...John Snow October 31st, 2013 Business in Society Liar’s Poker Analysis The book Liar’s Poker begins with Michael Lewis, the author saying "Wall Street,” reads the sinister old gag, "is a street with a river at one end and a graveyard at the other.” This quote, symbolizing competitiveness, refers to the river as growth and prosperity and the graveyard as death in a company proves to be the fundamental principle that led Michael Lewis to write this book. The book portrays Michael Lewis’ time with Salomon Brothers (SB), the largest bond dealer in the 1980s. It outlines the business model that SB used to maximize capital in the mortgage bond market. By the mid- 1980’s SB had become the most influential bond dealer in the market. However, there prominence as the top performing bond dealer was short lived and subsequent events led Michael Milken to take over their position as early as 1987. Even though Sb had success and made millions of dollars, Liar’s Poker showed that businesses can’t continue to prosper with a flawed business model. Even though SB’s success was short lived the theme of taking advantage of every opportunity is ongoing throughout the entire book. The driving force that led SB to their success in the early 1980s was pure luck. The mortgage bonds division of SB was set up by Lewie Ranieri, a man who was fascinated with trading anything. However, at the time mortgage bonds were not valuable because people were able to simply borrow from the banks at a steady...
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...Liar’s Poker Like many college graduates in recent years, Michael Lewis aimed at a career in investment banking. Unlike most of the others, Lewis did not take either himself or his ambitions with full seriousness. He majored in art history rather than economics at Yale; and, far from pursuing a career in the bond market with tenacity, he received his job as the result of an accidental meeting during a London dinner. The dinner in question, which Lewis describes with a sharp eye for the ridiculous, was one for the Queen Mother Elizabeth. Lewis found that his job at Salomon Brothers was paradoxical. On the one hand, as an analyst, he was the lowest of the low and often functioned as an errand boy for more senior members of the firm. On the other hand, he had the power to engage in trades that involved millions of dollars. The training program at Salomon Brothers was reputed to be the best in the world and virtually guaranteed its graduates a successful career in the market. Further, the lucrative bonuses available to the analysts meant that men (and a few women) in their mid-twenties might earn several hundred thousand dollars a year. Lewis soon discovered that the job contained many drawbacks. The workload was intense, and many of the analysts developed odd quirks, such as eating binges, as a result of stress. Competition led to frequent attempts to hijack the deals made by others. A veteran of business infighting deprived Lewis of the credit due to him for his most successful...
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...Review of Michael Lewis “Don’t eat a fortune’s cookies” graduation speech to the princeton class of 2012 by: Guadalupe de la Cruz published in the september 29,2014,issue The graduating class of 2012 had the privilege to listen to a Princeton graduate Michael Lewis deliver a speech that he called “Don’t Eat a Fortune’s Cookie”. He majored in art history. This speech consisted on him, his experiences, talked about his life how he wanted to be a very good book writer he wrote two very amazing books called Moneyball and Liar’s poker they sold a million copies he wanted to become famous. Many people said he wouldn’t make it to become a good book writer and become famous but that didn’t stop him from doing what he really loves to do. He was certainly less prepared for the marketplace than most of the graduate class but somehow he ended up rich and famous. well almost. In his speech he explained how everything happened he wanted the graduated class of 2012 to understand how mysterious a career can be before they go out and have one themselves....
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...Liar’s Poker written by Michael Lewis is a look into the author’s life working for the Salomon Brother as a broker. During this time the Salomon Brothers were one of the most profitable companies on Wall Street. Lewis decided to take the job which was one of the top trading firms after he had graduated from The London School of Economics. This opportunity came at a great time as this was when the market was booming and the money was flowing in from all different angles. This book mainly focuses on the aspects on the rise and fall on the industry as it was seen through its Fixed Equity Bond Selling and Trading departments. Lewis outlines the exact business model that the Solomon Brothers used in order to maximize their capital in the mortgage...
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...FI 398 Paper on Liar’s Poker The History of the Secondary Mortgage Market The secondary mortgage market is one of the richest asset classes in the world today. This market is formed by the trading of securities that are backed by commercial and residential mortgages. There are two main assets that are traded. These are Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS), and Collateralized Mortgage Obligations (CMOs). These two distinct asset classes make the market a very profitable one for many large investment corporations. Thanks to legislative action, most notably when Michael Lewis said, “From the early 1930s legislators had created a portfolio of incentives for Americans to borrow money to buy their homes”(121). These legislative policies made owning your own home something more attractive, because borrowing for it went on to benefit you for tax purposes. In the 1970s, the nation’s mortgage portfolio was booming in growth. As Lewis noted, “the volume of outstanding mortgage loans swelled from $55 billion in 1950 to $700 billion in 1976. In January 1980 that figure became $1.2 trillion, and the mortgage market surpassed the combined United States stock markets as the largest capital market in the world”(122). These are truly shocking numbers. The growth in the industry was completely unforeseen. While there are several similarities between mortgages and bonds, particularly after the development of MBS and CMOs, they are also different. The main difference is that bonds...
