The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Fr?res & Co.

The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Fr?res & Co.
by William D. Cohan

The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Fr?res & Co.
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Book Summary Information

Author: William D. Cohan
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-04-08
ISBN: 0767919793
Number of pages: 752
Publisher: Anchor

Book Reviews of The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Fr?res & Co.

Book Review: They should have gone to jail
Summary: 4 Stars

Mr. William Cohan the author is a former investment banker. It shows. He writes well (too long at times) and he does know this field. But...at times he idolizes the men of Lazard as if he were a suplicant looking for a job. Ok...he was an investment banker (aka used car salesman) but a stronger editor could have washed this nonsense out of the book.

Cohan also does not really address important issues: Like how Lazzard got its favored status with the Bank of England. Did he ever hear of bribery? He also skirts issues such as the obvious tax evasion of most of New York's Lazzard partners.

On other issues however he does call clowns like Felix Royatan pretty much what they are and were - rat skunk BS artists. This book should be a mandatory read in all MBA schools. It is primer on how not to conduct business. That the U.S. Government lets rat companies like this exist is in itself a crime. Cohan does give us most of the facts. You will be able to draw your own harsh conclusions.

Remember that Paul O'Neil W's first Secretary of the Treasury has said that most Wall Street jobs could be learned in two weeks...He was too generous...Most bus drivers cary more ehtics and knowledge in their heads than the pond trash that inhabits the halls of Lazzard to this day.

Read this book and weep for America..

Summary of The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Fr?res & Co.

A grand and revelatory portrait of Wall Street's most storied investment bank

Wall Street investment banks move trillions of dollars a year, make billions in fees, pay their executives in the tens of millions of dollars. But even among the?most powerful?firms, Lazard Fr?res & Co. stood apart. Discretion, secrecy, and?subtle strategy were its weapons of choice. For?more than a century, the mystique and reputation of the "Great Men" who worked there allowed the firm to garner unimaginable profits, social cachet, and outsized influence in the halls of power. But in the mid-1980s, their titanic egos started getting in the way, and the Great Men of Lazard jeopardized all they had built.

William D. Cohan, himself a former high-level Wall Street banker, takes the reader into the mysterious and secretive world of Lazard and?presents a?compelling portrait?of Wall Street through the?tumultuous history?of this exalted and fascinating company.? Cohan deconstructs the explosive feuds between Felix Rohatyn and Steve Rattner, superstar investment bankers and pillars of New York society, and between the man who controlled Lazard, the inscrutable French billionaire Michel David-Weill, and his chosen successor, Bruce Wasserstein.

Cohan follows Felix, the consummate adviser, as he reshapes corporate America in the 1970s and 1980s, saves New York City from bankruptcy, and positions himself in New York society and in Washington. Felix's dreams are dashed after the arrival of Steve, a formidable and ambitious former newspaper reporter.?By the mid-1990s, as Lazard neared its 150th anniversary, Steve and Felix were feuding openly.
?
The internal strife caused by their arguments could not be solved by the imperious Michel, whose manipulative tendencies served only to exacerbate the trouble within the firm. Increasingly desperate, Michel took the unprecedented step of relinquishing operational control of Lazard to one of the few Great Men still around, Bruce Wasserstein, then fresh from selling his own M&A boutique, for $1.4 billion.? Bruce's take: more than $600 million.?But it turned out Great Man Bruce had snookered Great Man Michel when the Frenchman was at his most vulnerable.?

The LastTycoons is a tale of vaulting ambitions, whispered advice, worldly mistresses, fabulous art collections, and enormous wealth-a story of high drama in the world of high finance.?

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