO Lip-Bu Tan, a well-known high-tech investor and executive, and is responsible for reviving the fought chip manufacturer, whose shares have fallen 54% over the past year.
Women's Sports launches a new chapter
Women's sports have seen more new stars, new money and value propositions as television viewers are broken. All of this has led to an influx of investors in recent years.
One of the most notable tests of whether these big bets can be converted into blockbuster returns began on Friday in the National Women's Football League season opening game.
After a long period of underinvestment, the league raised funds from large institutional investors such as Sixth Street and Carlyle, as well as headline names such as Natalie Portman, Bob Iger and his wife, Willow Bay and Kevin Durant.
And it garnered major sponsors. This month, the league announced Alex Cooper's unpleasant hydration and flashy deals.
Now it's entering a new chapter. Prove to investors that a business proposal is worth taking.
“We've fought for opportunities, but now we have opportunities,” Haley Rosen, founder and CEO of Just Women's Sports, told DealBook.
“So, how do you use it?”
Institutional investors have treated women's soccer like venture capital investments. The bet is that, in effect, sports are so neglected, it is very likely that it is just an advantage. In 2023, Sixth Street led an ownership group that plans to spend $125 million on a new Bay Area team, with roughly $53 million covering the expansion fee and making a big jump from the $5 million fee paid to the Kansas City team in 2021. Boston notched its own $53 million expansion fee a few months later.
“Is it a question of how high you can go? And what time frame?” said Alex Michael, managing director of Lion Tree. “We drive ratings vigorously and fast across sports. Women's sports are the exceptional example these days. But we need to stay in order to continue ascending.”
Television reviews are a big test. Like most sports leagues, the biggest factor in the NWSL revenue is media trading. In 2023, the league signed a four-year, $240 million contract with CBS Sports, ESPN, Prime Video and Scripps Sports. That's about 40 times the previous TV deal, but a portion of the 10-year, $2.5 billion major league soccer was hit by Apple.
The NWSL media contract expires in 2027. The shorter period allows for quick exploitation of sustained momentum. But that also means that if you want to sign a more profitable transaction in four years, the NWSL will need to demonstrate real growth in television audiences quickly.
“When we came here three years ago, there were no commercial considerations that we needed to consider,” NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman mentioned new business pressures in January. “There was no media partner who paid us a lot of money that we were hoping to promote our audience goals.”
Last year, the 2024 NWSL Championship averaged 967,900 viewers on Primetime on CBS on Saturday, up 18% from 2023, but only jumped 6% from 2022.
The NWSL requires stars to carry weight. As the last generation of stars, including Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and Kelley O'Hara, retired, the NWSL has put a great effort into highlighting the next generation of stars, including the 2024 Olympic team.
The current question is whether new stars like Trinity Rodman (who instead discuss playing abroad) will capture the cultural era in a way that will allow the league to remain in place.
And the expanded model that proves. The expansion team has brought in huge revenue and celebrities. But selling a new team to investors is just part of the equation. It is necessary for new investors to prove that these investments generate profits.
Some of these teams may be easier to sell than others. Angel City FC is a Los Angeles team that sold for a record $250 million last year to Bob Iger and his wife Willow Bay, and has averaged 19,000 people last year, or about 2,000 fits at all of Brooklyn's Barclays Centers. Other teams, like the Houston Dash, only averaged around 6,000 spectators per game. New teams need to prove that fans are coming.
“So far, it's been really good for the NWSL,” said Michael of Lion Tree. “But not all teams are created equally.”
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