NextFin News - Dan Ives is leaving Wedbush Securities after eight years to launch a new merchant bank that he says will combine research, advisory, capital raising and investing under one roof. The move is a rare career pivot for one of Wall Street's most recognizable technology analysts and highlights how far the tech-coverage business has drifted beyond traditional stock calls into capital formation, strategy and private-market influence.
A Rare Exit From The Sell-Side’s Best-Known Tech Voice
Ives said the new firm will be a "modern merchant bank" focused on helping companies and investors navigate opportunities created by artificial intelligence and other structural shifts across the economy. He said the business will be formally announced in the coming weeks and that he plans to continue covering technology stocks in a research capacity while helping build the broader platform.
The unusual part is not simply that Ives is leaving a familiar employer. It is that he is moving from a classic sell-side perch into a hybrid model that mixes research with advisory work, capital raising and direct investing. That mix is closer to the old merchant-banking tradition than to the narrow analyst role that defined much of Wall Street research for decades.
"In looking at the next opportunity, it's to create a modern merchant bank with great partners, long-term capital and something I think will change the way Wall Street looks at investment banks," Ives said.
He added that the new firm reflects the arc of his career and the opportunities he sees in the AI era.
"My career has almost built up to something like this," Ives said. "In this AI revolution, it's seeing the opportunities that are around the corner, and that's what I think this firm is going to be able to do."
For Wedbush, the departure removes one of the industry’s most visible technology commentators from the firm’s public face. For Ives, it opens a path to build a broader franchise around the brand he has developed through years of high-profile calls, television appearances and sector commentary. His profile has been built on long-running coverage of technology stocks and on a bullish view of the AI investment cycle.
Why The Timing Matters For Tech Research
The timing matters because the market is already blurring the line between analyst, adviser and participant. Technology coverage has become more than model updates and price targets; it now influences fundraising, corporate positioning and investor narrative around AI infrastructure, software, chips and data platforms.
Ives has already occupied an unusually broad version of the analyst role. At Wedbush, he also served on the advisory board of Zeta Global and briefly as chairman of Eightco Holdings, roles that are uncommon for a sell-side analyst and underscore how much the profession has expanded beyond pure research.
That broader footprint helps explain why the transition to a merchant bank makes sense for him, even if it is unusual for the market structure. A brand built on interpreting technology trends can be translated into advisory relationships, deal flow and capital access if investors and companies trust the messenger enough to bring him into the room early.
The shift also reflects a deeper change in Wall Street economics. As artificial intelligence becomes a larger share of corporate spending and strategic planning, the winners are not only the companies making chips or software. Advisers who can connect public-market storytelling with private capital and strategic transactions are gaining more influence, because the AI build-out cuts across sectors and financing needs.
That does not mean the move is without tension. Research is supposed to be independent, while banking and investing create incentives that can complicate that independence. The fact that Ives says he wants to keep covering technology stocks while building a business that also advises and invests in companies will draw attention from rivals, clients and compliance teams. The opportunity is obvious; so is the governance question.
What The Move Says About AI And The Market’s New Center Of Gravity
The larger story is that AI has expanded the market for people who can translate technological change into capital-market opportunity. The first phase of the AI trade rewarded the obvious beneficiaries in chips and cloud infrastructure. The next phase is increasingly about who can help companies raise money, structure deals and position themselves for the spending that follows.
That is why Ives’s move feels bigger than one analyst’s job change. He is one of the most recognizable public voices in technology research, and his decision suggests that the strongest franchise value in the next leg of the AI boom may sit at the intersection of research, advice and capital formation rather than in pure commentary alone.
It also reinforces how concentrated the tech conversation has become around a handful of voices that investors trust. When those voices decide to move closer to the transactions themselves, the market gets a signal about where influence is being monetized.
For companies, that can mean better access to a platform that understands both the narrative and the financing. For investors, it means a more intertwined market where analysis, capital and access are increasingly bundled together.
What To Watch Next
Ives said the firm will be announced in the coming weeks, which leaves open the practical questions that will determine whether the new venture becomes a durable business or just a high-profile reset. The key issues are who joins him, how the firm is funded, what sectors it prioritizes, and how it manages the conflict between research and deal-making.
The broader market will also watch whether the move becomes a template for other analysts or remains a one-off career turn driven by Ives’s own brand and the AI cycle. If the venture succeeds, it could show that the most valuable people on Wall Street are no longer just those who call the next move correctly, but those who can help build the market structure around that move.
For Wedbush, the departure ends a long run with one of the firm’s most public faces. For the broader industry, it is another sign that AI is not only rewriting company strategies. It is also rewriting the business model of financial commentary itself.
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