The Rothschilds Are So Done With the Markets: Chris Hughes

What’s the point of being listed? Even the bankers are wondering. Rothschild & Co.’s controlling family wants to take it private, arguing investors don’t appreciate the storied boutique bank’s long-term potential. It’s the latest case of private buyers exploiting stock-market indifference.

In the US, the trend for financial firms has been in the other direction: Entrepreneurial advisory shops specializing in mergers and acquisitions have been lining up to go public since Goldman Sachs Group Inc. became the last major Wall Street firm to take a listing in 1999. Perella Weinberg Partners’s merger with a blank-check firm reinforced the trend.

The attractions of going public are ...