The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History
Broadway Business
November 2009
On Sale: November 3, 2009
304 pages
ISBN: 0385529910
EAN: 9780385529914
Hardcover
$26.00
Non-Fiction
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.
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