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<\/p>\n\n\tJohnny Hilbrant Partridge never worked an hour on Wall Street, but you\u2019d never guess that by looking at him. Nearly every day, Partridge takes to YouTube to channel his inner finance bro as P.E. Guy, a puffer-vested private equity putz who brags about his million-dollar deals, Aspen manse and private plane.<\/p>\n
\n\tPartridge, who once taught fitness classes in Boston, debuted the character on social media last year, which boosted his following beyond Barry\u2019s and SoulCycle devotees. Today, he has 400,000-plus Instagram followers, up from 7,000 about 18 months ago.<\/p>\n
\n\tAlthough Partridge lampoons private equity, his skits resonate beyond buyout boys. \u201cI think a lot of people have that experience of coming in contact with somebody who wants to one-up you and make you feel like they win the conversation because they have an impressive-sounding job,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\n\tAs certain business figures become as talked about as celebrities, Wall Street yuksters like Partridge are surging on social media. While memes still flood finance bro DMs, creator-helmed videos are gaining momentum on both Wall Street and Main Street. Some riff on Bloomberg headlines, while others simply play on C-suite stereotypes.<\/p>\n
\n\tOther creators skewering corporate life include The Swiss Chris (442,000 Instagram followers), who portrays a highfalutin European banker; Clemente Varas Collado (115,000 Instagram followers), who frequently roasts asset manager BlackRock, and engineer-turned-entertainer Varun Rana (90,000 Instagram followers).<\/p>\n
\n\tIt\u2019s not an entirely new trend \u2014 Wall Street meme pages have been around for over a decade \u2014 but social media algorithms are increasingly favoring shortform video, benefiting creator-actors over anonymous meme lords. It\u2019s led to stalling growth for some picture-heavy accounts, including Trust Fund Terry, which launched about eight years ago on Instagram.<\/p>\n
\n\tTrust Fund Terry has never revealed his identity, though he admits on the phone that he has toiled in consulting and finance. Terry, a pseudonym, said audience building on Instagram has become more difficult thanks to Reels. \u201cI think they\u2019ve really been trying to push the more traditional creators, where they\u2019re telling a story in either short or longform video,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tVarun Rana.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy Of Subject<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Swiss Chris, who shows his face but remains anonymous, says he first played a character named Goldman Stanley. Chris, who was a banker in Europe, says the industry is one \u201cwhere the humor practically writes itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tJosh Kaplan, who runs creator management company Smooth Media, says part of these creators\u2019 success is making their followers feel like they\u2019re alongside Blackstone associates at the watercooler. \u201cI feel like people love being on like the inside of a joke,\u201d says Kaplan, whose company manages Rana.<\/p>\n
\n\tJosh Brown, the CNBC fixture and CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, is in numerous texting chains with Wall Streeters who pass around Partridge\u2019s latest videos. He says Partridge\u2019s P.E. Guy character is identifiable to the finance crowd. \u201cWhen I first started my career in the late \u201990s, it was investment bankers who were doing all the IPOs,\u201d he says. \u201cNow in the 2020s, the personification of that level of douchiness is private equity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThese Wall Street jesters are ascending at a moment when there\u2019s immense interest in the machinations of finance firms and rainmakers. Some of the biggest sports storylines now involve the corporate dealings of billionaire owners. Hollywood A-listers are romancing private equity guys. And many consumers are keenly aware of investors behind businesses.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tP.E. Guy, aka Johnny Hilbrant Partridge (who uses a filter to create his character\u2019s grotesque face.)<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPat Greenhouse\/The Boston Globe via Getty Images<\/p>\n
\n\tBrown believes Partridge\u2019s and other creators\u2019 outrageous personas stem from the growing number of people with equally outrageous wealth. \u201cIt\u2019s a level of satire that television really hasn\u2019t caught up to,\u201d he says. \u201cI think these people are nailing it in a way that maybe 20 years ago The Simpsons would have.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tP.E. Guy still attracts the real-life P.E. guys, especially on LinkedIn, where he has over 10 times more followers than on X. \u201cI\u2019ve been able to satirize stuff on LinkedIn in a really fun way, where people don\u2019t always know that it\u2019s a joke because of how absurd things already are on LinkedIn,\u201d he says, \u201cwhich really tickles me.\u201d<\/p>\n