In this fourth volume of The Deals of Warren Buffett, we trace Buffett’s journey as he made Berkshire Hathaway the most respected company in the world.

When we left Buffett at the end of Volume 3 towards the end of the 1990s, he was leading the largest corporation in America and his personal fortune had reached $40 billion. In this enthralling next instalment, we follow Buffett’s investment deals over the first few years of the 21st century, as Berkshire grew to become a giant with annual profits north of $4 billion.

Buffett, then in his early 70s, was still tap dancing to work, thoroughly enjoying analysing companies, finding bargains and interacting with his growing team of managers.

By studying the decision-making that went into his investment deals and the successful and unsuccessful outcomes, we can learn from Buffett and become better investors ourselves.

During this period, exploiting the low prices following the dot-com crash, Buffett made investments in the following companies: MidAmerican Energy, CORT, Moody’s, H&R Block, Shaw Industries, Star Furniture, Jordan’s Furniture, Ben Bridge Jeweler, Justin Boot, Acme Brick, Benjamin Moore and CTB.

For each of these deals, investing expert and Buffett historian Glen Arnold dives into unprecedented detail to analyse the investment rationale, the stories of the individuals involved and, where possible, the profits Buffett made.

In this groundbreaking book, renowned global economist David McWilliams unlocks the mysteries and the awesome power of money: what it is, how it works and why it matters.

Money is an epic, breathlessly entertaining journey across the world through the present and the past, from the birthplace of money in ancient Babylon to the beginning of trade along the silk road to China, from Marrakech markets to Wall Street and the dawn of cryptocurrency. By tracking its history McWilliams uncovers our relationship with money, transforming our perspective on its impact on the world right now.

The story of money is the story of our desires, our genius and our downfalls. Money has shaped the very essence of what it means to be human. We can’t hope to understand ourselves without it. And yet despite money’s primacy, most of us don’t truly understand it. Where does money come from? How much is out there? Who controls it? Nothing we’ve invented as a species has defined our own evolution so thoroughly and changed the direction of our planet’s history so dramatically. Money is power – and power beguiles. It unleashes our deepest cravings.

The story of money is the story of earth’s most inventive, destructive and dangerous animal, Homo Sapiens. It is our story.

Pitching sucks. The word alone conjures up dull PowerPoint decks, pushy tactics, and shouty emails. But it doesn't have to be that way.

Danny Fontaine, an expert in innovative pitching, presents a game-changing guide that transforms pitching into an exciting, creative and enjoyable experience. Drawing from his billion-dollar pitching experience, this book delves into the psychology of connection and storytelling mastery, alongside practical methods for persuading any audience. And it's all backed with anecdotes of some of the very best, and worst, pitches of all time.

These techniques work in any context, from corporate boardrooms to classroom lectures to after-dinner speeches, proving that great pitching is all about creating experiences and evoking emotions.

Forget PowerPoint and discover how to captivate any audience, win more deals, and have fun doing it.

Do big government debts and fast rates of adding to them threaten our collective well-being? In this groundbreaking analysis, Ray Dalio, one of the greatest investors of our time and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Principles, shares the reasons behind his fears for the US debt markets, answering some of the most important market and economic questions we now face: Are there limits to debt growth? Can a big, important reserve currency country like the US really go broke? Is there such a thing as a 'Big Debt Cycle' that can tell us when to worry about debt and what to do about it?

For decades, politicians, policymakers and investors have debated these questions, but the Big Debt Cycle that helps answer them is not talked about or well understood. With the US debt issue coming to a head, Dalio’s How Countries Go Broke provides the first-ever detailed analysis of the Big Debt Cycle, explaining its implications and offering a surprisingly straightforward solution to getting debt problems like those faced by the US under control.

