Greed and Glory on Wall Street: The Fall of the House of Lehman [Hardcover]

Ken Auletta (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 12, 1985

The New York Times bestseller about the collapse of a major financial house and Wall Street institution, in paperback for the first time.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Based on probing research, this modern morality tale is an expansion of a 1984 New York Times Magazine article on the ruinous behind-the-scenes struggle between two top officers of the 134-year-old private investment banking firm Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb. Auletta (The Art of Corporate Success, etc.) recounts in detail the takeover of the traditional and specialized but dissent-ridden and undercapitalized Wall Street company by an outside trader, the recently formed global giant Shearson/American Express. The new conglomerates that emerge from such moves, Auletta maintains, emphasize transactual, service business rather than advisory functions, and short-term gains at the expense of long-range growth plans. Wall Street, he claims, is well on its way to being dominated by a few superpowers that combine all financial services under one roof. Photos not seen by PW. Major ad/promo; Fortune Book Club selection; BOMC alternate; author tour. January
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Auletta chronicles the activity at Lehman Brothers during the months between July 1983 and April 1984, immediately preceding the firm's takeover by Shearson/American Express. During that brief period, Auletta reveals, Wall Street's oldest investment banking partnership was simultaneously buffetted by the ambition and greed of one faction and by the complacency and misplaced self-assurance of another group of partners. Details shared after the fact with Auletta by many of the participants make clear, often with self-serving insight, that blame for the takeover could well be shared by more than just the two principal players. This tension born of petty human motives is all the more striking when set against the sophisticated investment banking environment. Most business collections will want this title. Joseph Barth, U.S. Military Acad. Lib., West Point, N.Y.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 253 pages
• Publisher: Random House; 1st edition (December 12, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394544102
• ISBN-13: 978-0394544106
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #910,786 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ken Auletta has written the Annals of Communications column for The New Yorker since 1992. He is the author of eight books, including THREE BLIND MICE: How the TV Networks Lost Their Way; GREED AND GLORY ON WALL STREET: The Fall of The House of Lehman; and WORLD WAR 3.0: Microsoft and Its Enemies. In naming him America's premier media critic, the Columbia Journalism Review said, "no other reporter has covered the new communications revolution as thoroughly as has Auletta." He lives in Manhattan with his wife and daughter.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Oh! full of scorpions is my mind (Macbeth), July 17, 2006

By 

Luc REYNAERT (Beernem, Belgium) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Greed and Glory on Wall Street (Paperback)

This is a classic tale of a company run into the ground because it had two CEOs and two different departments fighting one another for the juicy bonuses. Moreover, the CEOs had totally different characters and a completely different business vision. One was extrovert, overambitious, jealous, profoundly selfish, impulsive, volatile, dominated by lust for power, vindictive, an intriguer. The other was rather introvert, cold, too trusting, apersonal, a bad communicator, self-centered, rather an intellectual aristocrat.

The introvert was ousted by the extrovert, who wanted to run his own show.

The house of Lehman was divided in two different clans: the bankers who were rather fixed on medium and long term business with stable clients and the traders who were only fixed on the short term.
While the introvert CEO could stand above both business divisions in the battle for the bonuses, the extrovert was himself a trader and was rather despised by the bankers. When the latter took the rein, key banking personal left the company. The traders wanted to cash in their shares as quickly as possible and the company was gobbled up by a third party.

This story shows also that `human relations matter as much as the bottom-line.'

A very worth-while read.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lessons for many in high-pressure working relationships, September 12, 2003

By 

RJF in Illinois - See all my reviews

This review is from: Greed and Glory on Wall Street (Paperback)

This story of greed and glory is one that has been acted out in all types of businesses - large or small, service or product, new or old. It is a parable of overinflated egos, hyperpolitical environments and the inability of individuals to see their limits when blinded by the light of self-glorification. It is essential reading for anyone in a shared leadership role - partners, executives in tightly run corporations, etc. - and is most valuable for the lessons people should learn about themselves through Lehman's demise.

5.0 out of 5 stars Any people surprise of the crisis? That's because they don't read, December 20, 2010

By 

Debra Bring "selective_bookstore" (Washington DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Greed and Glory on Wall Street: The Fall of the House of Lehman (Hardcover)

I read it when it came out and the culture that was left to American Express (bought Lehman back then) couldn't change so much as to be fulll of honest people. The ones who continue learn the tricks of the trade and bad ethics from their masters before the sale to AE.