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Craig Coben

@thekrazykobra.bsky.social
1.6K followers 190 following 186 posts

Retired investment banker. Fulham FC fan. Après Ski Instructor. 2 Legit 2 Quit. “Allergic to the counterfeit, impartial to the politics” www.ft.com/craig-coben www.globalcapital.com/author/craig-…

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Reposted by Craig Coben
Tony Tassell @tonytassell.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Why the IPO market is booming and busting - @thekrazykobra.bsky.social column here as.ft.com/r/573ca837-6...
as.ft.com
Why the IPO market is booming and busting
Flotations have stalled and returns from new listings have been weak
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Reposted by Craig Coben
Simon Johnson🇺🇦 @simonrjohnson.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Excellent article. TL;DR -> if you fuck up, be honest about it
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
My take in @alphaville.ft.com on the news report that a Morgan Stanley banker had accidentally emailed around a confidential deal list www.ft.com/content/8124...
ft.com
Oops! You added the wrong email attachment and leaked the bank’s deal list. What happens next?
A six-point plan for putting toothpaste back in the tube
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
My post today. What a great photo. All credit to the geniuses at @alphaville.ft.com
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Reposted by Craig Coben
Manfred @nocoursewalks.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
10/10 image choice. No notes.
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
As Anthropic prepares to go public, I examine in @alphaville.ft.com what its IPO prospectus might say about an unusual risk: Anthropic’s own warnings that its products could contribute to civilisational collapse — or even human extinction. www.ft.com/content/29f0...
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Looking back on a finance career, you realize 90% of it was pitch books nobody read, bad airport food, and other indignities and absurdities. Yet most of us would do it all over again in a heartbeat. I discuss why you can't "unbundle" a career
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
My quick take in @alphaville.ft.com on the disappointing debut for Shein on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Valuation down 75% from its 2022 funding round and the shares fell as much as 10% on the first day. Has Shein lost its shine? Free-to-read: www.ft.com/content/66df...
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
My latest column in @financialtimes.com
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Re-upping my column in today’s @financialtimes.com ….
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
“these retirement announcements always promise another act. Not because the people writing them are vainglorious, but because they’ve spent 30 years in a profession that never really teaches you how to stop.” My latest in today’s @financialtimes.com www.ft.com/content/3ffa...
ft.com
The art of the goodbye message
Retirement announcements show how hard it is for successful professionals just to stop
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Eligible pre-IPO investors in SpaceX can sell the first 20% of their stake as of Thursday. SpaceX has a staggered lock-up release schedule to “meter” stock sales but I argue in @alphaville.ft.com this turns the overhang into a prolonged hangover for the stock. No paywall: www.ft.com/content/6a8c...
ft.com
SpaceX’s staggered lock-up release prolongs the pain
The biggest IPO wanted to avoid a cliff edge of insider selling but now has 12 months of uncertainty
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
My column in the weekend @financialtimes.com — 23 years after Eliot Spitzer purportedly reformed Wall Street, has anything really changed?
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Reposted by Craig Coben
Tony Tassell @tonytassell.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
SpaceX and the myth of independent Wall St research - timely column from @thekrazykobra.bsky.social given the share price of SpaceX is now below the offer price and some 44% below its post IPO peak www.ft.com/content/ce34...
ft.com
SpaceX and the myth of independent Wall St research
Buy recommendations from IPO banks underscore the limits of post-dotcom reforms
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
My latest “Vozinha” column in today’s Financial Times.
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Bitcoin giant Strategy $mstr announced a 5-part plan to arrest the slide in its common and preferred stock. I took a look in @alphaville.ft.com & concluded it might buy some time but doesn’t address underlying flaws. It’s also clear Strategy is a big seller of bitcoin now www.ft.com/content/3821...
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
After another decline in $MSTR and $STRC, I asked Strategy’s capital markets advisor what Strategy should do to stem the rout. The advice is roughly right: the capital structure must support BTC strategy, not become an end in itself @alphaville.ft.com www.ft.com/content/582d...
ft.com
How does Strategy save itself? We asked its financial adviser: a chatbot
Stretching credibility
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Re-upping my post last week in @alphaville.ft.com on Strategy (née MicroStrategy $MSTR) and its “death spiral” security “Stretch” $STRC now that former has broken $100 and latter is far from par despite being positioned as akin to money market fund. www.ft.com/content/7d55...
