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.
"From the Hardcover edition."
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