Meet the star women running Silicon Valley's largest IPOs; PE firms are hiring more undergrads

Ah, WeWork. The gift that keeps on giving.

This week, it was reported that the coworking firm is considering the drastic move of cutting its $47 billion valuation in half before its planned IPO. WeWork's roadshow is reportedly set to kick off next week, but it remains unclear if that'll happen. Some investors that I spoke to said they're still concerned about opacity around WeWork's financials and lack of disclosures. They think ultimately the deal will get done — it just may not be at the company's ideal price.

Meanwhile, even seasoned asset managers are confused about WeWork's valuation, reports BI's Bradley Saacks.

Fidelity, which has exposure to WeWork through its massive Contrafund, slashed the fund's valuation on WeWork shares between the end of last year and the middle of this summer, according to a regulatory filing. The mutual-fund giant once valued the company significantly higher than its peers but has cut the valuation of WeWork shares in the Contrafund by roughly a third.

Other funds, like T. Rowe Price's Diversified Mid-Cap Growth Fund, have hiked the value of their WeWork stakes.

There does seem to be one thing that all the funds can agree on: WeWork is listed in the real-estate section of each funds' reports. It's a far cry from the high growth tech company that WeWork is trying to position itself as to prospective investors.

Here's some more of our WeWork coverage from this past week:

If you were away all summer...welcome back!

Olivia

Meet the star women running Silicon Valley's largest IPOs at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan

Facing outside criticism and investor concern over its all-male board, WeWork amended its IPO registration on Wednesday to include a new female board member, Harvard Business School professor Frances Frei.

But behind the scenes, much of the heavy lifting of the controversial initial public offering is being handled by two female bankers, Alice Takhtajan at JPMorgan, and Kim-Thu Posnett at Goldman Sachs, sources told Business Insider.

In the world of IPOs, much like the rest of banking and much of tech, high-profile male leaders are front and center of nearly every deal. But there's an influential rank of female bankers, each with more than a decade of experience behind them, quietly guiding some of the biggest deals in the industry.

READ MORE HERE »

PE firms are hiring more undergrads and casting a wider net — here's the new schools where top shops like KKR and Blackstone are scouting future stars

Private-equity firms have been casting a wider net for undergraduates. Through recruiters, academic advisers, and PE hiring executives, as well as public sources like LinkedIn, Business Insider gathered some of the schools outside the Ivy League where private equity is scouting future stars.

That push into undergrad outreach and recruiting reflects a battle for talent at the associate level — and marks a pivot from the more traditional route of private-equity firms hiring young people only after they do a stint in investment banking.

READ MORE HERE »

The CEO behind a tech-led turnaround at Domino's Pizza now wants to land huge private-equity deals. He told us the areas he's targeting and why he's excited about voice technology.

The Carlyle Group is partnering with Patrick Doyle, the former CEO of Domino's Pizza known for turning around its business by overhauling its recipe and implementing new technology like online ordering.

Doyle, 56, is now a private-equity investor and will help Carlyle identify multibillion-dollar deals in the consumer and retail sectors.

Doyle spoke with Business Insider about how companies could improve operations and said they would increasingly benefit from the use of voice technology.

READ MORE HERE>>

Barclays insiders say a hiring freeze is afoot as roles stay unfilled, bonuses get slashed, and senior staff flee

Barclays has raised the bar for hiring outsiders, and it isn't filling vacancies after people leave, according to five sources familiar with the situation. Some of those sources described it as an ongoing informal hiring freeze that's hitting areas including investment banking and FICC trading.

The UK-based bank shed 3,000 jobs company-wide in the second quarter and has upped its 2019 cost-cut outlook. Barclays is pushing to hit a return target set by CEO Jes Staley, and its bonus pool shrank in the first half.

READ MORE HERE »

Bloomberg is investing in ways to make complex alternative data sets easier to use for hedge funds

One of the largest data providers in the world wants to make it easier for investors to digest complex, unique data sets.

Bloomberg LP is working to help investment firms, such as hedge funds, use alternative data despite lacking the resources or experience often required to digest it. The efforts come just over six months after Bloomberg announced a move into the booming market for data such as stats on drug approvals, retail foot traffic tracked through cellphones, and construction permits.

READ MORE HERE »

Wall Street move of the week:

Goldman Sachs has poached a top credit trader from a $30 billion hedge fund to jump-start its high-yield trading business

In markets:

In tech news:

Other good stories from around the newsroom: