Wall Street Meat: My Narrow Escape from the Stock Market Grinder (Paperback)

by Andy Kessler (Author) "I dialed the phone number in the ad..." (more)
Key Phrases: momentum funds, bulge bracket firm, block trader, Wall Street, Morgan Stanley, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
When Kessler interviewed for an analyst's position at Paine Webber in 1986, he wasn't even sure what the job entailed, but would soon learn there were "absolutely no qualifications whatsoever" for the responsibility of telling investors how to build their stock portfolios. He did happen to meet the right people, however: he palled around with Jack Grubman and then, at a subsequent job at Morgan Stanley, worked with Frank Quattrone and Mary Meeker-three analysts who later acquired varying levels of fame and notoriety during the boom-and-bust market of the late 1990s, as they were accused of deliberately recommending stocks from tech companies they knew to be overvalued. Henry Blodget was also implicated in the ensuing scandal, but despite his prominence on the cover, he has no substantial presence in this story, just a few cameos well after Kessler left Wall Street to run an investment firm in California. The subtitular implication that Wall Street "chewed up" these figures is also misleading; the men were at the top of their game when they were forced out, while Meeker has at this writing suffered nothing more than slight damage to her reputation. Kessler's denigration of her as a "clueless" rookie who became a technology "cheerleader" risks overstating the case against her as a means of pumping up the reputation of otherwise "pure analysts." False modesty and clunky dialogue do little to enhance a story that relies too heavily on Kessler's former proximity to now-famous people, while his analysis of their legal woes rarely advances beyond the superficial. Readers seeking insight into the blurring of the boundaries between investment bankers and stock analysts should wait for a book that tells that story directly, with a fuller perspective.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"A scathing critique of everything wrong with Wall Street ... and what's wrong with a few of the critics as well. -- Adam Lashinsky, Fortune - CNN/Money April 23, 2003

"Fascinating book full of biting humor and cynicism that's informed by firsthand experiences in a crazy industry." -- FierceFinance April 23, 2003

A deliciously naughty new book... I finished it in a gulp, perfectly astonished." -- Michael Lewis, author of Liar's Poker, The New New Thing

A fun read. Andy Kessler makes use of his pen, wit and cynical outlook. -- CBS Marketwatch, Bambi Francisco

It's funny and brings characters to life. Andy Kessler makes use of his pen, wit and cynical outlook. -- Bambi Francisco, CBS MarketWatch, March 11, 2003

Now arrives a fascinating little testimony from Andy Kessler...breezy, Wall Street-y style. He can be quite funny. -- Robert Teitelman, The Daily Deal, April 4, 2003

This book is a hoot. -- CNBC, James Cramer, Kudlow & Cramer

This book is gripping, like watching the Zapruder film versus reading the Warren report, I couldn't put it down. -- Rich Karlgaard, Publisher, Forbes Magazine, March 2003 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Collins Business (January 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060592141
• ISBN-13: 978-0060592141
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #218,189 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Behind the scenes of the latest scandal...Smashing!, May 25, 2003

By	R. Shaff "Velocipede" (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Wall Street Meat: Jack Grubman, Frank Quattrone, Mary Meeker, Henry Blodget and me (Hardcover)

I rarely rate a book with 5 stars but this book richly deserves it for in succinct breadth and witty storytelling. In his wild expose, WALL STREET MEAT, Andy Kessler gives the reader a behind-the-scenes view of the antics of some of Wall Street's giants. The subtitle tells it all: Grubman, Quattrone, Meeker and Blodgett and Andy Kessler's relationships and experiences with each. To those even somewhat familiar with the SEC action of April 28, 2003, these names will stand out. MEAT tells us more, much more.

Andy Kessler began his career as an electrical engineer designing microchips at Bell Labs. By some strange quirk of fate (or brainless move by a headhunter), he was thrown into the world of a Wall Street analyst. Kessler has seen more than most; his Wall Street career began before the infamous "Black Monday" crash (October 19, 1987) and spanned into the beginning of the Internet Bubble. During that time, Kessler met and worked with the individuals now being targeted for prosecution for their "exuberant" activities. Kessler went at it elbow-to-elbow with Jack Grubman while at PaineWebber (Grubman eventually moved on to Salomon Smith Barney); with Frank Quattrone (and Mary Meeker...truly a bit player here) while at Morgan Stanley (Quattrone eventually moved to Deutsche Bank and then to CSFB); and became well acquainted with Henry Blodgett AFTER Kessler turned in his analyst hat for that of a venture capitalist.

