Tech Star Is Leaving Goldman Sachs to Join Hedge Fund
Anthony J. Noto, a top banker at Goldman Sachs who led the initial public offering of Twitter last year, is leaving the Wall Street bank to join a firm that invests in technology companies.
Mr. Noto, Goldman's global co-head of technology, media and telecommunications banking, plans to join the hedge fund Coatue Management as a senior managing director, according to an internal memorandum at Goldman and a person briefed on the matter. He will start this summer and be based in New York.
He is headed to Coatue during a critical time for the hedge fund. After the firm's flagship fund lost nearly 9 percent in March amid a broader slump in technology stocks, Coatue said it would return more than $2 billion to investors. Now, the firm, which recently opened an office in Silicon Valley, plans to raise a new fund for investments in private companies.
Mr. Noto, a former Army Ranger who has become a trusted banker for technology titans, may help Coatue make inroads among hot start-ups. His style differs from that of a major rival, Michael Grimes, Morgan Stanley's star tech banker, who lives in Silicon Valley.
'Anthony is a key addition to our private investing effort, helping us build on the momentum we have established through leading investments in Box.net, Snapchat, HotelTonight, Flipboard, Lyft and other transformative companies,' Philippe Laffont, the founder of Coatue, said in an emailed statement.
The departure of Mr. Noto is a prominent loss for Goldman. He joined Goldman in 1999 and quickly gained renown as an Internet analyst. He had some early missteps, however, writing glowing reports about some of the biggest flops of the Internet bubble.
But his star continued to rise after being named a partner of Goldman in 2004, being named the best Internet analyst by Institutional Investor magazine several years in a row. After a period as chief financial officer of the National Football League, Mr. Noto returned to Goldman in 2010.
Last year, he managed Twitter's relatively successful I.P.O., in a coup for Goldman.
'We are grateful to Anthony for his many contributions to the firm and wish him well in his future professional endeavors,' said the Goldman memo, which was signed by the firm's three co-heads of investment banking. A spokesman confirmed the memo's contents. Mr. Noto's departure was reported earlier by ReCode.
The co-head of the technology, media and telecom banking group, Dan Dees, will now be the sole head of that division. Goldman said in a separate memo on Tuesday that Simon Holden, Nick Giovanni and Michael Ronen would become co-chief operating officers of the group.
'I am excited to be joining Coatue's strong technology investing team,' Mr. Noto said in a statement. 'I look forward to building on my more than 15 years of experience and relationships with tech, media and telecom companies to identify attractive investment opportunities and to help entrepreneurs achieve their long term goals.'
Here is the full text of the Goldman memo:
After 13 years of distinguished service, Anthony Noto, global co-head of the Technology, Media and Telecom Group (TMT), has decided to retire from the firm.
Anthony joined Goldman Sachs in 1999 in Global Investment Research. He was named managing director in 2003 and partner in 2004. Anthony was the top-ranked analyst in the Internet sector by Institutional Investor magazine from 2003 to 2007 and headed our Communications, Media and Entertainment research team. In October 2010, he rejoined the firm as co-head of the Global Media Group for TMT after serving as the National Football League's executive vice president and chief financial officer for nearly three years. In September 2011, Anthony was appointed global co-head of TMT.
Over the course of his career, Anthony has made a significant contribution in growing our TMT franchise. He has been a trusted advisor to a number of our clients and played a central role in several industry leading transactions.
We are grateful to Anthony for his many contributions to the firm and wish him well in his future professional endeavors.
Richard J. Gnodde David Solomon John S. Weinberg
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