Just received an e-mail from Safa Rashtchy at Piper Jaffray. Here’s an excerpt:
As you may have already heard, yesterday we announced that I am retiring from the sell side, after ten excellent years that I will always remember and cherish. The decision was not easy for me and, in fact, I have been thinking about it for quite some time now. Part of my reluctance was based on the desire to continue to expand the strong platform that we have built here at Piper, a process that I have enjoyed over the past years, and one that has been fruitful both for our clients and for us at Piper. I also wanted to make sure that after my departure, the platform continues its strong reputation and further expands. I am happy that the new team which will include Aaron Kessler and Gene Munster, as well as a number of other analysts, is exactly capable of this, and thus, I can leave without worry. Aaron and Gene, as well as the rest of the new Internet and China team, are highly thoughtful, intelligent, and well-respected analysts, who I am convinced will maintain our high standards and further expand the platform. Over the next few weeks, we will transition coverage of my universe to the new team.
Safa’s seminal paper on the Search economy, “The Golden Search”, published in 2003, was instrumental to my strategic thinking when it was released. I’d like to thank Safa for his contribution to our great industry.
Seb Provencher's Blog 
This is probably the most elegant exit text I ever read…No surprise from such a respected and classy fellow I had the pleasure to meet…the question is : where is Safa going ? Where will he leverage the undisputable internet and specifically search and local expertise he has uniquely developed ?
In his message, he gave us some hints as to his future: “My last day at Piper will be June 30, although I will be on vacation for a good part of the time between now and then. I am planning to take at least the second half of the year off, before I decide on my next activity. I remain interested in global investment opportunities in the media, consumer, and technology sectors. In the meantime, there are many interests
and causes that I would like to devote more of my time to, during the rest of this year and for as long as I can continue. As many of you know, Autism in particular is a special focus of mine and I would like to be more active in helping with and funding new research and therapy methods.”