Buying Options

Print List Price:	$18.00
Kindle Price:	$14.99 Save $3.01 (17%)
Sold by:	Random House LLC Price set by seller.

Promotions apply when you purchase

Add Audible narration to your purchase for just $8.99

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Enter a promotion code or Gift Card

Share <Embed>

The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History by [Gregory Zuckerman]

Audible Sample

Playing...

Paused

Follow the Author

Gregory Zuckerman

The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History Kindle Edition

by Gregory Zuckerman (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

546 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$14.99

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$23.30

$22.90

$1.85

Paperback, Illustrated

"Please retry"

$11.35

$10.78

$2.14

Audio CD, Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$9.82

$68.00

$9.82

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.

Print length

322 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Currency
Publication date

October 26, 2009
File size

2163 KB
Page Flip

Enabled
Word Wise

Enabled
Enhanced typesetting

Enabled
See all details

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Gregory Zuckerman
576
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $11.99
Gregory Zuckerman
2,244
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $15.99
Scott Patterson
422
Kindle Edition
34 offers from $10.34
Roger Lowenstein
1,246
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $4.99
Andrew Ross Sorkin
1,245
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $14.99
Edward O. Thorp
775
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $4.99

Create your FREE Amazon Business account to save up to 10% with Business-only prices and free shipping.

Editorial Reviews

Review

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

"Mr. Zuckerman is a first-rate reporter who is also able to explain the complexities of real estate finance in layman’s terms. At times, The Greatest Trade Ever reads like a thriller."
--The New York Times

“How Paulson and a handful of contrarian investors pulled off this once-in-a-lifetime coup is the subject of The Greatest Trade Ever ... a fascinating and believable counter-narrative to the growing pile of books recounting the disastrous mistakes made by many of the supposedly smartest minds on Wall Street. It is also a surprisingly dramatic work...In The Greatest Trade Ever, Zuckerman skillfully shows how Paulson and a few cohorts anticipated a disaster and figured out a way to profit.”
--BusinessWeek

"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.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, Zuckerman 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

“A magnificent insider look at how Paulson and others profited off of subprime’s demise, detailing both the formulation and implementation of such a trade…Zuckerman’s work is both insightful and gripping.”
--Marketfolly.com

"Greg Zuckerman was the first to tell the world about John Paulson's sensational trade…He's written&#...

About the Author

GREGORY ZUCKERMAN is a senior writer at the Wall Street Journal, where he has been a reporter for twelve years. He pens the widely read “Heard on the Street” column and writes about hedge funds, investing, and other Wall Street topics. Zuckerman appears on CNBC twice a week to explain complex trades. He is a two-time winner of the Gerald Loeb Award for coverage of the credit crisis, the demise of WorldCom, and the collapse of hedge fund Amaranth Advisors, and he is a recipient of other awards. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B002UBRFFU
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Currency (October 26, 2009)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 26, 2009
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2163 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 322 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #377,281 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #333 in Economic History (Kindle Store)
- #398 in Biographies of Business Professionals
- #820 in Finance (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
546 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Gregory Zuckerman

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Gregory Zuckerman is a Special Writer at The Wall Street Journal. He is an investigative reporter who writes about various investing and business topics.

Greg is the author of A Shot to Save the World: A Shot to Save the World: The Inside Story of the Life-or-Death Race for a COVID-19 Vaccine, published by PenguinRandomHouse’s Portfolio division October 2021.

Greg is also the author of The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched a Quant Revolution, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. The book, which is being translated into 17 languages, was shortlisted by the Financial Times/McKinsey and the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing as one of the best business books of 2019.

Greg also is the author of The Frackers: The Outrageous Inside Story of the New Billionaire Wildcatters, a national bestseller published October 2014 that describes how several unlikely individuals created an American energy renaissance that has brought OPEC to its knees. The Frackers was named among 2014’s best books by The Financial Times and Forbes Magazine. Previously, Greg wrote The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal best seller published December 2010.

Greg and his two sons wrote Rising Above: How 11 Athletes Overcame Challenges in their Youth to Become Stars and Rising Above-Inspiring Women in Sports, books that are aimed at inspiring young readers with stories of how stars in various sports overcame imposing setbacks in their youth. The books were chosen by Scholastic Teacher magazine as top picks in 2016 and 2017.

Greg is a three-time winner of the Gerald Loeb award, the highest honor in business journalism. He won the Loeb Award in 2015 for a series of stories revealing discord between Bill Gross, founder of bond powerhouse Pimco, and others at the firm, stories that led to his departure. In 2012, Greg broke news about huge, disastrous trades by the J.P. Morgan trader nicknamed the “London Whale,” trades that resulted in $6.2 billion losses for the bank.

Greg appears regularly on CNBC, Fox Business and other networks and he makes appearances on radio stations around the globe.

Greg joined the Journal in 1996 after writing about media companies for the New York Post. He graduated from Brandeis University in 1988. Greg lives with his wife and two sons in West Orange, N.J., where they enjoy the New York Yankees in the summer, root for the Giants in the fall, and reminisce about Linsanity in the winter.

Customer reviews

5 star		71%
4 star		23%
3 star		3%
2 star		2%
1 star		1%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

PatCS

Wonderful inside view of the contrarians of finance

Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2019

Verified Purchase

I’ve been reading a lot of books over the past several years starting with the Great Depression and spanning most of the economic histories to the present. This is a hobby, but one that’s been highly gratifying. I find Mr. Zuckerman to be a highly readable author, extremely talented in his ability to convey the messy complexities of the markets and economy. He also has the skill to provide developed descriptions and motivations of the players. This is one I’ll be reading again. Much thanks to the author.

