The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History |  | Author: Gregory Zuckerman
Publisher: Crown Business
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
Buy New: $13.74
as of 7/31/2010 19:48 CDT details
You Save: $12.26 (47%)
New (48) Used (32) Collectible (1) from $12.08
Seller: BRILANTI BOOKS
Rating:  93 reviews
Sales Rank: 3352
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 304
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 0385529910
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.645092
EAN: 9780385529914
ASIN: 0385529910
Publication Date: November 3, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Features:
| • | ISBN13: 9780385529914 | | • | Condition: New | | • | Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
In 2006, hedge fund manager John Paulson realized something few others suspected--that the housing market and the value of subprime mortgages were grossly inflated and headed for a major fall. Paulson's background was in mergers and acquisitions, however, and he knew little about real estate or how to wager against housing. He had spent a career as an also-ran on Wall Street. But Paulson was convinced this was his chance to make his mark. He just wasn't sure how to do it. Colleagues at investment banks scoffed at him and investors dismissed him. Even pros skeptical about housing shied away from the complicated derivative investments that Paulson was just learning about. But Paulson and a handful of renegade investors such as Jeffrey Greene and Michael Burry began to bet heavily against risky mortgages and precarious financial companies. Timing is everything, though. Initially, Paulson and the others lost tens of millions of dollars as real estate and stocks continued to soar. Rather than back down, however, Paulson redoubled his bets, putting his hedge fund and his reputation on the line.
In the summer of 2007, the markets began to implode, bringing Paulson early profits, but also sparking efforts to rescue real estate and derail him. By year's end, though, John Paulson had pulled off the greatest trade in financial history, earning more than $15 billion for his firm--a figure that dwarfed George Soros's billion-dollar currency trade in 1992. Paulson made billions more in 2008 by transforming his gutsy move. Some of the underdog investors who attempted the daring trade also reaped fortunes. But others who got the timing wrong met devastating failure, discovering that being early and right wasn't nearly enough.
Written by the prizewinning reporter who broke the story in The Wall Street Journal, The Greatest Trade Ever is a superbly written, fast-paced, behind-the-scenes narrative of how a contrarian foresaw an escalating financial crisis--that outwitted Chuck Prince, Stanley O'Neal, Richard Fuld, and Wall Street's titans--to make financial history.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 93
 Fantastic Read! November 25, 2009
Kindle Addict (Washington DC)
94 out of 101 found this review helpful
This is an incredible book about John Paulson, and in general, the trade against the housing market. This is a great read for anyone who is interested in how an investment thesis is constructed and executed.
There were two pleasant surprises of the book:
1. Cast of Characters - How different investors, besides John Paulson, also saw the similar trade opportunity and went for it. As the crisis unfolded John Paulson, George Soros and a host of other investors were revealed to have been shorting the housing market. The surprise was learning about the host of other, "unknown" investors from a medical school dropout to a cocky Deutsche Bank trader to wealthy real-estate mogul to a recently graduated MBA, each of whom recognized the crisis before most others and were able to trade against the rest of the investment community.
2. The transformation of John Paulson - He was initially described someone who was smart, but not as someone who always "had to be the best" or a natural leader; in other words he was not the classic alpha male. John Paulson was portrayed as a random i-banker with awkward communication skills, a weak handshake and an affinity for the NYC club scene. Many actually saw his career as stalled and unexceptional. The book is very good at showing how he transformed himself from a run of the mill finance professional to someone whose ambition grew and grew....and once he saw the opportunity he calmly executed his trade and transformed his life.
(A small side note...this is also the one of the best books describing the technical terms of the housing crisis (e.g. CDS, MBS).)
Finally, even though the ending is essentially known (the collapse of the housing market), the description and narrative of the sequence of events is riveting.
A great read for anyone interested in finance, the markets, and the real estate crash.
Right place, right time November 5, 2009
Amy Y. (FREMONT, CA USA)
12 out of 15 found this review helpful
The Greatest Trade Ever is a peek behind the curtain that veils the inner working of Wall Street. The plot centers around the capitalization of John Paulson and others on the demise of the subprime market. While Paulson has risen to somewhat god-like status on Wall Street, this book portrays him as the tortoise- sticking to the tried and true while everyone else was losing their heads trying to milk the real estate bubble.
