Morning Coffee: Exceptional ex-Goldman Sachs trader has big friends and awkward enemies. Princeton PhD ghosted for frozen crab cake job
Yaoyao Liu is a 39 year-old oil trader who used to work for Goldman Sachs. He is the sort of person that important people really like and say glowing things about. He also appears to be the sort of person that is observed askance by people with a less favourable opinion of his activities, and who gripe about him.
Liu is one of the biggest traders in the oil market, and has spent the past 14 years working for Vitol. His big friends have been lining up to express his enormity. Bloomberg notes that Jonah Van Bourg, another ex-Goldman and Vitol oil trader, wrote on X earlier this year that, “Yaoyao is the best trader I have ever worked with," adding. "He is a legitimate 1x/decade commodities superstar.”
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It's not just Jonah. Seb Barrack, the ex-Macquarie trader running Citadel's huge commodities business has also (weirdly) emerged to praise Liu. “His ability to navigate different regimes and market cycles over many years, combined with his reputation as a significant risk taker, makes him rare among commodity traders,” Barrack informed Bloomberg.
It's not just Johna and Seb. ' Vitol CEO, Russell Hardy, is said by Bloomberg to have been a 'longtime backer' of Liu. Kurt Chapman, the former head of crude at Mercuria, told Bloomberg Liu, “was able to take Vitol to the next level in terms of the derivatives space." Someone else, of unknown provenance, told Bloomberg Liu stood out even at Goldman for his quick mind and ability to grasp complex trading ideas.
We have not spoken to Liu, who graduated from Cambridge University with a first class degree in chemical engineering from Cambridge and who is based in Dubai. We cannot testify whether he is a commodities trader of generational talent. He didn't respond to a request to comment.
Despite his big talents, the WSJ reports that Liu has been sitting out of the market since the summer. He's expected to leave Vitol by the end of the year. People 'familiar with the situation' say this is because he wants to spend time with his family and that he's been planning his retirement since 2025. His awkward colleagues may have played a part in the timing.
As we reported previously, Liu made some big losses at Vitol, allegedly amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars at one point in 2025. Bloomberg says Liu's team were allowed to continue trading, and ultimately made the losses back. But when Liu's losses swelled again this year, his sceptical colleagues at Vitol appear to have gained the upper hand.
Vitol is owned by employees. In March, the WSJ says some insiders at the trading house raised concerns with Hardy about the size and concentration of Liu's exposure to the oil market. Liu's positions were reportedly then reduced; some were transferred to other desks.
Vitol also didn't respond to a request to comment for this article. Nor did Vitol comment to the WSJ or to Bloomberg. Vitol may miss Liu when he finally leaves - he has reportedly made billions in profits for the firm during his time there. Maybe Seb will hire him at Citadel one day.
Separately, if you a Princeton PhD in chemical engineering, are 30 years-old, physically fit and have an encyclopaedic knowledge of history, you will still have to make 2,500 job applications, be ghosted for a job preparing frozen crab cakes, and be unemployed two years after graduating.
This is the situation of Jack Weis, whom the WSJ reports is hanging out in his parents' basement. When he gets a job interview it involves human-free Hirevue-type interactions and strange psychometric games. Weiss has used AI to design a drone with LED lasers to kill an invasive plant. He's done a bit of work training AI models. He's thinking of going to law school. He's seeing a lot of sperm donation adverts...
Meanwhile....
Perella Weinberg wanted to merge with BDT & MST Partners, but was rebuffed. So then it wanted to merge with the midmarket aura of Piper Sandler and might've called itself “Perella Piper Sandler”, but its senior bankers didn't want that. (Financial Times)
Apollo is taking over EasyJet and it will pay £280m in fees to advisers including lawyers, bankers and public relations groups. EasyJet will pay another £54mn. This will be shared between Barclays, PJT, Citigroup (Apollo) and Simon Robey and Simon Warshaw, and bankers at BNP (EasyJet). (FT)
Two Sigma cut staff in its real estate unit. Rich Gomel, the unit’s partner and chief investment officer, is leaving the firm along with others on the real estate leadership team, including two of the three remaining partners and one of the two heads of data science. (Bloomberg)
Rates traders Colin Bermingham, Philippe Moryoussef, Jonathan Mathew and Christian Bittar can all get jobs in London again. (The Times)
Rachel Reeves tried to persuade UBS to shift its headquarters and stock market listing to London in the event of the bank relocating out of Switzerland because of strict new capital rules. (Financial Times)
If you want a great low cost life you need to be in Valencia. (VisualCapitalist)
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