JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who’s already forced his busy little elves back to the pestilential toy factory, has a bit more holiday cheer to spread around 383 Madison Avenue: If you thought you could make up for your resumed commute by blowing off work this month, think again.
“It clearly won’t be a long Christmas break for M&A bankers,” [co-head of global mergers Dirk] Albersmeier said. “There are absolutely no signs of this pace slowing down….” Albersmeier said the proliferation of blank-check firms, or special purpose acquisition companies, has created a new and important group of buyers in the M&A market.
Being busy over the festive season isn’t the worst Christmas present, however, as Dimon and his colleagues all over the Street are printing up pink slips for some very unlucky stockings, sayeth the ghost of grim Christmas futures, Dick Bové.
“I can see a 20 percent to 30 percent decrease in jobs over the next couple of years probably beginning” later this year, Bove said. “This is a long-term issue but the coronavirus didn’t help.”
M&A Bankers Won’t Get Long Christmas Break, JPMorgan Says [Bloomberg]
Wall Street layoffs a matter of when, not if, sources say [Gasparino/N.Y. Post]