Boutique bank PJT made the tiniest tweaks to pay and headcount
Paul Taubman’s boutique investment bank, PJT Partners, published its Q4 of 2025 results today. On the face of it, they were pretty good – even if the bank doesn’t seem to be celebrating too much.
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The headline figures were strong. Both the firm’s revenue and profit reached record highs, up by 15% and 30% on 2024’s results respectively, to $1.7bn and $310m.
Curiously, however, the firm didn’t do much hiring in Q4. Headcount was down by two people in the last quarter: PJT reported that it employed 1,226 people at the end of Q3 2025 – and just 1,224 at the end of Q4. That isn’t to say it made cuts (people do leave of their own accord after all), but it also didn’t hire enough to make up the shortfall.
Perhaps more disappointingly for PJT’s people, pay did not go up as dramatically as revenue or profit did, despite the reduced headcount. Average pay per head at the bank went from $903k on average in 2024 to $946k on average in 2025, an increase of “just” 4.8%.
Despite the slow Q4, overall headcount was still up for the year as a whole, going from 1,143 souls to 1,224, an increase of 7%. The number of partners – revenue generators – also went up, from 119 to 133 across the year, an increase of 12%. The majority of the new partners were in M&A.
The firm had its usual gushing praise from staff in its earning presentation. “Outstanding people,” is how one anonymous contributor described colleagues, “with strong intellectual curiosity, passion, humor and empathy.” They make PJT “an incredible place to work,” apparently.
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