What do investment bankers actually do?

Investment bankers are architects of the largest financial transactions in the world

Working up to 120 hours a week, investment bankers help major corporations navigate IPOs, mergers, and more. Despite long hours and a high-pressure environment, investment banking remains a critical industry that shapes the global financial landscape.

Many investment bankers work on mergers and acquisitions

At some point in their careers, many investment bankers work on facilitating or advising clients on mergers or acquisitions. From analyzing industry group trends to deal negotiations, an M&A in investment banking explainer outlines how investment bankers handle these business transactions.

It’s an investment banker’s job to raise money for the bank’s clients

Investment bankers do this in a multitude of ways, such as selling securities, or acquiring other companies.

Many investment bankers work on IPOs

When a company undertakes an IPO, investment banks often buy many of the organization’s shares directly from the company, in order to sell the shares on the stock market. The bank stands to profit after marking up the shares.

League tables show the number of deals top investment banks do in a time period

These tables provide a visual to help keep track of the leading companies in investment banking. Companies such as JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs typically sit up top.

How banking works

To do big things, people often need more money. Banks jumpstart economic activity with loans paid back with interest, and when things are working well, both people and the bank make more money. Formed in the Middle Ages amid competing currencies in Italy, banks—from the Italian for bench, banco—helped stimulate that era's commercial revolution, a massive expansion in Mediterranean trade and development. Find out the ins and outs of banks in this quick explainer video.

Real estate investment firms handle enormous, complex real estate transactions

In the large-scale projects real estate investment firms handle (such as huge commercial developments), the parties involved in a sale are more likely to be large corporate real estate developers and investors than individuals.

Entry-level investment bankers boast $200K paychecks, but it's not all base salary

These days, a first-year analyst typically makes closer to $100K per year as their base salary, but is eligible to receive significant bonuses on top of that.

Retail investors are average joes, while institutional investors often move billions of dollars a day

Retail investors often trade 100 shares at a time, while institutional investors trade 10,000 or more. The biggest difference is that, unlike retail investors, institutional investors are professionals who are trading someone else’s money.

The Glass-Steagall Act separated commercial banks in the US from investment banks

In 1933, the Glass-Steagall Act legally separated commercial banks in the US from investment banks. However, by 1999, the act was repealed—meaning that today’s investment banks are no longer required to be separate from the type of bank where you deposit your paycheck.

The bond market is where bonds and other debt securities are traded

Bonds are fixed-income investments allowing individuals to lend a specific amount of money to a large entity, like a government or corporation, for a set amount of time in return for interest paid out over the life of the loan. The bond market is widely considered a key economic barometer.

A video showing how drug dealing really works

What motivates people to sell drugs? The “News on Drugs” series asks how people get drawn into the drug trade, unpacking the different goals and aims involved in dealing drugs. While there is a lot of focus on cartels, traffickers, and gangs...

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

How mutual funds work

Mutual funds function similarly to other types of investments. If you want to invest, you go through a brokerage firm. However, they have a few key differentiators. Most are actively managed by a broker instead of passively earning you returns. Plus, they can carry some hefty fees.

Find out the difference between prediction markets, sports betting, and investing

As one expert put it, "investing is a long-term strategy to build wealth over time, speculation is an attempt to predict the future, and gambling is a game of luck."

An inside look at what it's like to be a consultant

This video explains the basics of consulting, as well as what it's actually like to be a consultant—from the lifestyle and hours to compensation.

A look at nodes and miners in managing bitcoin transactions

Each time a transaction involving bitcoin is carried out, the information must be relayed and recorded onto the currency’s blockchain. Multiple steps are involved, including the passage of the transaction to various nodes and miners who comprise multiple layers of verification and validation. See an illustrated guide to how these two crucial features of bitcoin processing work here.

How universities manage their endowments

The CNBC video report explores how elite universities like Harvard handle their massive endowments, the ethical debates around their investments, and the tension between growing wealth and rising college costs. If you’re curious about where billions of dollars in higher education go, why tuition remains high despite huge endowments, or how student activism is pushing for ethical investing, this video offers a revealing, accessible look at the financial engines behind America’s top colleges.

What do archaeologists actually do?

Movies and other media show them digging a bit, maybe fighting off artifact smugglers, but what archaeologists actually do? Using a variety of tools and sciences, archaeologists are able to get a glimpse into humanity's past. This article explains what work is like for everyday archaeologists.

Who’s who at the Vatican?

The Vatican is a massive organization whose processes and positions can appear impossibly dense to the common public. But, as this explainer from a University of Dayton professor makes clear, the Catholic Church's bureaucracy functions much like similarly-sized companies and universities. While the processes might still seem unnecessarily complex after reading, you'll at least be able to trace the org chart from the Pope on down.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

Broadway employs tens of thousands of people in various roles

While we often just think of the actors and directors who take top billing, Broadway productions operate as distinct businesses employing numerous people in various roles: stage managers, sound designers, house managers, ushers and more.

Bankruptcy is a legal way to manage overwhelming debt, whether for individuals, corporations, or even local governments

Chapter 7 is for liquidating personal assets to clear debts, Chapter 13 allows a repayment plan for individuals, and Chapter 11 lets businesses reorganize to stay afloat.

A look behind the scenes of the UN General Assembly

This behind-the-scenes look at the 2015 UN General Assembly offers a unique perspective on what it takes to run one of the world’s most complicated and important diplomatic events. Following four staffers—including a youth advocate and an interpreter—the video captures the energy, pressure, and coordination behind the scenes.

A certificate of deposit (CD) strategy guide

Popular CD investment strategies include the ladder, barbell, and bullet methods. These strategies can help you get the most out of investing in CDs.

Fire engines are among the most complex vehicles on the road

These vehicles are purpose-built to carry water, foam, hoses, ladders, and lifesaving equipment to a scene in minutes. This animated video pulls apart every system inside a pumper truck, showing exactly how the machinery that fights fires actually works.

Watch this video that uses Lego bricks to explain how venture capital works.

What do vitamins actually do?

Vitamins are molecular tools the body needs to carry out regular cellular processes, such as wound healing. This 45-minute video dives into the science behind vitamins and their role in the body. There are 13 essential vitamins that must be...

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

Watch what the Ebola virus does inside our cells and organs in order to spread and survive.

Play the role of a student in a game where you try to navigate college and remain debt-free, selecting different income levels, high school experience, race, ethnicity, and more.

The US dollar is the most widely circulated currency in the world, and is involved in nearly 90% of global transactions

Watch how deep-sea mining equipment collects and processes polymetallic nodules—metal-rich, potato-shaped rocks—from the ocean floor and creates environmentally damaging plumes of sediments.

Bone marrow (soft tissue found inside certain bones) generates roughly 500 billion new blood cells each day

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

Doctors differentiate between a phobia and fear by asking patients whether their fear interferes with their day-to-day activities.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by more than 1.5 million Muslims each year.

Watch how algorithms can be designed to train themselves and self-improve without human input, to the point where the optimized code is too complex for programmers to understand.

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.

Researchers believe the brain consolidates memories, processes emotions, and plans for the future during dream states

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

See how each of the more than two million known species relates to each other—and to common ancestors—in this zoomable tree of life.

The rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson centered on federalism—the question of how much power the federal government should hold relative to the states.

Planarian flatworms are small, aquatic worms with exceptional regenerative capabilities. When cut, the worms can regenerate multiple bodies in a matter of weeks.

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

Most of the observable universe's volume consists of voids and supervoids—enormous regions of space with little to no galaxies, stars, or light.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.