The ice-bucket challenge has invaded popular culture over the summer, and the banking community has not been immune to its dubious pleasures. In late August, Rich Handler, CEO of investment bank Jefferies, took on the challenge but, like many in his industry, attempted to take it one step further – by immersing himself in a jacuzzi filled with ice cubes.
Handler makes a good fist of the task, at least in the preamble of the video posted on social media sites, and eventually manages to submerge himself for all of two seconds.
Perhaps Handler was trying stay cool ahead of the announcement of some impressive earnings from his firm, just a few days later, which saw revenues and profits surge across the board.
But his attempt to nominate legendary dealmaker Carl Icahn to follow suit backfired. Icahn tweeted in cutting fashion: “Right now, too busy working on BIG deal with another investment banker.”
Which proves the point: if you want to succeed in the current cut-throat M&A markets, you need ice in your veins, not in your hot tub.