
Crash of the Titans
Greed, Hubris, the Fall of Merrill Lynch and the Near-Collapse of Bank of America
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Narrated by:
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Dan Woren
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By:
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Greg Farrell
The intimate, fly-on-the wall tale of the decline and fall of an America icon
With one notable exception, the firms that make up what we know as Wall Street have always been part of an inbred, insular culture that most people only vaguely understand. The exception was Merrill Lynch, a firm that revolutionized the stock market by bringing Wall Street to Main Street, setting up offices in far-flung cities and towns long ignored by the giants of finance. Merrill Lynch was not only “bullish on America,” it was a big reason why so many average Americans were able to grow wealthy by investing in the stock market.
Merrill Lynch was an icon. Its sudden decline, collapse, and sale to Bank of America was a shock. How did it happen? Why did it happen? And what does this story of greed, hubris, and incompetence tell us about the culture of Wall Street that continues to this day even though it came close to destroying the American economy?
Greg Farrell’s Crash of the Titans is a Shakespearean saga of three flawed masters of the universe. E. Stanley O’Neal, whose inspiring rise from the segregated South to the corner office of Merrill Lynch—where he engineered a successful turnaround—was undone by his belief that a smooth-talking salesman could handle one of the most difficult jobs on Wall Street. Because he enjoyed O’Neal’s support, this executive was allowed to build up an astonishing $30 billion position in CDOs on the firm’s balance sheet, at a time when all other Wall Street firms were desperately trying to exit the business. After O’Neal comes John Thain, the cerebral, MIT-educated technocrat whose rescue of the New York Stock Exchange earned him the nickname “Super Thain.” He was hired to save Merrill Lynch in late 2007, but his belief that the markets would rebound led him to underestimate the depth of Merrill’s problems. Finally, we meet Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis, a street fighter raised barely above the poverty line in rural Georgia, whose “my way or the highway” management style suffers fools more easily than potential rivals.
The merger itself turns out to be a bizarre combination of cultures that blend like oil and water, where slick Wall Street bankers suddenly find themselves reporting to a cast of characters straight out of the Beverly Hillbillies. BofA’s inbred culture, which perceived New York banks its enemies, was based on loyalty and a good-ol’-boy network in which competence played second fiddle to blind obedience.
Crash of the Titans is a financial thriller that puts you in the theater as the historic events of the financial crisis unfold. Its wealth of never-before-revealed information and focus on two icons of corporate America make it the book that puts together all the pieces of the Wall Street disaster.
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Critic reviews
"Farrell weaves his facts into a story...piling detail upon detail to sketch the innerworkings of Merrill Lynch, which he calls the Wall Street firm that made it possible foraverage Americans to reap handsome returns in the stock market." (USA Today)
"The...financial crisis's answer to Game Change - John Heilemann and Mark Halperin's tattle-filled best seller about the 2008 Presidential election - Farrell shows that...seemingly trivial matters became the obsessions of Wall Street executives as the subprime contagion spread." (BusinessWeek)
“Farrell tells a story based on hundreds of hours of interviews that builds like a hurricane.” (Forbes.com)
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Not Bad
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The description of the inner workings is fabulous
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The Merrill Perspective
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A solid, informative read on Merrill and BoA
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A recommended ‘read’
Great book
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Portrait of a Systemic Failure
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it reads like a drama by Shakespeare
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Would you consider the audio edition of Crash of the Titans to be better than the print version?
yes. especially since reading a book while driving is a bad ideaWhat was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?
that one man can bring an institution downWhich character – as performed by Dan Woren – was your favorite?
stan o'neillDid you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
made me scared that this could happenAny additional comments?
i am keeping my investments in index funds. i do not trust wall streetI feel like I was there!
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Incredible
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But they got the gold and we got the shaft!
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