Dalio has built his career as a leading global macro investor by studying the patterns of history to develop unconventional perspectives on what’s happening in markets and economies today. It was this approach that led him, in the years leading up to the 2008 Great Financial Crisis, to study the Great Depression and other past big debt crises and use what he learned to navigate the turbulent markets successfully. By looking closely at thirty-five cases over the past 100 years when governments have gone broke and studying the mechanics behind them, Dalio has developed a first-of-its-kind template for what to watch for and what to do when the threat is as significant as his measures show that it now is. He has discussed this template with treasury secretaries and central bankers from around the world and is now sharing it with the public to help bring urgent attention to the big risks the US and a number of other countries face – and to explain how to avoid the worst-case scenario.

Whether it's pumping oil, mining resources or shipping commodities across oceans, the global economy runs on extraction. Promises of frictionless trade and lucrative speculation are the hallmarks of our era, but the backbone of globalisation is still low-cost labour and rapacious corporate control. Extractive capitalism is what made - and is still making - our unequal world.

Professor Laleh Khalili reflects on the hidden stories behind late capitalism, from seafarers abandoned on debt-ridden container ships to the nefarious reach of consultancy firms and the cronyism that drives record-breaking profits.

Piercing, wry and constantly revealing, Extractive Capitalism brings vividly to light the dark truths behind the world's most voracious industries.

A striving for national self-sufficiency is shaping up to be one of the greatest forces of twenty-first century geopolitics - Exile Economics is a provocative warning about the risks of abandoning globalisation and how isolationism weakens the global economy.

The dangerous race for self-sufficiency has begun. Be warned.

Nations are turning away from each other. Faith in globalisaton has been fatally undermined by the pandemic, the energy crisis, surging trade frictions and swelling great power rivalry. A new vision is vying to replace what we've known for many decades. This vision - Exile Economics - entails a rejection of interdependence, a downgrading of multilateral collaboration and a striving for greater national self-sufficiency. The supporters of this new order argue it will establish genuine security, prosperity and peace. But is this promise achievable? Or a seductive delusion?

Through the stories of globally traded commodities - from silicon to steel and from soybeans to solar panels - economics journalist Ben Chu illustrates the intricate web of interdependence that has come to bind nations together - and underlines the dangers of this new push to isolationism. Exile Economics is an essential guide to this new world in all its promise and peril.

A jaw-dropping microhistory of the global economy over the last fifty years told through the many lives of a single ship.

At 94 meters long and 9,500 deadweight tonnes, once called the Bibby Resolution, is an unremarkable hulk, crossing the oceans unnoticed. And yet, the astonishing journey of this boat can tell us the story of the modern world.

First built as a Swedish offshore oil rig in the 1970s, it went on to become a barracks for British soldiers in the Falklands War in the 1980s, a jail off New York in the 1990s, a prison in Portland in the 2000s, and accommodation for Nigerian oil workers off the coast of Africa in the 2010s. It has been called Safe Esperia, HMP The Weare, even 'The Love Boat'. In each of its lives this empty vessel has been commanded by economic forces much larger than itself: private investment, war, mass incarceration, imperial interests, national sovereignty, inflation, booms, busts and greed.

Through its encounters with a world of island tax havens, the English court system, exploited labour forces, free banking zones or immigration politics, the ordinary boat at the heart of this story reveals our complex modern economy to us, connecting the dots of a dramatically changing world in the making, and warning us of its dangerous consequences.

Real-life, hard-won wisdom on how to start, run and grow a successful business, from the founder of The Sweaty Startup.

If you ask the average person who an entrepreneur is, they’ll probably say people like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg. But the truth is, you don’t need to know how to code or raise VC money to start a business. There are hundreds of millions of small business owners globally, with most creating simple, straightforward services that customers need.

Nick Huber, founder of The Sweaty Startup and several million-dollar businesses, challenges the prevailing Silicon Valley wisdom by demonstrating that success as a small business owner is based on the essential principle of doing common things uncommonly well. In The Sweaty Startup, Nick offers readers the simplest, easiest, and lowest-risk path to reclaiming entrepreneurship, generating value, and forging a new path to get ahead on their own terms. By returning to the most foundational business tactics, this book is a refreshing burst of clarity and simplicity in a world that’s obsessed with technology startups, the suffocating squeeze of digital innovation, and the elusive lure of billion-dollar payouts.

