The best executive search firms are also the worst executive search firms.
PitchBook blames rates and utilisation. Its sharpest number is a 36% collapse in the one structure a dozen states just legislated against.
The secondary market transacted $124 billion in the first half, a record on every measure Lazard tracks. Roughly 27% of transactions failed or were paused, which is also in the report.
A 21% premium is easy arithmetic when the reference price spent eight years falling. The board that refused to sell a division in 2024 now weighs selling the company below its old high.