@GoldmanSachs I will miss the best TMT team in the world; looking fwd to seeing your continued success; GS #indispensable #forevergrateful
Anthony Noto, who co-headed Goldman Sachs' technology, media, and telecom banking business, will leave the bank for Coatue, a hedge fund founded by the brothers Philippe and Thomas Laffont, where he will be a senior managing director. The move was announced in a memo distributed to employees today.
Noto is a significant loss for Goldman as it sought, under his leadership, to compete with Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase in winning lucrative and high-profile investment banking business from technology companies.
Noto's greatest coup was the initial public offering for Twitter, which raised over $2 billion when it went public in November of 2013. Noto had been promoted to head Goldman's technology, media, and telecom group in 2011, while Dan Dees was given the co-head job earlier this year and will run the group himself when Noto departs this summer.
Noto's departure is another example of a prominent and high-ranking banker leaving to work for an investment firm. JPMorgan's co-head of investment banking, Michael Cavanagh, left the bank in March to join the private equity firm Carlyle. "Our ability to retain and attract new talent is quite good," Goldman chief financial officer Harvey Schwartz told reporters in April, "the best people at Goldman are always being pursued."
The news of Noto's departure was first reported by Re/Code.
Noto is a 13 year veteran of Goldman, arriving in 1999, and then leaving for a three year stint in the National Football League as its chief financial officer from 2007 to 2010. Noto joined the firm and first came to prominence as a technology analyst, where like many of his peers, he issued optimistic reports for bubble-driven companies that would soon go bankrupt when the economy turned. He continued to rise at Goldman, however, becoming a partner in 2004 and going to the banking side when he rejoined in 2010.
"We're sorry to see Anthony go. He's been a great partner and is an extraordinary talent but we look forward to him being a client and he is leaving behind a great team," said Dees in a statement.