Insider Trading Pioneer The Wolf of Wall Street
First up I need to say this is without doubt one of the greatest enterprise biographies I've read, if any historical figure fully captures the duality of man it should be Andrew Carnegie. What makes him so fascinating is that so much of what he did seems so contradionary. In his David Nasaws book "ANDREW CARNEGIE" this Jekyll and Hyde nature of the tycoon is totally explored. Nasaw is obviously slightly in awe of his subject, as was I after reading this book. Nasaw manages to show the greatness of the man with out flinching away from his sheer ruthlessness. From a beginning mired in Scottish poverty (probably the most miserable kind), insider trading rail method stocks (the social media stocks of the day) to get his first pile of cash to breaking strikes with out breaking a sweat, guided by Spencer's theories of Social darwanism all the way in which (Totally explored within the book) Carnegie was one ruthless player. Not only was Carnegie a development setter when it got here to insider trading and destroying unions, he was the first Billionaire to redeem himself by way of philantrophy, setting the scene for later sainthood seeking rich man like Buffet and Gates. Ultimately all of it turns to custard for Carnegie however the trip is enthralling and I couldn't put the book down.
HATE BANKERS? You quickly will - The Wolf of Wall Street & Catching the Wolf of Wall Street
In case you are the type of one who hates bankers (just about everyone, besides bankers) then you might be really going to hate Jordan Belfort. That mentioned considering that The Wolf of Wall Street was a bestseller I'd say not less than most people have a love hate relationship with this type of figure. Probably along the lines hate them nicking your money but would love to, because the blurb says, party like a rock star, live like a king. And Belfort actually did that. I for one admire a man who embraces his personal nature and runs with it, damn the apologies He is additionally a superb example of how in need of extermination / life imprisonment its tough to hold these types down for long, From ruining firms to run away business success Belfort just keeps making money. Even Federal Fees haven't held him down for long, after ratting all his buddies and associates, he segued into making one other fortune refinancing house loans serving to (covered in Catching the Wolf of Wall Street: More Incredible True Stories of Fortunes, Schemes, Events, and Jail) so that individuals could purchase that 2nd 50inch flat screen. He has now remade himself of course as a SELF IMPROVEMENT GURU! Belfort seems to have particular ability for locating probably the most reviled industry of the time, and thriving in them. This is probably also because that's the place the money is.
Which brings us to Central Story of The Wolf of Wall Street the company he arrange Stratton Oakmont Basically Stratton Oakmont was a pump and dump boiler room. Which is the place you own a big block of shares in an organization which is valueless, you hire a bunch of chaps to offer the hard sell to your marks, ramp up the price, promote out, after which watch the company crater. As Belfort describes it his particular genius was figuring out that the rich have so much more money the poor individuals, and thus it made more sense to steal their money. Boiler rooms have traditionally been pretty downmarket operations (the name comes from the truth that are sometimes run out of boiler rooms). Belfort re branded his business, went upmarket and made piles of dosh. He then reinvested his in poor health gotten good points in Cocaine, Quaaludes, High End prostitutes and Helicopters. The final of which proved to be most dangerous. And in fact at the finish of the day, and I believe Belfort would agree the true ethical of this tale of deceit and decadence, isn't fly a helicopter when you are on Quaaludes.