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Will the Three AImigos — SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAi — eclipse the Magnificent Seven once they all list on the stock exchange?
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Reposted by Craig Coben
Philip Stafford @staffordphilip.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
On reflection, this just gets more dumb. One can pinpoint the pertpetual money machine beginning to seize to the day Stretch was launched. To learn it was created in part by an AI chatbot....
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Reposted by Craig Coben
Philip Stafford @staffordphilip.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
I had to check the video as I didn't think anyone had actually used an AI chatbot to design a security that hurt the issuer. But this is crypto, so sure they did. @thekrazykobra.bsky.social keeps uncovering layers at MSTR. www.ft.com/content/7d55...
ft.com
Can Strategy pull out of its death spiral? It’s a Stretch . . .
Digital credit’s ‘iPhone moment’ has become a tapeworm in the belly of its host
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
My take on the most widely anticipated Ife ever seen in the capital markets — SpaceX’s first first day of trading. “investors may be buying a ticket aboard the mission as much as a stake in a business”
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
My hot take pre-opening on the SpaceX IPO in @alphaville.ft.com : www.ft.com/content/4299...
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Post I wrote for @alphaville.ft.com on why recent actions by Strategy belie the confidence and bravado that its senior management project so convincingly on social media, podcasts and the conference circuit. Free to read
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Reposted by Craig Coben
Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 05/06/2026
The Musk exception on banking fees for SpaceX ft.trib.al/AQZbV8o
ft.trib.al
The Musk exception on banking fees for SpaceX
Most companies are still likely to pay full price on smaller US deals as a prestige good
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Reposted by Craig Coben
Tony Tassell @tonytassell.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
The Musk exception on IPO banking fees for SpaceX - column here by @thekrazykobra.bsky.social on the deal Elon has wrung and why most companies are willing to pay up more for a prestige good www.ft.com/content/9e80...
ft.com
The Musk exception on banking fees for SpaceX
Most companies are still likely to pay full price on smaller US deals as a prestige good
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Reposted by Craig Coben
TED 🇺🇸 @epicureandealmaker.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
If you buy this turkey voluntarily, you deserve what you get. Good luck, campers! giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com
More takeaways from an S-1 for the ages
Extending our consciousness, one risk factor at a time
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
I took a look at SpaceX’s filing for its IPO and noticed a few things which I shared on @alphaville.ft.com . There really is so much to say about the Milky Way’s largest ever IPO: www.ft.com/content/f471...
ft.com
More takeaways from an S-1 for the ages
Extending our consciousness, one risk factor at a time
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
My latest take on SpaceX IPO has just been published on @alphaville.ft.com ….
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Reposted by Craig Coben
Tony Tassell @tonytassell.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Some telling lines from @thekrazykobra.bsky.social in this column on life after investing banking (and more generally for those who adopt a serial work life after a professional career". Craig nails it www.ft.com/content/dc09...
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
“Ambition stops being something you can point to, and becomes something you have to construct and shape for yourself.” - column I wrote in today’s @financialtimes.com
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Reposted by Craig Coben
Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 01/05/2026
How tough does an investment banking boss need to be? ft.trib.al/jOeEitn | opinion
ft.trib.al
How tough does an investment banking boss need to be?
The difference between good and bad leaders turns on whether they recognise when pressure is productive
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Reposted by Craig Coben
Tony Tassell @tonytassell.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
How tough does an investment banking boss need to be? super column here from @thekrazykobra.bsky.social following the FT report on Vis Raghavan of Citi www.ft.com/content/8cf4...
ft.com
How tough does an investment banking boss need to be?
The difference between good and bad leaders turns on whether they recognise when pressure is productive
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Reposted by Craig Coben
Robin Wigglesworth @robinwigglesworth.ft.com · 24/04/2026
"To paraphrase Top Gun, Strategy is writing cheques its bitcoin treasury cannot cash." www.ft.com/content/ea81...
ft.com
Strategy’s teetering financial tower
A bitcoin price reprieve can’t erase the company’s contradictions
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Post I published today on @alphaville.ft.com ….
