Leading City media analyst quits rat race to become a school teacher

Andrew Gordon-Brown, one of the City's leading media analysts, is to quit his job to become a school teacher in the latest move from the Square Mile in search of a quieter life.

While many City workers have been made redundant, a number of others like Mr Gordon-Brown, of JP Morgan, have "downshifted" to jobs that demand fewer hours and later starts to the working day. The earnings potential of analysts has also been massively scaled back, not only because of the general downturn in the market but as a result of reforms to working practices, following a series of scandals, which has taken away corporate finance work from analysts.

One analyst at another bank said: "You now have to work harder, the more exciting areas have disappeared and there is much more regulation. With bonuses gone or severely cut back, this is not the sort of job you'd want to do just for the basic salary."

Mr Gordon-Brown was offered the chance to go with the rest of the JP Morgan media team, who have been poached by CSFB in what is reported to be a multimillion pound deal, but he declined. He will instead be teaching economics at Radley College, a public school set in the Oxfordshire countryside. The change will allow Mr Gordon-Brown, who declined to comment, to combine his passions for teaching and the sport of rowing. Radley is one of the country's leading rowing schools.

Mr Gordon-Brown, 36, grew up in South Africa and rowed for his country in the 1992 Olympics. He later rowed for Oxford University as a postgraduate economics student.

Colleagues at JP Morgan and other banks said Mr Gordon-Brown's decision was basically a "lifestyle choice". He recently became a father for the first time. He will move to leafy Oxfordshire in time for the new school year from his current home in Hammersmith, accepting a salary that is a fraction of even his basic earnings as an analyst. He was working as the number two in the JP Morgan media team, starting work at 7am and usually working a 12-hour day. Basic salaries for such positions are around £150,000.

A number of high-profile media analysts have either quit the City or taken a year or more off, hoping to come back when the market turns up again.