The Rise and Fall of Bear Stearns
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- £6.99
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
Former CEO of Bear Stearns, Alan Greenberg, sheds light on his life as one of Wall Street’s most respected figures in this candid and fascinating account of a storied career and its stunning conclusion.
On March 16, 2008, Alan Greenberg, former CEO and current chairman of the executive committee of Bear Stearns, found himself in the company’s offices on a Sunday. More remarkable by far than the fact that he was in the office on a Sunday is what he was doing: participating in a meeting of the board of directors to discuss selling the company he had worked decades to build for a fraction of what it had been worth as little as ten days earlier. In less than a week the value of Bear Stearns had diminished by tens of billions of dollars.
As Greenberg recalls, "our most unassailable assumption—that Bear Stearns, an independent investment firm with a proud eighty-five-year history, would be in business tomorrow—had been extinguished. . . . What was it, exactly, that had happened, and how, and why?" This book provides answers to those questions from one of Wall Street’s most respected figures, the man most closely identified with Bear Stearns’ decades of success.
The Rise and Fall of Bear Stearns is Alan Greenberg’s remarkable story of ascending to the top of one of Wall Street’s venerable powerhouse financial institutions. After joining Bear Stearns in 1949, Greenberg rose to become formally head of the firm in 1978.
No one knows the history of Bear Stearns as he does; no one participated in more key decisions, right into the company’s final days. Greenberg offers an honest, clear-eyed assessment of how the collapse of the company surprised him and other top executives, and he explains who he thinks was responsible.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Greenberg, former CEO and chairman of the board of Bear Stearns and vice chairman emeritus of J.P. Morgan Chase, and Singer (Funny Money), staff writer for the New Yorker, chronicle the rise and monumental fall of financial behemoth Bear Stearns in this highly anticipated insider account. From his joining the firm in 1949 through the sharp decline of its stock in 2008 to the potential bankruptcy, Greenberg shares not only a company history but the personal story of his journey up the corporate ladder. He takes us from his early days in Oklahoma to his frequent battles with the legendary head of the firm, Cy Lewis, and his disdain for recent CEO Jimmy Cayne. He tells of unusual company practices including reviewing partners tax returns to enforce the company policy mandating charitable donations and encouraging whistle-blowers, even if claims later prove false. Greenberg s narration is a matter-of-fact recounting, without embellishment and oddly blanched of the color, drama, apprehension, and tension one would expect in a company and industry dominated by such powerful egos and enduring such powerful upheavals.
