Equity Research at Bloomberg?
Does anyone have information on what working in ER at an intermediary like Bloomberg is like?
Comp/trajectory/exits/reputation/etc., anything really. Not able to find much information on their ER platform, and I haven't seen it mentioned when people talk about good research - despite their senior people seemingly having top notch prior experience (former analysts at BB's, prior buy side research gigs).
I've never met anyone on the street that uses their research over regular coverage from banks, so I'm assuming it's mediocre/not noteworthy. If so, I'm wondering specifically why that is the case, and whether or not this is an opportunity to consider. W/L balance would improve 50-80% from current situation
It's not too bad of a place.
They are willing to offer decent money to attract experienced people and the work-life balance is great, as you've noted, with solid job security. This is the reason you see so many experienced analysts switch over to BBG.
If you are more junior, progression is less structured than traditional sellside, which could be both good and bad. Some people get stuck at the same level for a long time, but if you are ambitious and good at politics it is not hard to stand out and you can move up quickly, with corresponding comp increases.
The downside is Bloomberg research doesn't carry the same recognition as banks research and this will be reflected in exits opps. This is less if a problem if you have good experience pre-BBG, but could be an issue if you start your career there. In the latter case, the situation has improved in recent years and you'll get interviews for sellside/buyside, but it could be an uphill battle.
To sum up, you can negotiate yourself a pretty sweet deal, especially given the amount of hours you'll put in, but that comes at the price of more limited options when you are considering your next move.
Interesting. Seems like a great place to be if not too concerned with exits, which I am not. The people were really nice and the office/perks/benefits they were talking about seemed out of this world, definitely not like any of the packages I've seen in finance. Thank you so much for the comment, I appreciate the insight... might go with the gig!
sure thing, best of luck!
Just curious but what are their perks and benefits?
viewed as a joke on the buyside as you guessed so not good if you want to jump to buyside
Not viewed as a top place, but who cares if you’re not concerned with prestige. You cannot beat the benefits, perks and work life balance. And if you have a working spouse and not a stay at home spouse, your household income will be just fine.
Former Associate there. Culture can be very good or bad depending on industry (like any other ER shop). Financial models are very bare bones compared to normal buy/sell side, so not a place to build those skills. If starting out a career, take a job at a bank vs. here, work hours may not be any better at Bloomberg. Comp is a big issue (associate turnover is insane right now) internally promoted associates can expect to start at ~90k base with 5-10k bonus for the year. This is vs banks (BB and non) where associate base (2 years exp) is typically 110-125k with 15k-80k bonus. Another thing to think about is y/y raises. Bloombergs ER team is not significantly revenue producing so promotions past associate are rare, and sometimes come with no salary increase at all. Normal y/y raises came in at about 5% this year for 1st year associates, well below expectations. In summary, before accepting any job at Bloomberg take the time to get to know your industry team, ask them for a coffee or something before accepting, to see what hours/culture could be. There are associates working 45 hours a week off peak and there are ones working 80 hours a week off peak. Know that comp will be significantly below wall street based on very low junior level bonuses, promotion rates and y/y increases. There are good benefits (medical, leave, 401k) but banks are catching up here too. Not highly regarded on the street, exit ops are mostly to bank ER and tech.
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