Lazard, founded in 1848, is a global financial advisory and asset management firm with operations in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. It advises companies and governments on mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and capital solutions, restructuring and liability management, geopolitics and other strategic matters. It also manages money for institutions and individuals.
It has two main segments. Financial Advisory earns fees for advice, and these fees are not long-term contracted revenue. The ten largest fee-paying clients made up approximately 17% of the segment's net revenue in 2025, and no client was more than 10%. Asset Management offers equity, fixed income, asset allocation and alternative investment strategies, plus private equity funds and wealth management, to corporations, public funds, endowments, labor unions and others. Its top ten clients held 24% of assets under management (AUM), the money it manages for clients.
About 82% of AUM at the end of 2025 was managed for institutional and intermediary clients. Lazard says that having several lines of business, regions and industries helps even out its revenue. It also has a Corporate segment. Financial Advisory had 216 managing directors and Asset Management had 124.