, Columnist
Uber Driver May Drive Uber IPO
Also yachts, Sears and bombs.
Uber.
If you are an investment banker and you want to win a mergers-and-acquisitions mandate, you do the usual things. You gain favor with the company by lending it money and giving it free advice, and you butter up its senior executives by taking them out to dinner, playing golf with them, and recommending their kids for internships. You pitch the deal with a detailed deck containing an insightful analysis of the company’s situation, a careful valuation of the target, clever strategies for structuring the deal, and credentials showing off your M&A experience. The goal is to get the company to believe that you are an M&A expert and that you will do their deal right.