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The Greatest Trade Ever
The Greatest Trade Ever
Oct 4, 2024 7:21 PM

Author:Gregory Zuckerman

The Greatest Trade Ever

'The definitive account of a sensational trade' Michael Lewis, author of The Big Short

Autumn 2008. The world's finances collapse but one man makes a killing.

John Paulson, a softly spoken hedge-fund manager who still took the bus to work, seemed unlikely to stake his career on one big gamble. But he did - and The Greatest Trade Ever is the story of how he realised that the sub-prime housing bubble was going to burst, making $15 Billion for his fund and more than $4 Billion for himself in a single year. It's a tale of folly and wizardry, individual brilliance versus institutional stupidity.

John Paulson made the biggest winning bet in history. And this is how he did it.

'Extraordinary, excellent' Observer

'A must-read for anyone fascinated by financial madness' Mail on Sunday

'A forensic, read-in-one-sitting book' Sunday Times

'Simply terrific. Easily the best of the post-crash financial books' Malcolm Gladwell

'A great page-turner and a great illuminator of the market's crash' John Helyar, author of Barbarians at the Gate

Reviews

Greg Zuckerman was the first to tell the world about John Paulson's sensational trade... He's written the definitive account of a strange and wonderful subplot of the financial crisis.

—— Michael Lewis, author of Liar's Poker

Zuckerman takes us to Wall Street's heart of darkness, where mushroomed a $1 trillion subprime mortgage market that only the few, the brave, the smart dared short. This is at once a great page-turner and a great illuminator of the market's crash.

—— John Heylar, co-author of Barbarians at the Gate

Much, much more than a brilliant account of Paulson's trade of the century; this book also provides a highly enjoyable and lucid journey through the analytical and emotional maze that constituted the financial markets on the eve of the Great Recession. Compulsory reading.

—— Mohamed El-Erian, CEO of Pacific Investment Management Co and author of When Markets Collide

A magnificent insider look at how Paulson and others profited off of subprime's demise... insightful and gripping.

—— Marketfolly.com

Zuckerman has a story to tell, a thread to follow, and it just happens to turn out that by following the saga of John Paulson, he reveals all kinds of fascinating perspectives on complex finance, the real estate bubble and Wall Street and Washington's difficulties in putting the two together.

—— TheDeal.com

More than a cinematic narrative of how Paulson and others figured out how to short the market. We're also reminded of how opaque and illiquid some financial instruments are, how little Wall Street executives understood them, and how difficult it was for more knowledgeable bankers to say that the subprime emperor had no clothes.

—— Bloomberg

It’s one thing to be creative; it’s entirely another—and much more rare—to build a great and creative culture. Over more than thirty years, Ed Catmull has developed methods to root out and destroy the barriers to creativity, to marry creativity to the pursuit of excellence, and, most impressive, to sustain a culture of disciplined creativity during setbacks and success. Pixar’s unrivaled record, and the joy its films have added to our lives, gives his method the most important validation: It works

—— Jim Collins - Author of GOOD TO GREAT

A wonderful new book . . . Unlike most books written by founders, this isn’t some myth-heavy legacy project—it’s far closer to a blueprint. Catmull takes us inside the Pixar ecosystem and shows how they build and refine excellence, in revelatory detail. . . . If you do creative work, you should read it, now

—— Daniel Coyle - Author of THE TALENT CODE

A fascinating story about how some very smart people built something that profoundly changed the animation business and, along the way, popular culture . . . [Creativity, Inc.] is a well-told tale, full of detail about an interesting, intricate business. For fans of Pixar films, it’s a must-read. For fans of management books, it belongs on the ‘value added’ shelf

—— Wall Street Journal

Business gurus love to tell stories about Pixar, but this is our first chance to hear the real story from someone who lived it and led it. Everyone interested in managing innovation—or just good managing—needs to read this book

—— Chip Heath - Author of SWITCH

What is the secret to making more of the good stuff? Every so often Hollywood embraces a book that it senses might provide the answer. . . . Catmull’s book is quickly becoming the latest bible for the show business crowd

—— New York Times

Too often, we seek to keep the status quo working. This is a book about breaking it

—— Seth Godin - Author of ALL MARKETEERS ARE LIARS

For those brave enough, Creativity Inc. is a call to strive for the very best, with, just as importantly, precuise instructions as to how to go about it

—— Independent on Sunday

Fascinating...A smart guide to getting the best out of employees and therefore the business

—— The Times

A great book for anyone interested in inspiring and managing creative talent (Books of the Year)

—— Financial Times , Lionel Barber, Editor of the Financial Times

In this riveting, well-written expose, Shaxson goes deep into the largely unexamined realm of offshore money. In the process, he reveals that this shadow world is no mere sideshow, but is troublingly central to modern finance, with the US and the UK as leaders. The resulting abuses are widespread, ranging from tax revenue stripping from African nations to individuals and corporations escaping enforcement and accountability. A must read for anyone who wants to understand the hidden reasons why financial services firms have become so powerful and impossible to reform

—— Yves Smith, creator of Naked Capitalism and author of Econned

They who sold us globalisation as a way of the whole world getting richer with fair rules, cheated us by letting the rich and powerful go "offshore". This gripping exposé should help end the scandal

—— Anthony Barnett, founder of openDemocracy

Possibly the most important political book that I have read since The Spirit Level

—— Stuart Weir, co-founder of Charter 88, former editor of the New Statesman

He has prised the lid off an important and terrifying can of worms

—— Martin Vander Weyer , Literary Review

Lively and well written book

—— Toby Young , Mail on Sunday

A welcome account of how the sun is never allowed to set on the British empire's old islands, whose fiscal pirates hoard the tax-free treasures of the rich

—— Geoffrey Robertson , New Statesman, Books of the Year

Shaxson delves into capitalism's secret nooks and tells us about how a culture of secrecy can perpetuate itself. Very interesting

—— William Leith , Evening Standard

A compelling read [...] an important and very much a live topic, it'll take you a few hours to read the book but it will be a worthwhile investment of time

—— Peter Magee , Bookbag

What makes this such a good read for the layman is that the author employs all his journalistic skill (he used to work at Reuters) to illustrate his arguments and uses real examples to real examples to illustrate complex issues

—— John Arlidge , Sunday Times

This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the world we live in

—— Brian Maye , Irish Times

This engrossing book about the offshore banking racket, with its eye-opening scrutiny of tax havens and the suited scoundrels who profit from them, will make you think again about the murkier side of the City...This first-rate forensic work ends with a plea that the closed City "must be abolished and submerged into a...fully democratic London"

—— Boyd Tonkin , Independent

[An] informed polemic against finance capital

—— Oliver Kamm , The Times

Now more than a decade old, this is still the best introduction to the world of tax havens

—— Economist, *Summer Reads of 2022*
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