Kessler goes to great lengths to inform the reader of the trials and tribulations of the Wall Street analyst in the 80's and most of the 90's. The difficulties and reticence he would feel each time he would put a "Buy" or "Sell" recommendation on a company are richly described as gnashing of teeth and firestorms. In this age, an analyst had to defend each recommendation as the Street's skepticism "appeared" to demand it. Conversely, as the Internet phenomenon hit the scenes, the code of the analyst changed from one of cautious recommendation to one of mindless, obtuse "dartthrowing." Although he provides us with many gems, Kessler recounts one poignant conversation with Blogett wherin Blodgett posits: "You've got to understand. If I stop recommending a stock, and the shares keep going up, there is hell to pay. Brokers call you up and yell at you for missing more of the upside. Bankers yell at you for messing up their relationships. There is just too much risk in not recommending these stocks." A perfect example of the mindset and excesses bringing Wall Street to its knees. In another conversation, now considered germane and somewhat paradoxical (given the chronology of events), Kessler recounts Quattrone's tutelage of the invisible "Chinese Wall." This "Wall" is a conceptual separation of research and investment banking designed to prevent insider information passing from bankers to analysts. Ironically, the breaching of this "Wall" was one of the acts eventually bringing Quattrone down.

Kessler uses MEAT as part biography, part expose, and part satire...and does all three exceedingly well. To say this is just another "tell-all" book about Wall Street would be a great injustice. Kessler was there, Kessler is smart, Kessler was lucky. Above all, Kessler is hilarious. The combination makes this book an extremely enjoyable read, one most will appreciate and most importantly, learn from. A very good read, indeed.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stock Buffs guide to Real World Wall Street, January 2, 2004

By	R. Spell "raspell" (Memphis, TN USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Wall Street Meat: Jack Grubman, Frank Quattrone, Mary Meeker, Henry Blodget and me (Hardcover)

This is an excellent book to lift the curtain and see what really goes on working as an analyst on the street. This book is short, 200 pages,in big print, and makes a point of not taking itself too seriously as it describes a humorous, hard-working and deceptive Wall Street.

Kessler was an engineer plucked from obscurity to become a stock analyst. With simple but great advice from his boss, Kessler flies by the seat of his pants learning the business from 1985 to the mid 90s. But what makes this book perfect is while he describes life on Wall Street and the many conflicts of interest as he learns the business, his Wall Street years were spent working along side many famous analyst who moved the market in the late 90s to the biggest stock market rally in history. Jack Grubman is the most prominent and is described as a good friend, fun-loving guy of incredible talent who later in life controlled the telecom market possibly with questionable tactics. Later he works with Frank Quattrone, known as the banker for the Internet. As an analyst, Quattrone and Kessler were many times on opposite sides of client debates. Kessler humorously describes their battles and debates while giving credit to Frank's unique talents and giving hints of how he might have helped in his downfall. Mary Meeker and Henry Blodgett are also mentioned from a perspective few investors would see from just reading about them in magazines or newspapers.

I can't over-emphasize how much fun this book is. Many times authors try to tell you everything they know. Kessler, possibly from experience writing concise research reports, does a great job of saying a lot without using many words wasting your time. While this book will be good for anyone wanting to learn of the conflicts reseach analysts must face, it is a must read for novice or hobby stockpickers. If nothing else but to show you the system you are working against. I strongly recommend this book for all readers with interest in finance or the stock market.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Steak Tar-Tar, November 14, 2005

By	Dark Mechanicus JSG "Black Ops Teep" (Fortified Bunker, USSA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

"Wall Street Meat" is not just a snarky, sometimes caustic, generally shrewd, and combustively entertaining little over-educated guys in pinstripes getting themselves in trouble.

It's that, of course, but Andy Kessler is on to something more. