Michael Grimes returns to Morgan Stanley after Trump administration stint – Financial Times
Michael Grimes, the star technology investment banker and one of the closest advisers to Elon Musk, has rejoined Morgan Stanley after a year working in the Trump administration.
The Wall Street firm told employees in a memo on Monday that Grimes, who has been behind the mega listings of Facebook, Uber and Palantir, was returning to the group as chair of investment banking.
His return to Morgan Stanley comes as investment banks vie for the lead position on the blockbuster public listing of Musk’s SpaceX company, which is likely to be the biggest initial public offering in history and generate a huge windfall in fees.
“We have asked Michael to bring his expertise to the full banking and [institutional securities group] franchise, particularly as technology transforms productivity and impacts global industrial policy,” Morgan Stanley executives Dan Simkowitz, Mo Assomull, Eli Gross and Simon Smith wrote in the memo.
“Michael will continue to manage and build relationships with many of our most important global corporate, venture, private equity and sovereign clients.”
Grimes left Morgan Stanley last year to work as an adviser in the commerce department after almost three decades with the Wall Street bank. Grimes oversaw the US government’s investment unit, effectively acting as an in-house dealmaker for the Trump administration, which over the past year has bought stakes in a number of strategic companies, including chipmaker Intel and mineral group USA Rare Earth.
He had previously played a central role in expanding Morgan Stanley’s technology equity capital markets business, which is one of the bank’s historic strengths.
At Morgan Stanley, he helped lead some of the largest tech IPOs including Facebook and Airbnb. He also advised Musk and helped the billionaire finance his $44bn acquisition of social media company Twitter, now known as X.
Morgan Stanley has cultivated strong ties with Musk, with another of its former bankers, Anthony Armstrong, taking up the role of chief financial officer of xAI last year following a stint in the Trump administration.
Grimes entered Wall Street folklore by moonlighting as an Uber driver to help win the leading position on the ridesharing company’s IPO in 2019.
In the fourth quarter, Morgan Stanley reported higher investment banking fees than rival JPMorgan Chase for the first time in more than a decade. The bank has talked about investing in its investment banking business to gain market share.