10 people found this helpful

Helpful

Zephyr

When American finance suspended sound judgement...

Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2019

Verified Purchase

Remembering that every trade requires someone on the other side to transact with, the reader will understand that for everyone who lost money, someone made money. Those shrewd players (like Paulson) who made money in this disaster proves that Wall Street doesn't generally move in lockstep, It's a good, fast read.

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

Desert Bill

Clear write up of a complex subject

Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2019

Verified Purchase

This is a well written book, primarily regarding the complex financial world of mortgages and mortgage derivatives.

Interesting that at least one of the people responsible for the debacle walked away with a nine figure pay out.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

RisingWolf

A must for everyone who uses money!!

Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2015

Verified Purchase

Excellent insight into the greatest criminal economic travesty ever visited on the American people. The $7,000,000,000 (trillion) loss is second only to Bernie Madoff and the cumulative Ponzi schemers. The revelation of the inept complicity of the U.S. governments actions/inaction visa vie the SEC is not surprising. However, it is stunning in its scope and duration.

The authors research, verification and "novel" like delivery makes for an intriguing "who dunnit." The folks who saw the disaster coming years before it happened and were able to profit HUGELY from it is a testimonial to the American entrepreneur.

Zuckerman's skill in presenting arcane, complicated and obfuscating financial "mumbo jumbo" is brilliant--this stuff can be mind numbing in its complexity. It should be a business school required reading as well as critical to every Americans financial health.

What you don't know will financially RUIN you!!

12 people found this helpful

Helpful

The Big Bet

Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2011

Verified Purchase

"The Greatest Trade Ever" is a fascinating and entertaining read, fully comprehensible for those non-Wall Street insiders, exposing the underbelly of the financial industry in the midst of the bursting housing bubble. However, the book title is a bit of a misnomer in my mind. This book would have been best titled "the most profitable Wall Street" bet ever made. John Paulson and his team certainly had the foresight to dig deep and smell the rotten filth of sub-prime lending crisis. While I don't share the lionization of him the way Zuckerman's title and much of the book portrays, this still was a very fast moving and inside story that can't be conveyed in a NYT or WSJ article. On that level, this books works well for me.

On the other hand, the book leaves me more troubled and disenchanted with the financial industry..... and I'm a bullish believer in the free market. Reading this book left me even more jaded of much of the financial industry and their ability to create negative global impact greater than the benefit they deliver. Sure, there are aspects of the industry that serve useful purposes --- i.e., helping companies raise capital to finance growth. However, much of the industry seems like cess pool of individuals who've never created innovative products or services to sell to consumers or businesses. Or taken an innovative idea and created and/or revolutionized categories or industries. They are big time gamblers, playing mostly with house money and limited accountability (unless things go well) usinge opaque and risky investment instruments. John Paulson was wildly successful by those measures, but probably wouldn't last a day running a Fortune 100 company, leading tens of thousands of employees or being one of the millions of individuals with an idea and a dream that are the true engines of the American economy.

"The Greatest Trade Ever" was a fantastic read even if the characters and their industry leave little to respect or admire.

13 people found this helpful

Helpful

Beldar

Very good

Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2019

Verified Purchase

Good book, the wisdom of going against the tide....

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Hawkeye

A real American financial success story?

Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2013

Verified Purchase

A very easy and complete read illustrating John Paulson, Michael Burry, and Gregg Lippman's hugely successful parts in the Housing Crisis Of 2008. Although we know the ending, this book reads like a thriller forcing the read! It provides valuable insight as to what happened with the synthetic mortgage creations MBS and CDO's and how savvy ordinary individuals learned, studied, bet on, and ultimately succeeded in obtaining billions legally, holding CDS, mortgage protection.

It is ironic that the corrupt actions of Congress that failed to protect the common citizen, held hearings to question the risk takers that beat the system! I share John Paulson's future vision of an inflation bubble coming.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Glenn Falcao

Excellent research

Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2018

Verified Purchase

Straightforward and concise description of the real estate triggers behind the market meltdown. Uncomplicated explanation of the exotic financial instruments developed around the real estate bubble.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Jeremy

A very good read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 23, 2020

Verified Purchase

This is a great book for understanding the events leading up to the financial meltdown of 2008/9, explaining the key people that foresaw the problems and the financial instruments that were the root of the problem

One person found this helpful

Pete Farmer

Compelling, but could be told better

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 1, 2011

Verified Purchase

The Greatest Trade on Earth succeeds, like Andrew Ross Sorkin's tome "Too Big to Fail" in making a difficult and complex subject relatively accessible by writing it in the format of a novel.

That said, it could have majored more on the background and some of the complex derivatives and investments involved at the expense of irrelevant deep biographical background on some of the minor "characters" involved. Equally, Zuckerman omits detail where it was required towards the end, such as with his investing strategies after the Great Trade.

If, like me, you suspected that trouble was brewing from unsustainable consumer borrowing in the mid noughties, then the book will resonate well. If you are looking for an account of the credit crunch, try Too Big to Fail or Masters of Nothing before tacking this one as it will make more sense.

All in all though, it is still an informative and compelling read.

3 people found this helpful

john akwils

Informative but too technical

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 25, 2017

Verified Purchase

We always enjoy reading a success story through the life of a celebrated protagonist told with suspense. However the narrative is repetitive. Adding to that too much technicalities for a larger audience makes you feel like skipping pages.

One person found this helpful

Rod1000

As good as Big Short but a different set of characters and story line

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 20, 2020

Verified Purchase

Another fascinating page-turner on the financial crisis. Focused on character portraits in much the same style as Michael Lewis. If you enjoyed the Big Short, you'll love this.