# Lazard

Lazard Inc. (formerly known as Lazard Ltd and Lazard Frères & Co.) is a financial advisory and asset management firm that engages in investment banking, asset management and other financial services, primarily with institutional clients. It is the world's largest independent investment bank, with principal executive offices in New York City, Paris and London.
Lazard was founded in 1848 and operates from 41 cities across 26 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Central and South America. The firm provides advice on mergers and acquisitions, strategic matters, restructuring and capital structure, capital raising and corporate finance, as well as asset management services to corporations, partnerships, institutions, governments and individuals.

## History
### Early years

On July 12, 1848, three French brothers, Alexandre Lazard, Lazare Lazard, and Simon Lazard, founded Lazard Frères & Co. as a dry goods merchant store in New Orleans, Louisiana. By 1851, Simon and two more brothers, Maurice and Elie, had all moved to San Francisco, California, while Alexandre moved to New York. Lazard Frères began to serve miners engaged in the California Gold Rush, and soon expanded into banking and foreign exchange.
In 1854, Alexandre Lazard moved to Paris, France, where he opened an office to complement the U.S. business. The firm began advising the French government on gold buying. In 1870, the firm continued to expand its international operations, opening an office in London as well.
The name "Lazard Frères" means "Lazard Brothers" or "the Brothers Lazard" in French. It refers to associations of the Lazard brothers to form various financial services institutions with world-wide offices and investments.

### The Three Houses of Lazard

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the firm evolved into three "Houses of Lazard" in the United States, France, and the United Kingdom, separately managed but allied. The Lazard partners advised clients on financial matters and built a cross-border network of high-level relationships in business and government. Noted financial advisor George Blumenthal rose to prominence as the head of the U.S. branch of Lazard Frères and was a partner of Lazard Frères in France.
In the economic boom following World War II, the American operations of Lazard expanded significantly under the leadership of the French financier André Meyer. Meyer and Lazard partner Felix Rohatyn have been credited with virtually inventing the modern mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market.
In 1953, Lazard Investors Ltd began an asset management business in London, which is the origin of today's Lazard Asset Management.

### A unified firm

In 1977, as the health of Meyer began to deteriorate, the firm came to be controlled by Michel David-Weill. Under his leadership, the three houses of Lazard were formally united in 2000 as Lazard LLC.
In 2002, David-Weill hired Bruce Wasserstein to be CEO. Lazard became a public company in 2005, with nearly two-thirds of its shares owned by current and former employees. Wasserstein became its first chairman and CEO. In connection with the initial public offering (IPO), Lazard spun off its broker-dealer business, Lazard Capital Markets.
Following Wasserstein's death in 2009, Lazard's board of directors elected Kenneth M. Jacobs as chairman and CEO.
Lazard invested in a startup investment bank, Independence Point Advisors, in late 2021.
On May 26, 2023, the firm announced that Peter R. Orszag, CEO of Financial Advisory, had been unanimously elected by its Board to serve as CEO of Lazard and as a Board Director, effective October 1, 2023. Orszag became chief executive officer of Lazard on October 1, 2023.
The publicly traded partnership Lazard Ltd was reincorporated under the Delaware General Corporation Law effective January 1, 2024 and changed its name from Lazard Ltd to Lazard, Inc.

## Business overview
### Financial advisory

Lazard advises clients on a wide range of strategic and financial issues. These may include advising on the potential acquisition of another company, business or certain assets, or on the sale of certain businesses, assets or an entire company. The firm also advises on alternatives to a sale such as recapitalizations, spin-offs, carve-outs and split-offs. For companies in financial distress or their creditors, Lazard advises on all aspects of restructuring. The firm has advised on many of the largest restructuring assignments in the wake of the global financial crisis that began in mid-2007. Lazard also advises on capital structure and capital raising. Capital structure advice includes reviewing and analyzing structural alternatives and assisting in long-term planning. Capital raising advice includes private and public market financing. Lazard's Sovereign Advisory group advises governments and sovereign entities on policy and financial issues.

### Asset management

Lazard's asset management business provides investment management and financial advisory services to institutional clients, financial intermediaries, private clients, and investment vehicles around the world. The firm manages assets on behalf of institutional clients (corporations, labor unions, public pension funds, endowments, foundations, insurance companies, and banks; and through sub-advisory relationships, mutual fund sponsors, broker-dealers and registered advisors) and individual clients (principally family offices and high-net-worth individuals).

## Office locations

The bank operates from 39 cities across 22 countries.
* Amsterdam
* Austin
* Beijing
* Brussels
* Bordeaux
* Boston
* Charlotte
* Chicago
* Dubai
* Dublin
* Frankfurt
* Geneva
* Hamburg
* Hong Kong
* Houston
* London
* Los Angeles
* Luxembourg
* Lyon
* Madrid
* Melbourne
* Milan
* Minneapolis
* Montreal
* Munich
* Nantes
* New York City
* Paris
* Riyadh
* San Francisco
* São Paulo
* Seoul
* Singapore
* Stockholm
* Sydney
* Tokyo
* Toronto
* Vienna
* Zürich
In Paris, the Lazard offices were located successively at 17, boulevard Poissonnière (1885–1907); 5–7, rue Pillet-Will (1907–1979); 141, boulevard Haussmann (1979–2020); and 175, boulevard Haussmann (since September 2020).
Lazard's New York City headquarters spans the top floors of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, including what used to be Room 5600, the former offices of the Rockefeller family dynasty.
* 17, boulevard Poissonnière, Paris
* 5-7, rue Pillet-Will, Paris
* 121, boulevard Haussmann, Paris
* 175, boulevard Haussmann, Paris

## Management
### Past chairmen

* Alexandre Lazard, Lazare Lazard and Simon Lazard (founders)
* Alexandre Weill
* David David-Weill
* Pierre David-Weill
* André Meyer
* Michel David-Weill
* Ken Costa
* Bruce Wasserstein
* Kenneth M. Jacobs

### Board of directors

Lazard's board of directors as of January 2025:
* Peter R. Orszag
* Dan Schulman
* Andrew Alper
* Ann-Kristin Achleitner
* Stephen R. Howe, Jr.
* Michelle Jarrard
* Iris Knobloch
* Jane Mendillo

## Notable current and former employees
### Business

* Frank Altschul – Chairman, General American Investors Company
* Marcus Agius – Chairman of Barclays
* Robert Agostinelli – Founder and Chairman of Rhône Group
* Tim Collins – Founder and CEO of Ripplewood Holdings
* Disque Deane – Chairman of Starrett City Associates
* Mina Gerowin – Managing Director Paulson Europe, LLC
* Sir Philip Hampton – Chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland, Former Chairman of Sainsbury's and UK Financial Investments Limited
* Hugh Kindersley, 2nd Baron Kindersley – Chairman of Lazard Brothers (London), 1953–1964
* Sebastian Kulczyk – son of Jan Kulczyk, Board member of Kulczyk Investments
* Steven Langman – Founder & Chairman of Rhône Group
* Bryan Lawrence - Founder of Oakcliff Capital
* Jean-Marie Messier – Chairman & CEO of Vivendi (1996–2002)
* Andre Meyer – Famed American investment banker, advisor to Kennedy family, President Lyndon Johnson
* Archie Norman – Chairman ITV, Former Chairman & CEO of Asda
* Nelson Obus – Co-founder of Wynnefield Capital
* Gary Parr – American investment banker, Former Head of M&A at Morgan Stanley
* Mark Pincus – Internet entrepreneur, Co-founder of Zynga
* Steven Rattner – Venture capitalist, Co-Founder of Quadrangle Group
* Gerald Rosenfeld – Former CEO Rothschild North America, Adjunct Professor at NYU Stern
* Nathaniel Rothschild, 5th Baron Rothschild – Co-Chairman of Atticus Capital LLC
* Bernard Selz – American fund manager and philanthropist
* William von Mueffling – former head of Lazard's hedge fund unit, President of Cantillon Capital Management
* Bruce Wasserstein – American investment banker, Co-Founder of Wasserstein Perella
* Johann Rupert – South African businessman, CEO of Compagnie Financiere Richemont
* Lars Kroijer – M & A Analyst.

### Politics and public service

* Jaime Bermúdez Merizalde – Former Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs
* Ron Bloom – Senior official in the Obama administration
* Robert Henry Brand, 1st Baron Brand – a member of "Milner's Kindergarten"
* Robert Fred Ellsworth – Former U.S. Congressman, U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Deputy Secretary of Defense, and Nixon adviser
* Vernon E. Jordan Jr. – Clinton adviser, Life member of the Council of Foreign Relations
* Paul Keating – Former Prime Minister of Australia
* Robert Kindersley, 1st Baron Kindersley – British public servant
* Anne Lauvergeon – Former diplomatic council to French President François Mitterrand, CEO Areva
* Lord Mandelson – British politician, held Cabinet positions under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown
* Henrique de Campos Meirelles – Former president Banco Central do Brasil
* Andrew Mitchell – British Member of Parliament, former Secretary of State for International Development
* Peter R. Orszag – Former OMB Director, former CBO Director
* Vincent S. Pérez – Philippine Secretary of Energy
* Rodrigo de Rato – Former Spanish Economy Minister, Head of International Monetary Fund
* Felix Rohatyn – U.S. Ambassador to France (1997–2000); board member, New York Stock Exchange (1968–1972)
* Jenny Sanford – Former First Lady of South Carolina
* Simon Sebag Montefiore – British historian and writer
* Lindsay Tanner – Former Australian Minister for Finance and Deregulation
* Andrés Velasco – Former Finance Minister of Chile
* Antonio Weiss – Counselor to the Secretary of the US Treasury
* Bill White – Former mayor of Houston (3 terms) and U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy under President Bill Clinton
* Frank G. Zarb – FEA energy czar under President Gerald Ford, former chairman and CEO, NASDAQ, then Smith Barney
* Božidar Đelić – Former Minister of Finance of Serbia
* Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala – Director-General of the World Trade Organization, former Finance Minister of Nigeria, former Vice-President, Corporate Secretary of the World Bank Group.
* Gilles Mentré – Former advisor to President Nicolas Sarkozy.

### Other

* George J. Ames – philanthropist, former general partner of Lazard
* Paul Baerwald – banker and philanthropist, Chairman of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
* William D. Cohan – Contributing editor at Fortune, Award-winning author

## Books

* de Rougemont, Guy D. (2010). Lazard Frères: Banquiers des Deux Mondes (1840–1939). Paris: Fayard. ISBN 978-2-213-66125-4.
* Cohan, William D. (2007). The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frères & Co. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-51451-4.
* Geisst, Charles R (2001). The Last Partnerships: Inside the Great Wall Street Money Dynasties. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-136999-6.
* Reich, Cary (1983). Financier: The Biography of André Meyer: A Story of Money, Power, and the Reshaping of American Business. New York: William Morrow & Co. ISBN 0-688-01551-4.