JPMorgan Chase upgraded KPN stock to «Buy» on Tuesday and immediately relocated its entire European telecom research division into the lobby of KPN's Rotterdam headquarters, where analysts will sit at rented desks and watch the revenue outlook improve in person.
The bank leased the ground floor of the KPN building for a period of «as long as the upgrade holds,» according to a person familiar with the arrangement. Analysts now arrive at 6 a.m., take positions along a velvet rope, and applaud each time a KPN employee walks past carrying a folder that might contain revenue figures.
«We felt the rating change deserved a permanent physical presence,» a JPMorgan spokesperson said. «If the revenue outlook is improving, we want to be close enough to hear it improving.»
The move has spread. Two rival banks have stationed junior analysts in the KPN parking garage, and a third has begun training a honor guard of interns to stand at attention whenever a KPN delivery van leaves the building. KPN has responded by installing a turnstile and issuing visitor badges to the analysts, who must now clock in and out like employees.
By Thursday, the lobby contained nine desks, a coffee machine, and a whiteboard tracking «revenue vibes» in real time. A KPN receptionist said the analysts have started answering the company's main phone line when she steps away.