00:00If you speak to these guys and you know we've got an exclusive interview with them out today. I mean what they will say is that a lot of their successes come this year a record year for them is largely down to a lot of the preparation for years and years under Howard Lutnick himself before he went to Washington D.C. to push into sectors like crypto like robotics like quantum like AI and data centers.
00:20The firm had a big conference around these issues earlier this week in Miami where I was. And a lot of these guys will say to you look like you know one another good quote by Christian will one of the CEOs as well.
00:33He said you know you have to get through the winter to get to the spring. And he was sort of saying you know there's this crypto winter for years under the Biden administration.
00:40But these guys have kind of carved out a niche in sectors that bigger Wall Street banks had kept to arm's length for years. And now they're just reaping the benefits of that kind of preparation.
00:49The thing is if I were for example if I were a convicted felon looking for a pardon I would probably hire one of the lawyers close to Donald Trump.
01:00And if I'm in an industry that needs sort of regulatory help in the administration I'd likely do my deals with Cantor Fitzgerald. Right. Doesn't it just make sense.
01:10Well I mean I think one could argue that a lot of you know a lot of the Wall Street banks now still do have ties to the administration.
01:16You could you know one one can speculate here. Obviously this company is saying that you know these guys are saying that they're very much you know independent.
01:23They're running the firm as they would anyway. Of course they would. I'm just saying from a client's perspective.
01:28Right. You'd like to be closer to Howard Lutnick because he is the Commerce Secretary.
01:33Yeah. Yeah. And I mean certainly certainly as well at this conference that we had names like Eric Trump and Ted Cruz were also present speaking on panels.
01:40Bear in mind Ted Cruz is also the one who's running the committee in the Senate that scrutinizes Howard Lutnick's Commerce Department.
01:46So you know at the same time is trying to keep that distance from the administration.
01:50It is a firm that is embracing business and politics mixing just like any other firm on Wall Street under the Trump administration right now.
01:56But you're right to some degree you know there are there are firms that are aligning themselves with sectors that are certainly cozier and closer to the administration's agenda.
02:05How does running this firm even even work right now if you have Kyle and Brandon Lutnick and then you have the three co-CEOs.
02:12How is leadership split between them. So you have Cantor Fitzgerald Group which is actually split into three main holdings.
02:19There's the private the private Cantor Investment Bank which is run by these three co-CEOs but also with major shareholdings separately in Newmark the big real estate group
02:28that Howard Lutnick acquired years ago and BGC which is a big brokerage which is split between New York and London as well.
02:35So these three guys which kind of these co-CEOs manage the core of that business.
02:41Brandon and Kyle kind of are sort of chairman co-CEO executive vice chair of the parent company as a whole and also manage those other interests as well.
02:49So but when Brandon and Kyle go to dinner at the White House are they doing so as sons of the Commerce Secretary or as leaders of Cantor Fitzgerald.
02:57That's a good question Matt. I think that technically you would say that Brandon Lutnick went to dinner at the White House this week along with
03:03David Solomon Ken Mullis and co. As the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald. The fact that his father was at that dinner
03:09one might you know one might ask questions understandably but you know as a Wall Street bank that is is pushing into some of the administration's
03:19most favored sectors on a business agenda you might have to ask Donald Trump that question.
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