Fooling Some of the People All of the Time, A Long Short
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £2.10
Trade in Fooling Some of the People All of the Time: A Long Short (and Now Complete) Story, Updated with New Epilogue for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £2.10, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Plus, get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"Instead of stewing in private, Einhorn wrote a book "Fooling Some of the People All of the Time" about his six–year ordeal with Allied." (Daily Mail, September 18, 2008)
“…a welcome antidote to the thousands of books written for investors that paint a sunny picture of companies”. FT.com Tuesday 10 June 2008
“…a welcome antidote to the thousands of books written for investors that paint a sunny picture of companies”. FT.com Tuesday 10 June 2008
“Mr Einhorn’s book recounts behind–the–scenes details of the sort that are seldom made public…an instructive guide for general investors…” Financial Times Tuesday 16 June 2008 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Product Description
A revealing look at Wall Street, the financial media, and financial regulators by David Einhorn, the President of Greenlight Capital
Could 2008′s credit crisis have been minimized or even avoided? In 2002, David Einhorn–one of the country′s top investors–was asked at a charity investment conference to share his best investment advice. Short sell Allied Capital. At the time, Allied was a leader in the private financing industry. Einhorn claimed Allied was using questionable accounting practices to prop itself up. Sound familiar? At the time of the original version of Fooling Some of the People All of the Time: A Long Short Story the outcome of his advice was unknown. Now, the story is complete and we know Einhorn was right. In 2008, Einhorn advised the same conference to short sell Lehman Brothers. And had the market been more open to his warnings, yes, the market meltdown might have been avoided, or at least minimized.
- Details the gripping battle between Allied Capital and Einhorn′s Greenlight Capital
- Illuminates how questionable company practices are maintained and, at times, even protected by Wall Street
- Describes the failings of investment banks, analysts, journalists, and government regulators
- Describes how many parts of the Allied Capital story were replayed in the debate over Lehman Brothers
Fooling Some of the People All of the Time is an important call for effective government regulation, free speech, and fair play.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
David Einhorn is the founder and President of Greenlight Capital, "a long-short value-orientated hedge fund" which he began in 1996.
This book, his first, chronicles his 5 year battle against Allied Capital, a significant business development corporation that invests in small, mostly private businesses. In 2002 as part of normal research into potential investment opportunities, Einhorn uncovered serious flaws in Allied's accounting proceedures. He came across many examples of the valuation of certain assets held by Allied, in the accounts of the company at substantially above the quoted market prices and write-downs were only recorded when it determined that money would be permanently lost thus presenting a deliberately erroneous (some might allege fraudulent) picture to shareholders and potential investors. Guessing that when the truth was out, Allied would record losses resulting in a possible big fall in its share price, Greenlight Capital went short on Allied's stock.
When Einhorn first asked Allied to explain the incorrect overstated treatment of assets in its balance sheet, it immediately went on the offensive and Einhorn was personally vilified by senior Allied executives spearheaded by the CEO and COO. These personal attacks intensified over a number of years and included (and later admitted by Allied) an attempt to steal his phone records as well as alleged external pressure which resulted in his wife losing her job at Barrons.
These unwarranted attacks only seemed to make Einhorn even more determined to pursue his quest and with other'whistleblowers' that came forward with further disturbing information of malpractices, presented his irrefutable findings to the Small Business Agency and the Securities Exchange Commission, the two regulatory authorities responsible to the public for the proper running of Allied. To say their response was enthusiastic, diligent or grateful was a monster over-statement and was very reminiscent of the limp-wristed, 'cold-shoulder' reaction that Harry Markopolos (No One Would Listen) got when he blew the whistle on Madoff's Ponzi Scheme - several years before Madoff walked into a police station and voluntarily confessed. The sluggish activity in listening to Markopolo's well evidenced submissions resulted in Investors losing a further estimated $40 billion.
This book is a tribute to the single-minded determination of the 'small man' against the Goliathesque federal regulatory authorities - not that David Einhorn is lacking in stature, he and those that worked with him are excellent examples of true grit and determination. Before reading this book I was very doubtful of the ethics of short selling, but now I am much less so, which is indeed a compliment to David Einhorn's candour and fairness.
A unique book and I look forward to his next book.
This book, his first, chronicles his 5 year battle against Allied Capital, a significant business development corporation that invests in small, mostly private businesses. In 2002 as part of normal research into potential investment opportunities, Einhorn uncovered serious flaws in Allied's accounting proceedures. He came across many examples of the valuation of certain assets held by Allied, in the accounts of the company at substantially above the quoted market prices and write-downs were only recorded when it determined that money would be permanently lost thus presenting a deliberately erroneous (some might allege fraudulent) picture to shareholders and potential investors. Guessing that when the truth was out, Allied would record losses resulting in a possible big fall in its share price, Greenlight Capital went short on Allied's stock.
When Einhorn first asked Allied to explain the incorrect overstated treatment of assets in its balance sheet, it immediately went on the offensive and Einhorn was personally vilified by senior Allied executives spearheaded by the CEO and COO. These personal attacks intensified over a number of years and included (and later admitted by Allied) an attempt to steal his phone records as well as alleged external pressure which resulted in his wife losing her job at Barrons.
