Dan Ives to Leave Wedbush and Launch Merchant Bank Focused on AI

Dan Ives is leaving his role at Wedbush Securities to launch a merchant bank that will combine research, advisory, capital raising and investing. Cnbc reported that Ives spent the past eight years at Wedbush and has more than 25 years of experience covering technology stocks. The new firm will focus on opportunities created by artificial intelligence and other structural economic shifts.

"It's been a phenomenal eight years at Wedbush," Ives said in an interview. " The firm will be formally announced in the coming weeks and plans to provide proprietary research, strategic advisory services, capital raising and investments in technology, energy and financials sectors. Ives said he intends to continue covering technology stocks in a research capacity while building the new business.

At Wedbush, Ives served on the advisory board of Zeta Global and briefly served as chairman of Eightco Holdings, where he led a crypto treasury strategy centered on Worldcoin. Ives launched his own clothing line last year. "My career has almost built up to something like this," Ives said.