But not without addressing again a very basic concern: namely, that we might come off as snarky or mean-spirited jerks.
Over the years we’ve received many requests for deal tombstones involving firms no longer in existence. Some of these requests come from predictable sources: eBay opportunists, financial end-of-days ghouls, the always-reliable schadenfreude set etc.
To us, the firms represented here are not just now-defunct entities; they are instead valued, former clients— whose bankers over the years showed us a great deal of trust, loyalty, and friendship.
It’s in that spirit that we present this gallery.
A key player in the early tech sector, Hambrecht & Quist was acquired by Chase in 1999. Founder Bill Hambrecht pioneered the use of Dutch auctions as part of the so-called “OpenIPO” model.At the height of its success, in 1999 and 2000, Robertson, Stephens was the lead underwriter on 74 IPO’s with a combined value of $5.5 billion.Clients of Robertson, Stephens included Applied Materials, ETrade, and Sun Microsystems.Hambrecht & Quist’s CEO was Daniel H. Case—older brother of AOL co-founder Steve Case.Morgan Keegan was acquired by Raymond James in 2012. The Morgan Keegan name was officially retired one year later.Prio specialized in online promotions technologies.Two of the three underwriting firms for this issue no longer exist. CoolSavings.com, on the other hand, does, and is headquartered in Chicago.VirtualVineyards was the focus of a 1996 HBS case study.
