First Boston
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35
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13
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12
PODCASTS
Search complete. 35 mentions across 13 episodes found for "First Boston".
Oct 30, 2026
Roman TsunderGUEST
I mean, that's all, I think, the thing about life that we're, the journey that we're on.
Jim StengelHOST
You referenced your earlier life a few minutes ago about going to UCLA and coming out and going to, I think you started as an analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston.
Jim StengelHOST
So a very traditional
Jim StengelHOST
career path up till then, right? You got your degree at UCLA, great school.
Roman TsunderGUEST
That's a decade long thing.
Roman TsunderGUEST
So I would say on that journey was simply redirection that finally pointed me a direction that made sense for me.
Jim StengelHOST
But you have to have some level of courage and chutzpah to start a firm because you had a salary, I'm sure, at First Boston.
Jim StengelHOST
So what gave you the confidence that you could make a living by doing that?
Turney DuffGUEST
So, you know, I could buy 250.
Turney DuffGUEST
I could call up first Boston and say, hey, buy me 250 Microsoft.
Turney DuffGUEST
And they would get it done like almost on the wire.
Turney DuffGUEST
I'd hang up.
Turney DuffGUEST
I'd be like, sell 250 Microsoft.
Roben FarzadHOST
So let's say what's accomplished there.
Roben FarzadHOST
For Credit Suisse, First Boston, you're taking care of their traders for their P&L.
Roben FarzadHOST
They're looking good.
AlexGUEST
going, keep going.
James SinclairHOST
Before he helped build the world's largest asset manager, Larry Fink was a successful bond trader at First Boston.
AlexGUEST
Have you guessed it yet? Lock, lock.
James SinclairHOST
It is very true.
Ron TrucksHOST
These are the Business Bloopers.
Ron TrucksHOST
It's New York City in early 1988, and we're inside the offices of a lending company named First Boston, which is one of the most respected investment banks on Wall Street.
Ron TrucksHOST
A small team is running the numbers on a deal that should, by any normal measure, terrify them.
Ron TrucksHOST
Their client, a Canadian real estate developer named Robert Campo, wants to borrow $6.6 billion to buy Federated Department Stores, the parent company of Bloomingdale's.
6 MINS LATER
Ron TrucksHOST
Campo had outbid rival suitors for both companies, including R.H. Macy & Company itself, which had made its own run at Federated and lost.
Ron TrucksHOST
For Campo, winning meant paying a premium, and paying a premium meant borrowing even more than the deals could easily support.
Ron TrucksHOST
First Boston, Campo's lead investment bank, negotiated the federated acquisition and helped arrange its financing, collecting, and, as I mentioned, a combined $79 million in fees for its role in getting the deal done.
Ron TrucksHOST
That dual role gave the bank a direct financial stake in seeing that the transaction closed, rather than in accurately assessing whether Federated could actually carry the debt being loaded onto it.
Greg VoisenHOST
by being close to Uncle Sam's wallet.
Greg VoisenHOST
From Larry Fink's start at First Boston to Blackstone in 1985 to buying Barclays Global Investments and the iShares in 2009 to the Federal Reserve contracts during the financial crashes to running the trillion-dollar thrift savings plan that you just mentioned for federal employees.
Greg VoisenHOST
So, okay, I get that.
Greg VoisenHOST
these companies are kind of designing it to hopefully grow the person's savings, right? But that doesn't mean, this is my question for you, it doesn't mean that that's where the people have to keep it.
Robin WigglesworthGUEST
The good ones are reforged, reinvented, rebuilt on, and they stick.
Robin WigglesworthGUEST
And securitization is still a massively powerful force, thanks to some of the work that Larry Fink at First Boston as well did, his team there, and Louis Ranier at Solomon Brothers.
Robin WigglesworthGUEST
And the 30-year mortgage that we have today, or you guys here have today, it's kind of a miracle of the modern world.
Barry RitholtzHOST
Yeah, no, very much so.
Pierre SarrauGUEST
In many ways, this speaks to another thing that has kept me at the firm for 25 years, which is a very healthy risk culture.
Pierre SarrauGUEST
I think I was sharing with you that the firm, when it was formed, was really on the heels of challenges that Larry Fing, our CEO and chairman, had faced at first Boston.
Pierre SarrauGUEST
Larry likes to say that BlackRock was founded on the ashes of his failures.
Pierre SarrauGUEST
And when he was at First Boston, he was actually one of the superstars.
Pierre SarrauGUEST
I think he was the youngest MD
Ross OverlineHOST
ever
Bob MicheleGUEST
So we have to think of ourselves not only as outperforming a benchmark, but also outperforming a competitor universe.
Barry RitholtzHOST
So you run f- US Fixed Income at First Boston, better known as Credit Suisse today.
Barry RitholtzHOST
Uh, you're a managing director at BlackRock before ultimately leading, uh, fixed income in London for Schroder Investment Management.
Barry RitholtzHOST
I'm curious, what was your experience like in, in the UK and, and in, uh, the Eurozone? Uh, did that have any impact on how you look at fixed income markets?
45 MINS LATER
Barry RitholtzHOST
Right.
Bob MicheleGUEST
That's the wrong way to think about it.
Bob MicheleGUEST
And happily, early in my career, back in the early '90s, whether it was at Brown Brothers or, uh, First Boston Asset Management, uh, we would bring in junior central bankers from around the world, and they would do an internship with you, and you got to meet people from other central banks.
Bob MicheleGUEST
Well, guess what? Those guys are back running the central banks.
Piers CurranHOST
So Larry Fink, he's the- Boss of BlackRock.
Piers CurranHOST
Pre-BlackRock, he was, uh, a trader on the mortgage desk at First Boston, okay? Who, by the way, then got bought by Credit Suisse.
Piers CurranHOST
Credit Suisse First Boston, you might remember if you're old enough.
Piers CurranHOST
But anyway, First Boston was a US bank.
Piers CurranHOST
Larry Fink was on the mortgage desk.
Piers CurranHOST
He had a really bad period over weeks, and then I can't...
Aswath DamodaranHOST
So let me ask you a second question.
Aswath DamodaranHOST
What's the stupidest way to get rid of six hundred million dollars in cash quickly? They went to First Boston.
Aswath DamodaranHOST
At that time, the leading M&A bank on the street.
Aswath DamodaranHOST
And they said, "We have six hundred million in cash that we need to spend quickly.
Aswath DamodaranHOST
Can you help me?" They work on commission.
Aswath DamodaranHOST
They-- You're gonna be surrounded by salespeople.
Aswath DamodaranHOST
And First Boston said, "No problem.
Aswath DamodaranHOST
We'll find the perfect target for you." And they went on a search mission.
3 more episodes mention First Boston.
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