In private equity firms as in investment banks and, to a lesser extent, venture capital firms, the "rainmaker" is the guy who makes or breaks the company's fortunes. While Schwarzman may be the schmoozer, the guy whose birthday parties are the most fabulous and whose paychecks and public statements are the most scrutized, it's Tony James who (if the Wall Street Journal's take is any indication) brings home the bacon.
Indeed, his tenure at the first isn't long. But with rainmakers as a class of people, "patience" and "longevity" are not known as generally-held values. James, like so many of the quietest and most influential at the top of private equity firms, has a thoroughly Harvard pedigree, having graduated magna cum laude and John Harvard Scholar as an undergrad, then going on to earn an MBA and the "Baker Scholar" designation from HBS. In other words, an unqualified smarty pants of the highest order.
When he was still young enough to be called a "whiz kid," he was a banker at Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette.
At DLJ, his career was so stunning there's an unwritten law one must use the modifier "illustrious." He was a workaholic (on Wall Street? you're kidding right?) and was the MD of the merger practice by his early 30s, eventually helping take DLJ public and working with the Blackstone Group in the late 80s on "signature" deals like the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, where both Blackstone and DLJ contributed equity, and DLJ lead $450 in high-yield bonds. The deal was a great success.
After DLJ was sold to Credit Suisse in 2000 (a sale assisted greatly by the wheeling and dealing of Tony James), the fit between Blackstone and James seemed a natural, and he came aboard as the number two under Schwarzman. He's the kind of guy who fly fishes the Amazon and Mongolia with his best business buddy (David Bonderman, co-founder of TPG) -- not his clients. He doesn't even golf, choosing instead to pander to his clients' truly common interests -- making more money for their companies. Now that's a rainmaker.
And when big firms across Wall Street were shying away from the mergers & acquisitions business in 2002 and 2003, Tony James was building a team, hiring a white-shoe sized group that, he was certain, could convince commitment-phobe corporations to pop the question. His theory, honed at DLJ: private equity representation doesn't smack of that yucky conflict like more traditional banking merger groups.
Schwarzman may call the shots -- it's said he was the one who insisted on the IPO, despite James' reluctance -- but from all appearances, it's James who's helped the firm become as profitable as it is.
After DLJ was sold to Credit Suisse in 2000 (a sale assisted greatly by the wheeling and dealing of Tony James), the fit between Blackstone and James seemed a natural, and he came aboard as the number two under Schwarzman. He's the kind of guy who fly fishes the Amazon and Mongolia with his best business buddy (David Bonderman, co-founder of TPG) -- not his clients. He doesn't even golf, choosing instead to pander to his clients' truly common interests -- making more money for their companies. Now that's a rainmaker.
And when big firms across Wall Street were shying away from the mergers & acquisitions business in 2002 and 2003, Tony James was building a team, hiring a white-shoe sized group that, he was certain, could convince commitment-phobe corporations to pop the question. His theory, honed at DLJ: private equity representation doesn't smack of that yucky conflict like more traditional banking merger groups.
Schwarzman may call the shots -- it's said he was the one who insisted on the IPO, despite James' reluctance -- but from all appearances, it's James who's helped the firm become as profitable as it is.
