You probably didn’t know it but the Jabroni Pony isn’t the only one with a new book on the financial crisis coming out today. Wall Street Journal reporter Greg Zuckerman’s got one, too (though his does not include promotion that involves being shot out of a cannon, naked, at the closing bell). While CG’s tome, which chronicles the fuck-ups of many a CEO, serves as a helpful guide on what not to do if you’re looking to avoid blowing up Wall Street, Zuckerman’s book, The Greatest Trade Ever, chronicles the stories of a bunch of guys who actually made money off that can’t lose asset class, subprime. But it wasn’t all rolling around in sticky fifties from the get-go. Daily Intel runs through the book’s subjects, and the adversity they had to overcome, before doing stuff like making $15 billion in one year, and writing a fuck-off letter to the industry, lobbying for the legalizing of weed. Take heart: even if you lack the motor skills to properly shave yourself, you could be the next John Paulson:
At times, [pre-king of the world] Paulson didn’t seem completely put together. When Brad Balter, a young broker, came to visit, Paulson chain-smoked cigarettes and had spots of blood on his shirt collar from a shaving mishap. Paulson’s head of marketing was stretched out in agony on a nearby couch, moaning about his back.“I didn’t know what to think. It was a little surreal,” Balter recalls.
At times, Paulson became discouraged. His early investment performance was good but uneven, and he continued to have few clients. He was sure of his abilities but questioned whether he could make the fund a success.
One especially glum day, Paulson asked his father, “Am I in the wrong business? Is something wrong with me? “It was hard to be rejected, it was a lonely period,” Paulson recalls.
Also featured: the guy with the glass eye (Michael Burry), the guy who was known for his “unusually thick sideburns” (Greg Lippman), and everyone’s favorite burnout (Andrew Ladhe).
Bad News Bears: The Guys Who Bet Against The Subprime Bubble And Won [Daily Intel]
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:50PM
there's hope for me yet!
-hedge fund guy who doesn't know how to shave
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:51PM
We killed him goddammit! He's dead and it's all our fault. He ain't never comming back - ever, so get over him OK!
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:51PM
At times, [pre-king of the world] John Holmes didn’t seem completely put together. When T T Boy, a young star, came to visit, "The Wadd" as he was known, chain-smoked cigarettes and had spots of blood on his shirt collar from a donkey-slap mishap. Holmes’s head of marketing was stretched out in agony on a nearby couch, moaning about his sore brown eye.
“I didn’t know what to think. It was a little surreal,” Cal Jammer recalled.
At times, Holmes became discouraged. His early feature performance was good but uneven, and he continued to have few distributors. He was sure of his abilities but questioned whether he could make the "legend" a success.
One especially glum day, Holmes asked his father, “Am I in the wrong business? Is something wrong with me? “It was hard." To be rejected then, "it was a long time coming,” Holmes recalled.
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:53PM
WOW! That's the first time I every got a post deleted!
I guess it was a bad breakup......
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:54PM
Bess, I am undressing you with my mind.
Dylan Ratigan
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:54PM
@Bess: Uh that's Elvis Costello there toots. JP is much better looking.
John Paulson
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:56PM
@5 No shit, now mine makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
#2
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:56PM
having a glass eye is the new killing it
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:57PM
"everyone’s favorite burnout (Andrew Ladhe)"
ahem?
-Jimmy C
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 3:57PM
Does CG leave a little money on the night stand for DB?
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 4:13PM
Shia deBeef...confident
Timmmaay...confident but paranoid
Mr. Vayner...confident and athletic
LD...oozes confidence
JP...not so confident?
I'm beginning to think confidence is not a good trait to have.
Posted by Anal_yst , Nov 03, 2009 4:13PM
Anyone know what Ladhe has been doin since, besides enjoying some $$ and tokin' up with J to the C (etc)?
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 4:19PM
@analyst- according to the book, snorkeling and picking up chicks.
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 4:21PM
You are all idiots.
MW
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 4:24PM
ah, john @ 6? That's by far the best pic of you ever taken/airbrushed. Normally you looks like you just missed a nj transit train, all sweaty and wasted w/ an auntie annie's pretzel in your hand and musquirt on your tie...
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 4:28PM
I loves me some "musquirt"
Dennis Kneale
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 4:31PM
@11
Kid you don't know what you're talking about. Confidence is everything. Learning from your mistakes the first time, or the second time for that matter, is overrated. Get it right, dufus.
Jonny Meriwether
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 4:35PM
Musquirtclops.
Lobstersquirt.
Time for a new catch phrase.
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 4:38PM
I think I just musquirted in the elevator.
Posted by mrpink , Nov 03, 2009 4:39PM
I bet that Paulson chap chain smoked Virginia Slims Ultralight 100's. Strap on some balls and smoke the unfiltered Lucky Strikes.
-J. Simons
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 4:46PM
B*7ch spread da buttcheeks so i can smells the juicy insides!
Posted by Anal_yst , Nov 03, 2009 4:57PM
@17
Thank you for doing god's work, separating fools from their money. Question though: How many people in the current fund missed learning their lesson the 1st coupla times around?
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2009 5:22PM
Nothing betta than an upskirt musquirt.
Why are his hands blurry? Just got the shakes, or is that a towel I see?