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The Bond King

How One Man Made a Market, Built an Empire, and Lost It All

Mary Childs

Flatiron Books

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ISBN10: 1250120845
ISBN13: 9781250120847

Hardcover

336 Pages

$29.99

CA$39.99

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Before Bill Gross was known among investors as the Bond King, he was a gambler. In 1966, a fresh college grad, he went to Vegas armed with his net worth ($200) and a knack for counting cards. $10,000 and countless casino bans later, he was hooked: so he enrolled in business school.

The Bond King is the story of how that whiz kid made American finance his casino. Over the course of decades, Bill Gross turned the sleepy bond market into a destabilized game of high risk, high reward; founded Pimco, one of today’s most powerful, secretive, and cutthroat investment firms; helped to reshape our financial system in the aftermath of the Great Recession—to his own advantage; and gained legions of admirers, and enemies, along the way. Like every American antihero, his ambition would also be his undoing.

To understand the winners and losers of today’s money game, journalist Mary Childs argues, is to understand the bond market—and to understand the bond market is to understand the Bond King.

Reviews

Praise for The Bond King

"A vivid and authoritative portrait of one of the most influential figures in American finance."—Sheelah Kolhatkar, staff writer at The New Yorker and bestselling author of Black Edge

"An instant classic of finance and a joy to read. Mary Childs has a gift for explaining the rise of the modern bond market, one of the most important stories of finance, and interlaces that story with the deeply reported, thrilling, tragic and occasionally comic human story of the downfall of Bill Gross. And it is all written with great style, wit and insight. Anyone looking to understand the nuances of bonds or the difficulties of managing complicated people should read this book."—Matt Levine, 'Money Stuff' columnist, Bloomberg Opinion

"A most necessary book. Mary Childs is one of a handful of finance writers who understand how the industry has reshaped America and helped create the strange, often failing society we inhabit. And one cannot understand modern finance without understanding the character of the mad bond king Bill Gross. Well-researched and written with verve, this is nothing short of a page-turner."—Gary Shteyngart, author of Our Country Friends and Lake Success