The Accidental Investment Banker: Inside the Decade that Transformed Wall Street - Hardcover

Knee, Jonathan A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195307925 ISBN 13: 9780195307924

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2006

Synopsis

Jonathan A. Knee had a ringside seat during the go-go, boom-and-bust decade and into the 21st century, at the two most prestigious investment banks on Wall Street--Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. In this candid and irreverent insider's account of an industry in free fall, Knee captures an exhilarating era of fabulous deal-making in a free-wheeling Internet economy--and the catastrophe that followed when the bubble burst.
Populated with power players, back stabbers, celebrity bankers, and godzillionaires, here is a vivid account of the dramatic upheaval that took place in investment banking. Indeed, Knee entered an industry that was typified by the motto "first-class business in a first-class way" and saw it transformed in a decade to a free-for-all typified by the acronym IBG, YBG ("I'll be gone, you'll be gone"). Increasingly mercenary bankers signed off on weak deals, knowing they would leave them in the rear-view mirror. Once, investment bankers prospered largely on their success in serving the client, preserving the firm, and protecting the public interest. Now, in the "financial supermarket" era, bankers felt not only that each day might be their last, but that their worth was tied exclusively to how much revenue they generated for the firm on that day--regardless of the source. Today, most young executives feel no loyalty to their firms, and among their clients, Knee finds an unprecedented but understandable level of cynicism and distrust of investment banks.
Brimming with insight into what investment bankers actually do, and told with biting humor and unflinching honesty, The Accidental Investment Banker offers a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes of the most powerful companies on Wall Street.

About this title

From the Publisher

"If 'investment banking' gives you visions of stodgy New York geezers harumphing and gufawwing in a black-suited gaggle, Knee's look at high finance in the '90s will change that. A thumping ride across deep waters, Knee evokes the precarious, risky thrills courted by businesspeople great and small. Smart, clever and unfailingly articulate, Knee made, in the nineties, a seemingly sensible career choice: to become a startlingly well-paid investment banker among prestigious big boys (names are named) at Goldman Sachs, and later Morgan Stanley. Clear-eyed enough never to give his whole life over to banking--as did many of his colleagues--Knee maintains a reporter's sense of detachment, observing how the decade in question turned into an economic house of mirrors as money-guzzling dotcoms bloomed and withered, playing havoc with long-established rules and mores, nurturing an era of incompetence and brawling, veiled in the traditional pseudo-gentility of a privileged profession: 'The goal was to do deals, generate revenue, and be noticed. ... whatever the cost, particularly when someone else bore that cost.' Are bankers the 'greediest people in the world?' Is an MBA one of the 'poorest educational choices?' As the book progresses, these questions take on the quality of a whodunnit mystery, in which not only is everyone a suspect--almost everyone is guilty. Funny and knowing, this business memoir debut should appeal to a wide swath of business veterans." --Publishers Weekly

From the Back Cover

"In his new book, Jonathan Knee takes a sharp look at the fundamental changes that have taken place in the investment banking business. It's an important story, and thanks to the skillful way Knee mixes in the tale of his own experience as a banker, it reads like a novel. The book is hard to put down."
--Bethany McLean, author of The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron and Senior Writer, Fortune

"What Liars' Poker did for the trading room, Jonathan Knee does for the investment banking floor, with one big difference - The Accidental Investment Banker also sets a colorful and highly readable story into the broader strategic context of the transformation of financial services over the past twenty years."
--Thomas Glocer; CEO, Reuters Group PLC

"The Accidental Investment Banker is a must-read for anyone in business who is impacted by Wall Street - and that is just about everyone. Knee's book is a humorous and very clever insider's look at the ever-seismically-changing financial services industry - but without the bias of an insider, rather just with incredible knowledge and insight. I learned things I didn't expect to learn but realized I needed to. A truly exceptional book and a powerful, powerful read."
--Leo Hindery Jr.; Managing Partner, InterMedia Partners, former CEO of TCI and author of It Takes a CEO: It's Time to Lead With Integrity

"Investment bankers play a crucial, if little understood, role in our economy. In this engaging and insightful book, Jonathan Knee describes the work that investment bankers do and the ways in which the business of investment banking has been transformed-not altogether for the better-in the past two decades. Knee combines a depth of personal experience with sharp-eyed observation. For anyone interested in the history of investment banking, and its present state, The Accidental Investment Banker is must reading."
--Anthony Kronman; Sterling Professor of Law and Former Dean, Yale Law School

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0195307925
• ISBN 13: 9780195307924
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288