Goldman Loses Microsoft Mandate

Which banks did Microsoft mandate to put together its monster $44 billion bid for Yahoo? Morgan Stanley – and Blackstone!

This is a huge loss for Goldman Sachs, which advised Microsoft in its failed attempt to buy Yahoo last year. And it’s a huge gain for Blackstone, which is generally considered to be more of a private-equity shop than an M&A advisory boutique – although the advisory business actually predates the private-equity business.

Expect many more banks to emerge out of the woodwork soon, first on the Yahoo side of the deal and then in subsidiary roles relating to fairness opinions and the like. But Morgan Stanley and Blackstone can consider themselves to have pulled off quite a coup here.

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