Lee joined Chemical Bank in 1975 and worked in a variety of lending businesses u

ntil 1980, when he founded and ran Chemical s merchant bank in Australia. In 1982,
he returned to the US and started the bank s syndicated leverage finance group, w
hich constituted the origins of the investment banking business at Chemical and
later Chase Manhattan Bank. Lee ran the investment bank until the merger with J.
P. Morgan & Co. in 2001.[1]
History of private equity
and venture capital
Early history
(Origins of modern private equity)
The 1980s
(Leveraged buyout boom)
The 1990s
(Leveraged buyout and the venture capital bubble)
The 2000s
(Dot-com bubble to the credit crunch)
v
t
e
Following Chemical s merger with Manufacturers Hanover in 1994, Lee founded the ba
nk s high yield (or junk bond) business, which was the bank's first public securit
ies operation. At the same time, he built the bank s financial sponsor coverage bu
siness focused on private equity firms as well as the bank's mergers and acquisi
tions business.[1]
By organizing high yield with loan syndications and private equity coverage, and
the newly formed M&A group, this led to a variety of market innovations which C
hase pioneered.[citation needed] Lee also led the team that resulted in Chase ac
quiring Hambrecht & Quist which gave the bank its first public equity business a
nd first dedicated technology investment banking practice.[citation needed] He h
as remained active in the technology industry.
In 2000, Lee was effectively demoted in favor Geoffrey Boisi[3] but within two y
ears Biosi was out and Lee was again leading investment banking at JP Morgan.[4]
By 2007, Lee was placed at the center of a New York Times illustration title "M
asters of the New Universe" where he was connected with some of the largest leve
raged buyout transactions of the past decade.[5]
Lee led the J.P. Morgan teams that executed the $25 billion Alibaba Group IPO, t
he largest IPO in history;[citation needed] the $23 billion General Motors IPO,
the second largest U.S. IPO;[citation needed] and the $41 billion common stock s
ale of the U.S. Treasury s ownership of AIG, resulting from the U.S. Government s ba
ilout of the company.[citation needed] He also led the negotiations with the U.S
. Treasury for the financial restructuring of Chrysler.[citation needed] Most re
cently, Lee also advised Comcast on their announced acquisition of Time Warner C
able and planned divestitures of systems to Charter (pending),[citation needed]
the Dell Board of Directors Special Committee on the buyout of Dell by Michael D

ell and Silver Lake,[citation needed] GE on its $30 billion sale of NBC to Comca
st,[citation needed] United Airlines in its merger with Continental Airlines,[ci
tation needed] News Corporation on its purchase of Dow Jones,[citation needed] l
ed the IPO of The Carlyle Group,[citation needed] and co-led the IPOs of Faceboo
k and Twitter.[citation needed]
Lee was a member of Kappa Beta Phi.[6]
Lee had a personal net worth of $185 million in 2010.[citation needed]