These unwarranted attacks only seemed to make Einhorn even more determined to pursue his quest and with other'whistleblowers' that came forward with further disturbing information of malpractices, presented his irrefutable findings to the Small Business Agency and the Securities Exchange Commission, the two regulatory authorities responsible to the public for the proper running of Allied. To say their response was enthusiastic, diligent or grateful was a monster over-statement and was very reminiscent of the limp-wristed, 'cold-shoulder' reaction that Harry Markopolos (No One Would Listen) got when he blew the whistle on Madoff's Ponzi Scheme - several years before Madoff walked into a police station and voluntarily confessed. The sluggish activity in listening to Markopolo's well evidenced submissions resulted in Investors losing a further estimated $40 billion.
This book is a tribute to the single-minded determination of the 'small man' against the Goliathesque federal regulatory authorities - not that David Einhorn is lacking in stature, he and those that worked with him are excellent examples of true grit and determination. Before reading this book I was very doubtful of the ethics of short selling, but now I am much less so, which is indeed a compliment to David Einhorn's candour and fairness.
A unique book and I look forward to his next book.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is without doubt one of the best books I have read for a long time. A captivating read and one of those books you dont want to put down. Not an investing book as such, because it is written in a way that describes the authors long running battle to expose highly dubious business pratices at a large financial company, but written in a way that also educates the reader at the same time (on how some companies try to manipulate the numbers, etc). Well worth reading even if you have no interest at all in investing.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Short sellers have been getting a lot of bad press recently.
David Einhorn runs a long-short hedge fund: this means that as well as betting on individual stocks to go up, he also bets on some stocks to go down. This benefits him as an individual investor -- as it leads to twice as many investable opportunities -- but it also benefits society as it helps prevent individual investors from losing money in overvalued or fraudulent companies.
The book starts off with the story of the early days of Einhorn's hedge fund and the details about his investment process are very interesting. The rest of the book details his very public, bitter, and above all long, fight against one company which materially misstated its accounting results: Allied Capital.
Above all, the book showcases the extensive barriers to short selling in the market. At every turn Einhorn had to battle against a management that was intent on obfuscating the truth; bending and breaking laws with the intention of privately benefiting to the cost of their duped shareholders.
Ultimately, these barriers to short selling and a general lack of transparency lead to a less efficient market as they allow some unscrupulous managers to game the market into overvaluing their companies. If something isn't done then we will keep on having high profile corporate failures such as Enron, Worldcom, and Lehman Brothers (the last of which Einhorn also shorted -- this is briefly mentioned late on).
Make sure you grab the paperback version as this book has been recently updated. Einhorn is ultimately vindicated; Allied lost most of its market value in the credit crunch and has been recently bought out at a very low price.
David Einhorn runs a long-short hedge fund: this means that as well as betting on individual stocks to go up, he also bets on some stocks to go down. This benefits him as an individual investor -- as it leads to twice as many investable opportunities -- but it also benefits society as it helps prevent individual investors from losing money in overvalued or fraudulent companies.
The book starts off with the story of the early days of Einhorn's hedge fund and the details about his investment process are very interesting. The rest of the book details his very public, bitter, and above all long, fight against one company which materially misstated its accounting results: Allied Capital.
Above all, the book showcases the extensive barriers to short selling in the market. At every turn Einhorn had to battle against a management that was intent on obfuscating the truth; bending and breaking laws with the intention of privately benefiting to the cost of their duped shareholders.
Ultimately, these barriers to short selling and a general lack of transparency lead to a less efficient market as they allow some unscrupulous managers to game the market into overvaluing their companies. If something isn't done then we will keep on having high profile corporate failures such as Enron, Worldcom, and Lehman Brothers (the last of which Einhorn also shorted -- this is briefly mentioned late on).
Make sure you grab the paperback version as this book has been recently updated. Einhorn is ultimately vindicated; Allied lost most of its market value in the credit crunch and has been recently bought out at a very low price.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
For the dedicated only
I was rather misled by the blurb on the book and thought that this revised edition will wrap Einhorn's crusade against Allied Capital with a wider message about Lehman and the... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Ioannis Glinavos
a real eye opener, but a frightening one at that...
i really enjoyed this book. the writing wasn't too financially technical (or boring) and also has a great glossary. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Gcrikey
Fooling some people All of the time
Very good read, gives a great insight into the world of people who short stocks. Einhorn describes in detail the diversionary tactics of companies in announcing quarterly and... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Roosterali
Detailed case study of a short-seller trade
David Einhorn is president of Greenlight Capital, a long-short value-oriented hedge fund. In this book, he relates his long battle against Allied Capital, a company that he decided... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Avid Reader
A Revelation for Those Who Believe Efficient Markets and Good...
David Einhorn is a man who believes in checking out companies carefully. When he saw that Allied Capital wasn't following accounting rules and was making lots of bad loans, he... Read more
Published on 31 July 2008 by Donald Mitchell
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