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...Brandon Sheppard Z23077608 Dec. 2, 2010 Inga Chira FIN 3403 2010 Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis Being a bond trader sounds like a good idea, using someone else’s money to make money. Working on Wall Street would be cool but I don’t think I would like to live in New York plus its cold there. A Bond trader has to have a unique characteristic about them. First, they have to have Masters in Business Administration or mathematics. This would be the first qualification to the job. According the website “ehow”, being a bond trader today is different from the days when traders had a "feel for the market." Today's traders have advanced degrees, use sophisticated modeling techniques, have great drive and can multitask to provide the company and customers with efficient decision making. Getting a job is a function of your academic success, your personality and your ability to ask impressive credentials. This aspect of the job seems to be the most challenging part of the job. If I have the skills and requirement I do think I would become a bond trader on Wall Street, and will do this because we know this is how the Government injects money into the economy. The aspect of the job that I found most unbelievable was the fact is that company didn’t talk money in the hiring process. If that was me I don’t think I would have finish the hiring process . I would have told them also you can take this job and shove it up their rears you know. Another, I didn’t believe is the part when he was...
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...Business Problem Paper The Amazon Kindle is a wireless, "convenient, and portable reading device with the ability to download books, blogs, magazines and newspapers" from almost anywhere in the United States (Amazon, 2008). Michael Lewis, the author of Moneyball and Liar’s Poker predicts, “this (the Amazon Kindle) is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere.” (Amazon, 2008). This report will determine whether the current $399.00 price tag is reasonable to successfully support and sustain the sale of the Kindle. It will clearly define the dependent and independent variables of the study, state the null and alternative hypotheses, and the methodology used to test the hypotheses. It will compute the sample size required which will provide clear support for the criteria used. The samples that are selected and produced are described, including the methodology used to collect the data and a description of the survey instruments. A final recommendation is offered regarding whether the Kindle is a good buy at $399, or if Amazon needs to alter the price or product. What is the Amazon Kindle? The Kindle is Amazons version of an eBook reader. It has been in the making for three years, first offered to the public in November 2007. It uses eInk, a screen that offers non-glare viewing, and no backlighting which mimics a traditional paper publication feel. Using Whispernet technology and the Sprint network, the Kindle uses wireless access at no cost to the consumer. It offers...
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...For the Love of Money In my last year on Wall Street my bonus was $3.6 million — and I was angry because it wasn’t big enough. I was 30 years old, had no children to raise, no debts to pay, no philanthropic goal in mind. I wanted more money for exactly the same reason an alcoholic needs another drink: I was addicted. Eight years earlier, I’d walked onto the trading floor at Credit Suisse First Boston to begin my summer internship. I already knew I wanted to be rich, but when I started out I had a different idea about what wealth meant. I’d come to Wall Street after reading in the book “Liar’s Poker” how Michael Lewis earned a $225,000 bonus after just two years of work on a trading floor. That seemed like a fortune. Every January and February, I think about that time, because these are the months when bonuses are decided and distributed, when fortunes are made. I’d learned about the importance of being rich from my dad. He was a modern-day Willy Loman, a salesman with huge dreams that never seemed to materialize. “Imagine what life will be like,” he’d say, “when I make a million dollars.” While he dreamed of selling a screenplay, in reality he sold kitchen cabinets. And not that well. We sometimes lived paycheck to paycheck off my mom’s nurse-practitioner salary. Dad believed money would solve all his problems. At 22, so did I. When I walked onto that trading floor for the first time and saw the glowing flat-screen TVs, high-tech computer monitors and phone...
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...Ch 1: BASIC CONCEPTS IN FINANCE • Finance is the study of how resources are valued and allocated in time. • Outcomes of financial decisions are spread out over time and not known with certainty in advance • Three key concepts in finance are : Time value of money Asset Valuation (stocks, bonds, derivatives,...) Risk management 1.1: Interest and return • Income almost never matches consumption desires exactly. Either one will need to borrow to purchase more than one can afford or save excess income. • Costs / benefits of financial decisions are spread over time. So one needs to compare values of cashflows which mature at different times. Time value of money: 1ZAR in the hand today is worth more than the expectation of 1ZAR in the future. Why? • Opportunity cost: To give up consumption of your 1ZAR today, you would expect to be rewarded with a greater amount in the future; the promise of consumption at a higher level in the future motivates one to save. The desire to receive surplus on savings leads to an interest rate called the pure time value of money. • Inflation: Prices of goods rarely stay the same over time. The purchasing power of 1ZAR now is (usually) greater than 1ZAR later. Investors expect a higher rate of return to compensate for inflation. • Uncertainty: One may not receive the expected sum - this is referred to as investment or credit risk. • Opportunity cost: Pure time value of money give rise to pure rate of interest. • Inflation: The rate of...
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...Australian School of Business Banking and Finance FINS5513 INVESTMENTS AND PORTFOLIO SELECTION This Version: 12 July 2013 Course Outline Semester 2, 2013 Part A: Course-Specific Information Please consult Part B for key information on ASB policies (including those on plagiarism and special consideration), student responsibilities and student support services. Table of Contents PART A: COURSE-SPECIFIC INFORMATION 1 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 3 STAFF CONTACT DETAILS COURSE DETAILS Teaching Times and Locations Units of Credit Summary of Course Course Aims and Relationship to Other Courses Student Learning Outcomes LEARNING AND TEACHING ACTIVITIES 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 6 7 8 8 3.1 Approach to Learning and Teaching in the Course 3.2 Learning Activities and Teaching Strategies 4 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 5 6 7 ASSESSMENT Formal Requirements Assessment Details Assessment Format Assignment Submission Procedure Late Submission COURSE RESOURCES COURSE EVALUATION AND DEVELOPMENT COURSE SCHEDULE FINS5513 Investments and Portfolio Selection PART A: COURSE-SPECIFIC INFORMATION 1 STAFF CONTACT DETAILS Lecturer Ning Ding Ah Boon Sim Thuy To Office ASB 302 ASB 331 ASB359B Phone 9385-7864 9385-5868 9385-5865 Consultation Hours Thursday 4-6pm Thursday 4-6pm Wednesday 2-4pm E-mail n.ding@unsw.edu.au a.sim@unsw.edu.au td.to@unsw.edu.au Associate Professor Ah Boon Sim is the course lecturer-in-charge (LIC). Consultation hours will be held by lecturers during their teaching...
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...1/15/2015 The Great American Bubble Machine | Rolling Stone ǺŘČĦİVĚȘ MŲȘİČ PǾĿİȚİČȘ ȚV MǾVİĚȘ ČŲĿȚŲŘĚ ŘĚVİĚẄȘ ĿİȘȚȘ ŘȘ ČǾŲŇȚŘỲ ȘŲBȘČŘİBĚ Nutribullet … Ninja Mega … Nutri Ninja BL450 £119.99 £169.99 £80.90 (plus delivery) (plus delivery) (plus delivery) The Great American Bubble Machine Fřǿm țěčħ șțǿčķș țǿ ħįģħ ģǻș přįčěș, Ģǿŀđmǻň Șǻčħș ħǻș ěňģįňěěřěđ ěvěřỳ mǻjǿř mǻřķěț mǻňįpųŀǻțįǿň șįňčě țħě Ģřěǻț Đěpřěșșįǿň -- ǻňđ țħěỳ'řě ǻbǿųț țǿ đǿ įț ǻģǻįň BỲ MǺȚȚ ȚǺİBBİ | Ǻpřįŀ 5, 2010 Șħǻřě Țẅěěț Șħǻřě Čǿmměňț Ěmǻįŀ ADVERTISEMENT Victor Juhasz The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it's everywhere. The world's most powerful investment bank is a great http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/thegreatamericanbubblemachine20100405 AROUND THE WEB 1/61 1/15/2015 The Great American Bubble Machine | Rolling Stone vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money. In fact, the history of the recent financial crisis, which doubles as a history of the rapid decline and fall of the suddenly swindled dry American empire, reads like a Who's Who of Goldman Sachs graduates. '80ș Șțǻřș Ỳǿų Ẅǿň'ț Řěčǿģňįżě Țǿđǻỳ 5 Mįňǿř 'Șțǻř Ẅǻřș' Ǻčțǿřș Ỳǿų Đįđň'ț Řěǻŀįżě Ẅěřě İň Ěvěřỳțħįňģ Mųșįčįǻňș Ẅħǿ Ǻřěň’ț Ẅħǿ Ỳǿų Țħįňķ Țħěỳ Ǻřě Fǻmǿųș Șǿňģș Țħǻț ...
