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Teen who doesn't tweet reveals how he became top dog in the City
Robert Mendick, Chief Reporter14.07.09
The teenager whose report for an investment bank earned him global acclaim today revealed his new found fame was all down to his dog.
Matthew Robson, 15, from Greenwich, wrote a report for Morgan Stanley while on work experience that the bankers thought so insightful they published it. Matthew's How Teenagers Consume Media was even discussed at the Allen & Co Sun Valley conference in Idaho, attended by business leaders, politicians and media executives.
It emerged today his work placement was the result of a chance meeting in Greenwich Park between the family's pet dog Rudolph and another dog, which happened to belong to Patrick Wellington, a senior financial analyst at Morgan Stanley.
Matthew's mother Sheila began talking to Mr Wellington after their dogs had struck up a rapport. Mrs Robson then told Mr Wellington about her son's struggle to get a work placement.
“We had tried many places, mainly in the local area,” said his mother. Having failed to gain work experience at local businesses, solicitors and banks, Matthew wrote to Morgan Stanley, which offered him a two-week internship at its offices in Canary Wharf.
“The first day was quite scary,” said Matthew, “but it was really interesting. By the second week I felt I understood what a bank did.”
Placed in the bank's media and internet research team, he was asked to write a report on how teenagers consume media.
Matthew, who attends Kidbrooke School, said he simply contacted a few school friends to gauge their opinions before writing his analysis in a day.
He texted some friends for ideas and said: “Most teens would say the same things. We talk about this kind of thing at school quite a lot. Though the way we talk about it you probably wouldn't understand it.”
According to Matthew, teenagers prefer radio stations without adverts, download music free rather than pay for it, hardly ever read newspapers and use Facebook rather than Twitter. Twitter, he explained, is “aimed at adults. Stephen Fry [a regular with Twitter] is not particularly cool”.
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