The story
Founded by Alexandre Lazard, Simon Lazard and Élie Lazard on Jul 12, 1848, in New Orleans.1
Early years
On July 12, 1848, three French brothers, Alexandre Lazard, Lazare Lazard, and Simon Lazard, founded Lazard Frères & Co. as a dry goods merchant store in New Orleans, Louisiana. By 1851, Simon and two more brothers, Maurice and Elie, had all moved to San Francisco, California, while Alexandre moved to New York. With the Gold Rush in full swing, the brothers traded in gold between San Francisco and Western Europe.
In 1854, Alexandre Lazard moved to Paris, France, where he opened an office to complement the U.S. business. The firm began advising the French government on gold buying. In 1870, the firm continued to expand its international operations, opening an office in London as well.
The name "Lazard Frères" means "Lazard Brothers" or "the Brothers Lazard" in French. It refers to associations of the Lazard brothers to form various financial services institutions with world-wide offices and investments.
The Three Houses of Lazard
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the firm evolved into three "Houses of Lazard" in the United States, France, and the United Kingdom, separately managed but allied. The Lazard partners advised clients on financial matters and built a cross-border network of high-level relationships in business and government. Noted financial advisor George Blumenthal rose to prominence as the head of the U.S. branch of Lazard Frères and was a partner of Lazard Frères in France.
In the economic boom following World War II, the American operations of Lazard expanded significantly under the leadership of the French financier André Meyer. Meyer and Lazard partner Felix Rohatyn have been credited with virtually inventing the modern mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market.
In 1953, Lazard Investors Ltd began an asset management business in London, which is the origin of today's Lazard Asset Management.
A unified firm
In 1977, as the health of Meyer began to deteriorate, the firm came to be controlled by Michel David-Weill. Under his leadership, the three houses of Lazard were formally united in 2000 as Lazard LLC.
In 2002, David-Weill hired Bruce Wasserstein to be CEO. Lazard became a public company in 2005, with nearly two-thirds of its shares owned by current and former employees. Wasserstein became its first chairman and CEO. In connection with the initial public offering (IPO), Lazard spun off its broker-dealer business, Lazard Capital Markets.
Read the full text
Following Wasserstein's death in 2009, Lazard's board of directors elected Kenneth M. Jacobs as chairman and CEO.
During the Greek sovereign debt crisis, Lazard served as advisor to the Greek government, securing "the biggest restructuring deal in history" in 2012. They were hired again by the incoming Syriza party in 2015.
The crisis was finally resolved in 2018.
Lazard invested in a startup investment bank, Independence Point Advisors, in late 2021.
On May 26, 2023, the firm announced that Peter R. Orszag, CEO of Financial Advisory, had been unanimously elected by its Board to serve as CEO of Lazard and as a Board Director, effective October 1, 2023. Orszag became chief executive officer of Lazard on October 1, 2023. On January 1, 2025, Orszag's role expanded to serve as CEO and Chairman of Lazard's Board of Directors.
The publicly traded partnership Lazard Ltd was reincorporated under the Delaware General Corporation Law effective January 1, 2024 and changed its name from Lazard Ltd to Lazard, Inc.
In 2025, Lazard partnered with alternative credit firm Arini Capital Management to collaborate on sourcing and direct lending opportunities across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
In April 2026, Lazard announced it would acquire advisory firm Campbell Lutyens for $575 million, creating Lazard CL, a private capital advisory platform that will become the firm’s third global business.
From Wikipedia’s article on Lazard, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7