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...Harvard Business School 9-292-114 Rev. 12/17/92 Salomon and the Treasury Securities Auction In early June 1991, Salomon Vice-Chairman John Meriwether had a problem. The U.S. Treasury was inquiring about the possibility that Salomon had engineered a "squeeze" in the market for $12 billion in new Treasury notes auctioned on May 22, 1991. Ordinarily, the Treasury's concern over the possibility of a squeeze was not particularly problematic. Squeezes—that is, an unpredicted shortness of supply or high demand for a security—were not uncommon and developed for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, Meriwether had reason to believe that one of Salomon's bond traders had recently violated the Treasury's auction rules. Paul Mozer, the managing director under Meriwether overseeing Salomon's trading in U.S. Treasury securities, had disclosed to Meriwether in late April that he had broken the Treasury's limit on the size of a dealer's bid in Treasury auctions. Mozer had admitted that he submitted a bid in a February auction using the name of a customer without authorization and had managed to buy more bonds than the Treasury guidelines allowed. The problem struck close to the heart of Salomon's business. Although Salomon was among the leaders in the traditional investment banking activity of debt and equity underwriting—acting as the intermediary between issuers of new securities (corporations and governments) and the investors who bought them—its trading in securities markets drove...
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...Case Study 2: Warren E. Buffett, 1995 This case was prepared by Professor Robert F. Bruner as the basis for classroom discussion rather than to illustrate effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. On August 25, 1995, Warren Buffett, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, announced that his firm would acquire the 49.6 percent of GEICO Corporation that it did not already own. The $2.3 billion deal would give GEICO shareholders $70.00 per share, up from the $55.75 per share market price before the announcement. Observers were astonished at the 26 percent premium that Berkshire Hathaway would pay, particularly since Buffett proposed to change nothing about GEICO, and there were no apparent synergies in the combination of the two firms. At the announcement, Berkshire Hathaway’s shares closed up 2.4 percent for the day, for a gain in market value of $718 million.1 That day, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed up 0.5 percent. The acquisition of GEICO renewed public interest in its architect, Warren Buffett. In many ways he was an anomaly. One of the richest individuals in the world (with an estimated net worth of about $7 billion), he was also respected and even beloved. Though he had accumulated perhaps the best investment record in history (a compound annual increase in wealth of 28 percent from 1965 to 1994),2 Berkshire Hathaway paid him only $100,000 per year to serve as its CEO. Buffett and other insiders controlled 47.9 percent of the company, yet Buffett...
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...-1- Anatomy of a Credit Crisis 2009-07-24 This timeline has grown and been amended since it first appeared in the December, 2008, issue of The Australian Journal of Management, as the editorial, under the title of “The Dominoes Fall: a timeline of the squeeze and crunch”. I include below the December preamble. The version of mid-May, 2009, will appear as the editorial of the June 2009 issue of the AJM, under the title “Anatomy of a Credit Crisis.” I include below the June preamble, in which I assay a framework for understanding the genesis of the crisis. December, 2008: IN ITS LEADER of October 13, 2008, the Financial Times characterized the western world’s banking system as suffering “the equivalent of a cardiac arrest.” The collapse of confidence in the system means that “it is now virtually impossible for any institution to finance itself in the markets longer than overnight.” This occurred less than a month after Lehman Brothers (LB) collapsed, without bailout. Six months earlier Bear Stearns (BS) had been bailed out after JP Morgan Chase (JPM Chase) had bought it for $10 a share, at the regulator’s urging. After LB fell, who would be next? And if LB, who was not at risk? Despite the earlier U.S. government bailouts of the erstwhile government mortgage originators (and still seen as government-sponsored enterprises, or GSEs), the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), and the later bailout of the...
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...UVA-F-1483 Version 2.3 WARREN E. BUFFETT, 2005 On May 24, 2005, Warren E. Buffett, the chairperson and chief executive officer (CEO) of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., announced that MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, would acquire the electric utility PacifiCorp. In Buffett’s largest deal since 1998, and the second largest of his entire career, MidAmerican would purchase PacifiCorp from its parent, Scottish Power plc, for $5.1 billion in cash and $4.3 billion in liabilities and preferred stock. “The energy sector has long interested us, and this is the right fit,” Buffett said. At the announcement, Berkshire Hathaway’s Class A shares closed up 2.4% for the day, for a gain in market value of $2.17 billion.1 Scottish Power’s share price also jumped 6.28% on the news2; the S&P 500 Composite Index closed up 0.02%. Exhibit 1 illustrates the recent share-price performance for Berkshire Hathaway, Scottish Power, and the S&P 500 Index. The acquisition of PacifiCorp renewed public interest in its sponsor, Warren Buffett. In many ways, he was an anomaly. One of the richest individuals in the world (with an estimated net worth of about $44 billion), he was also respected and even beloved. Though he had accumulated perhaps the best investment record in history (a compound annual increase in wealth for Berkshire Hathaway of 24% from 1965 to 2004),3 Berkshire paid him only $100,000 per year to serve as its CEO. While Buffett and other insiders controlled...
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