Piggybacking of Jeff's mention, I too wanted to chime in quickly on Brent Thill's hiring at Citigroup to lead its software research coverage. Brent is a long-time industry heavyweight and one of the few sell-side software analysts that does consistent, value-added primary research in a time when Reg FD and the disintermediation of research and banking has led to a mass exodus in the industry.
Anyone in the investment business know Brent by reputation, but for those who don't...Brent has headed up software research at Prudential Securities the last few years, coming over from CSFB [he was part of CSFB's powerhouse tech team in the late 90s]. Brent is as good a person as he is an analyst and he's someone I'd happily give my own money to as an investor if he ever decides to jump over to the dark side [i.e., the buy side] like the rest of us.
There's some irony in Brent's move to Citigroup, as the man he's replacing, Tom Berquist, was another of industry's best. Tom, who had stints at Piper and Goldman prior to heading up software research at Citigroup, recently accepted the CFO position at Ingres.
Citigroup had a tall order in replacing Tom, and went out and found the one person equal to the task.
Kudos.
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