Filled to the brim with practical insights, inspiring real-life stories, and actionable advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, Nick will reveal how to create a business that succeeds on the most essential level: making money, consistently and predictably over the long term. His book will redefine entrepreneurship and become the go-to handbook for years to come.

Apple isn’t just a brand; it’s the world’s most valuable company and creator of the 21st century’s defining product. The iPhone has revolutionized the way we live, work and connect. But Apple is now a victim of its own success, caught in the middle of a new Cold War between two superpowers.

On the brink of bankruptcy in 1996, Apple shifted its operations offshore. By 2003 it was lured to China by the promise of affordable, ubiquitous labour. As the iPod and iPhone transformed Apple’s fortunes, their sophisticated production played a seminal role in financing, training, supervising, and supplying Chinese manufacturers – skills Beijing is now weaponizing against the West.

Investigative journalist Patrick McGee draws on 200 interviews with former Apple executives and engineers to reveal how Cupertino’s choice to anchor its supply chain in China has increasingly made it vulnerable to the regime’s whims. Both an insider’s historical account and a cautionary tale, Apple in China is the first history of Apple to go beyond the biographies of its top executives and set the iPhone’s global domination within an increasingly fraught geopolitical context.

When you think about retirement, what comes to mind? Maybe it has something to do with stopping work, but should it? Whatever your plans for retirement are, do you know how to achieve them? Do you know how your pensions, ISAs, property and everything else will come together to deliver the lifestyle you want one day?

In this deeply practical book, 25-year veteran financial planner Pete Matthew walks you through the three phases of retirement:

• The Home Straight – the last five or ten years before retirement, when it’s time to get everything in place and aligned
• The Great Transition – for many of us, retiring is a process not an event and it looks different for each of us
• The New Normal – once we’re settled into our new life, we need to keep everything under review and look towards some later life planning

In this book, you’ll find everything you need to KNOW and everything you need to DO to plan and enjoy your perfect retirement.

An expert guide to navigating and unlocking the secrets of the business world to advance anyone's career.

So many people are trying to navigate a corporate world that is laden with secrets; cleverly hidden and unspoken rules to a game that most employees don’t know they are playing. In order to find the success that most people want in their careers, it requires navigating this unspoken set of guidelines effectively.

Secrets of the Career Game is geared towards arming individuals with the knowledge they need to understand how to evaluate their own competencies, build their toolset to open doors for progression, and establish a network that will accelerate their growth.

Look around you – is anything real or normal any more? News, images and videos created by AI are everywhere. The world we live in is changing daily, and it’s no exaggeration to say that everything you thought you knew is undergoing apocalyptic levels of change. Our new normal includes AI CEOs, AI partners, AI versions of our dead relatives to keep us company, and customers deploying their own adversarial agent ‘armies’ to hostile-negotiate on their behalf.

Meanwhile, the expensive skills you have accumulated, the jobs you’ve fought for, the relationships you’ve invested in, the organisations you’ve worked for and the economies we depend on for survival are shrinking even as our choices expand.

Discernment and understanding of context are now critical to your survival. So, let’s stare the future down and, instead of fearing AI, become solutionists. In order to survive in this hypercompetitive, globalised and automated world, where the strongest and smartest winners are set to take all, we need to change our mindsets and our skill sets to become fit for the ‘post-AI, apocalyptic’ world that is here to stay. This means embracing progress and turning AI and technology into an asset with which we can co-exist, while continuing to create new possibilities far into the future.

This book is a call to action to live on the flipside of fear.

This book is the book you wish your terrible former manager had read: a manual and silent mentor to help managers navigate the trickiest of days in their role and allow team members to do their best work. From Gen X to Gen Alpha and everyone else in between.

From the first to the 500th time you have to hire or fire someone, understanding how on earth that ‘performance management’ thing works (properly), and if appraisals are crap, what do we do instead? – this book is the bible to follow to nail managing people.

Allying the soft skills needed to have the right mindset, to the hard skills that underpin unshakeable systems, leadership trainer and content creator Heather Elkington lays down the 16 rules to follow if you want to lead a high-performing team that gets you noticed for all the right reasons.