Perella Weinberg Partners today announced that Woody Young has joined the Firm as a Partner in its Advisory business. Based in New York, Mr. Young will provide strategic and financial advice to clients in the TMT sector.

Mr. Young is a veteran banker with more than 25 years of advisory experience. He joins Perella Weinberg Partners from Lazard, where he was Co-Head of the Global Telecommunications, Media, and Technology Group and a Managing Director.

Peter Weinberg, Partner and Head of Advisory at Perella Weinberg Partners, said “We are delighted to expand our TMT practice with the addition of one of the most experienced bankers in this sector. The telecom and media industries represent a significant portion of global M&A activity, year in and year out, and we look forward to leveraging Woody’s expertise and experience to provide strategic advice to clients. Furthermore, we believe that the partnership between Woody and his team in the U.S., and Paulo Pereira and his TMT team in Europe will create an uncommon advisory capability for clients around the world.”

Mr. Young commented, “I have a longstanding relationship with both Joe Perella and Peter Weinberg and I know and appreciate their predominant commitment to clients’ interests. I am excited to be joining a firm of PWP’s excellence and look forward to collaborating with a number of former and new colleagues to advise clients during a period of a transformative change in the TMT sector.”

Biography of George H. Young III

Prior to joining Perella Weinberg Partners, Mr. Young was Co-Head of the Global Telecommunications, Media, and Technology Group and a Managing Director at Lazard. Mr. Young previously served as Global Head of Technology, Media and Telecommunications Investment Banking at Merrill Lynch and from 1993 to 2007 was a Managing Director and Head of the Global Communications Group at Lehman Brothers. At Lehman Brothers, he also served as the Chairman of the Senior Client Council and as a member of both the Investment Banking Executive Committee and the Firm’s Strategy Committee. Mr. Young was selected as a White House Fellow and while taking a leave of absence from Wall Street, served as special assistant to the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury from 1991 to 1992, where he focused on international issues. He was a member of the M&A Department at The First Boston Corporation from 1987 to 1993.

Mr. Young’s experience includes mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance transactions for numerous clients globally, including:

  • AT&T, on its $63 billion acquisition of DirectTV (sole advisor to AT&T);
  • Frontier Communications, on its $10 billion purchase of assets from Verizon (pending) and on its $2 billion purchase of AT&T Connecticut;
  • Leap Wireless, on its $4 billion sale to AT&T
  • Qwest Communications, on its $22 billion sale to CenturyLink;
  • Deutsche Telekom, on its $33 billion merger of its U.S. subsidiary T-Mobile US with MetroPCS;
  • Vodafone, on its $11 billion sale of its stake in SFR to Vivendi;
  • CenturyTel, on its $12 billion acquisition of EMBARQ;
  • AT&T, on its $89 billion merger with BellSouth;
  • Dex Media, on its $10 billion sale to R.H. Donnelley;
  • SBC, on its $22 billion merger with AT&T
  • SBC and Cingular, on Cingular’s $41 billion merger with AT&T Wireless;
  • Verizon, on its $4 billion sale of its Latin American businesses;
  • Sprint, on its $25 billion recombination of its tracking stocks;
  • Sprint, on its $47 billion merger with Nextel; and
  • U S WEST, on its $56 billion merger with Qwest Communications.

Mr. Young received a B.A. in International Relations and Political Science from Brown University, a Masters of Philosophy in International Relations from Cambridge University and a Master’s in Public and Private Management from Yale University. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

About Perella Weinberg Partners

Perella Weinberg Partners is a leading independent, client-focused financial services firm providing advisory and asset management services to a broad, global client base, including corporations, institutions, and governments. The Advisory business advises clients on mergers, acquisitions, defense advisory, financial restructuring, private capital raising, and pension matters. The Asset Management business includes a suite of hedge fund strategies, private investment funds, and outsourced CIO solutions. Together with its affiliates, the Asset Management business has capital commitments and managed assets of approximately $8.9 billion. With approximately 450 employees, Perella Weinberg Partners maintains offices in New York, London, Abu Dhabi, Denver, Dubai, and San Francisco. For more information on Perella Weinberg Partners, please visit www.pwpartners.com.