Ken Moelis

Born :

1958

Everybody is talking about synergies. You've got to take out every cost you possibly can. You have to position yourself as your services change.You have to think about in five years from now what is going to happen technologically to you. And then you do have to think about M&A or your balance sheet, and you have to think about everything in the context of, "Am I prepared to meet that challenge?".

talking years thinking

The investing public understands that you need to do things to po... by Ken Moelis

The investing public understands that you need to do things to position yourself.

investing position needs

That is the brilliant thing about the millennials. They're not obsessing about, "Hey, there is not going to be a job for me" - they're trying to take advantage of how good a life they can have without having to create so much nominal income. Income is there to create quality of life, but you can share your car and get where you want to go, and you can travel the world by couch surfing. I think they're taking advantage of deflationary forces to improve their life while not maybe having to chase the nominal money that was needed to buy a whole car, a whole house, a whole couch.

car house thinking

You see a wave of populism in the world. There is something wrong. This maybe because of technology. The ability of people to reach their own news sources now, and create different views, is really unbelievable. There is a desire for change. There is a millennial generation that doesn't like what they're seeing, but doesn't quite know what the solution is.

technology desire people

In each business, there is a process, or a delivery system or information system, that is changing rapidly under them.

information-systems information process

Without going too deep, without globalization I am not sure everyone would be able to have a supercomputer in their pocket at the low cost.

pockets cost would-be

Digitization has created opportunities for everybody to accumulate information in a way they were never able to, and analyze it with a speed that just wasn't there.

information able opportunity

It is hard to compare over generations. I think a lot of the top talent is choosing other fields. We look pretty hard - we put a lot of time and effort into finding talent.

generations effort thinking

I went to Brazil, and you get on the ground and you see it, and you could tell the government was in trouble two years ago. This was just going to sweep the government aside, and it was a force you could feel. Brexit, the same thing.

government two years

In most industries, technological change is happening at a rapid rate. I find it is happening in different ways to every industry in the world, and positioning yourself for that, and trying to get ahead of that, is a big conversation right now. Digitization has created opportunities for everybody to accumulate information in a way they were never able to, and analyze it with a speed that just wasn't there.

different opportunity trying

A big secular thing going on is technology and deflation. This is where I think millennials are getting that it is an improvement in life, and they're taking advantage of it.

millennials technology thinking

One of the great parts about my job is I travel the world. I was in India right before the [Narenda] Modi election, and I don't think he was the frontrunner until the end.

india jobs thinking

It was phenomenal to see what was going on there. I came away from there so energized about India, and I was pretty sure that [Narenda] Modi was going to win an election that wasn't easy to see.

election india winning

You see a wave of populism in the world. There is something wrong... by Ken Moelis

You see a wave of populism in the world. There is something wrong. This maybe because of technology.

wave technology world

The ability of people to reach their own news sources now, and create different views, is really unbelievable, and [populism] may be part of this.

different views people

There is a desire for change. There is a millennial generation that doesn't like what they're seeing, but doesn't quite know what the solution is.

millennials generations desire

I do think [in USA] is a need for change. There is something wrong when you have $20 trillion of debt and crumbling infrastructure at the same time, and really fewer people employed than have been. Something is wrong.

crumbling-infrastructure usa thinking

There was a time when people thought that if you piled a bunch of mortgages together, the top of the pile was AAA. There are a lot of things that become consensus.

mortgage together people

[Millennials ] are sharing cars. They're sharing apartments. I'm not sure my generation quite knows how to take advantage of it.

millennials generations car

That is the brilliant thing about the millennials. They're not obsessing about, "Hey, there is not going to be a job for me" - they're trying to take advantage of how good a life they can have without having to create so much nominal income.

income trying jobs