Paulson wasn't always perceived as the guy to watch. This book follows the rise of his star as he predicts the subprime crisis. Zuckerman does an excellent job of fleshing out the man behind the legend. Rather than exacting financial heroics, Zuckerman's portrayal of Paulson shows his determined pursuit of the tried and true methods which ultimately lead to success and notoriety.
In the beginning, Paulson comes off somewhat bland and staid- a stick-to-the-stats kinda guy... that eventually lands him billions of dollars. I think what made this so intriguing was Zuckerman's interviews and direct insider access. The reader gets to follow the execution of, literally, the greatest trade ever. We also get a close-to-the-ground view of the machinations of Wall Street which is fascinating in and of itself. What went into Paulson's success was arriving at a very simple analysis of how real estate prices had varied from what the historical trend suggested. Arriving at that simple analysis, however, was a very complex process and Paulson wasn't the only one attempting to capture that. The nearest I can describe, it comes off like a horse race with Paulson coming from behind in the last furlong to win the Derby.
Paulson was not without doubts and reading Zuckerman's account of Paulson's personal struggle with those doubts, overcoming various obstacles and finally reaping unprecedented success is truly riveting. I am a bit of an economics geek, but I really think that almost anyone would find this book entertaining, if not fascinating.
Excellent read, excellent education on a complicated subject. FASCINATING! November 5, 2009
Shara Shetrit (NY NY)
31 out of 42 found this review helpful
I just began reading this book and I can't put it down. I am not in the field of finance and have always been a bit intimidated by it as a result of my ignorance, but once I read the introduction and began to read the book, I find the basics of investing as well as the events leading up to the recent economic breakdown and Paulson's unbelievable trade, laid out in a clear, thoughtful, concise, and intriguing manner. Zuckerman writes with the skill of a seasoned finance intellectual combined with the style and savvy of someone who makes it his business to keep on top of current events and the goings on in the tumultuous social world of finance, and shows how it all ties together. At the same time, Zuckerman puts Regular Joe at ease, maintaining his interest with writing and details that are anything but dry. I am enjoying the book thoroughly and you will too!
A Contrarian's Remarkable Home Run December 16, 2009
Larry Underwood (Scottsdale, AZ)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Contrarian investment guru Doug Casey used to say, "You know the time to dump an investment is when it makes the cover of Time Magazine." I don't rememeber if it was 2004 or 2005 when Time's cover story was "Will Your House Make You Rich?" Casey was right, the time had come to get out of real estate, although profiting from that move was as treacherous as playing a game of high stakes craps in a casino used to fleecing its players.
In a story revealing one man's prescience about the housing bubble, Gregory Zuckerman describes with rich detail how John Paulson zigged when the rest of Wall Street zagged, and wound up making billions in the process; this was by far, the "greatest trade ever", and the story behind it is a most compelling one, indeed. The complexities of the huge power play that Paulson parlayed into outrageous fortune, also left others who bet the farm too early, out in the cold. To make a fortune when betting against a tidal wave of growing valuation, you've got to time it just right; and you've got to have a lot of courage and conviction in your strategy.
Certainly, "conventional wisdom" will be shouting in your face that you're way off base; of course, as we've seen time and time again, "conventional wisdom" is often anything but "wise". In the case of the wildly escalating housing market in the middle of this decade, even Alan Greenspan was fooled.
Zuckerman's behind the scenes story of Paulson's brilliant trade is one of contrast; between the logical and pragmatic approach Paulson took when calculating the upside potential of betting against the stampeding real estate market, versus the illogical rationale behind those expecting the bubble to never burst.
The lesson learned here is simple; eventually, everything returns to its logical state of being. Never bet against that for too long, unless you want to end up like so many of the former Wall Street high rollers, who shot craps on their last turn at the table.
Really interesting story November 5, 2009
Jessica Klein (New York, New York)
27 out of 37 found this review helpful
This book was recommended to me by a friend who's a fan of Greg Zuckerman. Considering I'm not in the financial world at all I still found the story and characters really compelling and was astounded by the amount of research and detail included in each characters' personal story about how they came to forsee the impending financial crisis in the real estate market, bet against it, and make billions in profit. The most amazing thing is that no one seemed to believe these guys until the market crashed and by then it was too late. I wish I had been as smart as them....
Showing reviews 1-5 of 93
|
|
|