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Column I wrote today…..
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Reposted by Craig Coben
FT Alphaville @alphaville.ft.com · 07/04/2026
Dogfooding Grok. www.ft.com/content/a8e0...
ft.com
SpaceX bankers bend over backwards to bag IPO role
To infinity back-scratching and beyond
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Reposted by Craig Coben
Toby Nangle @tobyn.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Another top post from @thekrazykobra.bsky.social on Strategy's latest wheeze www.ft.com/content/f301...
ft.com
Strategy is entering its desperate stretch
Remember when regulators were a thing?
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Reposted by Craig Coben
Giles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
The ghost bankers haunting the City - www.ft.com/content/49b4... Nice melancholy read
ft.com
The ghost bankers haunting the City
Unable to leave the financial district, some senior staff appear to be working long after handing in their pass
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
My column in today’s @financialtimes.com ….
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
A friend just sent me this video posted today on SpaceX’s upcoming IPO. At around the 17:30 mark, @pboyle.bsky.social cites our @alphaville.ft.com piece from last week - m.youtube.com/watch?v=8rS3... (Full @financialtimes.com Alphaville piece here: www.ft.com/content/5bf1...)
m.youtube.com
SpaceX IPO Scandal
YouTube video by Patrick Boyle
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
I expressed similar reservations in late February in @alphaville.ft.com www.ft.com/content/cdf3...
ft.com
Nasdaq wants to fast-track founders and let index trackers hold the bag
Engineered scarcity, meet dumb money
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
Please read the PSA in the last paragraph of my column
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Reposted by Craig Coben
Tony Tassell @tonytassell.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
Lessons from an unwise banking photoshoot - @thekrazykobra.bsky.social here on how an interview with four young men in finance dressed in Armani jackets and Hermès ties exposes several tensions in inv banking culture www.ft.com/content/1509...
ft.com
Lessons from an unwise banking photo shoot
An interview with four young bankers dressed in Armani jackets and Hermès ties exposes several tensions in finance culture
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
As I was saying….. “Exclusive: Elon Musk's SpaceX weighs Nasdaq listing after seeking early index entry, sources say” - Reuters www.reuters.com/business/fin...
reuters.com
Exclusive: Elon Musk's SpaceX weighs Nasdaq listing after seeking early index entry, sources say
Elon Musk's rocket and satellite maker SpaceX is leaning toward listing its shares on the Nasdaq ​for what could rank as the biggest initial public offering of all time, according to four people famil...
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
My take last June in @alphaville.ft.com : “Palihapitiya’s real talent isn’t Spacs or venture capital or even podcasting. It’s chutzpah. He has reframed his spectacular failures — from which he has profited enormously — as proof that he has learned the hard way.“ www.ft.com/content/e859...
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Philippe Maupas @philmop.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Un papier passionnant de Craig Coben et David Erickson sur l'introduction en bourse de SpaceX. Selon eux, la valorisation envisagée semble très difficile à justifier. D'où la pression sur le NASDAQ pour modifier les règles d'inclusion dans le NASDAQ 100.
ft.com
SpaceX: the final frontier of IPOs
Can Elon Musk’s moonshot deliver the mooted $1.75tn valuation?
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Reposted by Craig Coben
FT Alphaville @alphaville.ft.com · 05/03/2026
Everything you need to know about SpaceX's wildly ambitious IPO plans. as.ft.com/r/6b83fe5b-0...
as.ft.com
SpaceX: the final frontier of IPOs
[FREE TO READ] Can Elon Musk’s moonshot deliver the mooted $1.75tn valuation?
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Robin Wigglesworth @robinwigglesworth.ft.com · 26/02/2026
Nasdaq is contorting its own index rules to court the IPOs of SpaceX et al, and @thekrazykobra.bsky.social brings the 🔥 www.ft.com/content/cdf3...
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Craig Coben @thekrazykobra.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Nasdaq’s proposed changes to the Nasdaq-100 would fast-track mega-cap IPOs like SpaceX or Anthropic into the index even with tiny floats. Good for insiders but it risks leaving passive investors holding the proverbial bag. In @alphaville.ft.com today - no paywall: www.ft.com/content/cdf3...
ft.com
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