The Greatest Trade Ever

The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History

By: Gregory Zuckerman

Narrated by: Marc Cashman

Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2009 Gregory Zuckerman (P)2009 Random House

Critic reviews

"Greg Zuckerman's book is much, much more than a brilliant account of Paulson's trade of the century; it also provides a highly enjoyable and lucid journey through the analytical and emotional maze that constituted the financial markets on the eve of the Great Recession. The book is compulsory reading for those looking for exceptional insights on the complex forces that interconnect Wall Street, hedge funds and Main Street." (Mohamed El-Erian, Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Investment Management Co.)

If you like The Big Short this is for you

Great story, easy to
Follow and fascinating subject matter if you like the story of the. Of the Big Short

Excellent narrator

Even audio is over 11hour long, it took me two days to finnished. Narrator is also as good as the book.

SImply mesmerizing

Listening to this story captivated my weekend, I got sucked in and could not detach myself from my iPod.
I had been a keen observer of the sub prime meltdown, but now I see so much more of the background, rationale and to a certain extent the culprits to this hideous crime that has scarred so much of the US social landscape.
To see the blindness shown by so many to the looming disaster seems easy with 20/20 hindsight, I only hope that more people read this to appreciate the madness that pervaded this event in our history.
The book is brilliant - well read and excellently written - top marks.

A detailed biographical study of thinking men

It takes courage to speak your mind when your analysis goes against societal thinking. It takes massive guts to put your money where your mouth is anticipating that your analysis is correct even when the thing you believe will happen had never happened before. This book details the lives and funds of the men who thought outside financial group think of the 2000s and risked their fortunes in the process. A must read and listen to story.

Exciting and reviting

What a great book that keeps you at the edge of your seat. A great way to understand the fraud wallstreet has been allowed to create legally. The practice should be outlawed.

Paulson and crew are legends

This is one of the greatest accounts of the financial crisis. The foresight these traders had was remarkable. I couldn't stop listening. Narrator's voice was crisp enough that the book can be listened to at 2.5 speed.

Better than other books on the same account

This is far better than the other books accounting the same financial event. Quite enjoyable read with enough details from multiple people involved.

The Great John Paulson!

Another amazing story by Greg Zuckerman, and one that yields many lessons for the future. Very interesting storytelling.

Great Listen and Very Informative

Whether you are a Wall Street professional or an average reader, I think you will find this book highly entertaining and very educational. The author does a great job of developing the story, the players and explaining all the finance behind it. It's a great account of what led up to the financial crisis and how it began to unravel and also gives you a lot of perspective into Hedge Funds and Investment Banks.

This book was written in a similar fashion as "When Genius Failed" which is another good Wall Street book.

Fantastic Story with Great Context

This is a great story about the company and the man who did the trading. It also provides a very nice description of what was happening with CDO's, the housing market, and Wall Street. You will understand what happened after listing to this. You will also wonder how the big companies did not see it coming much sooner.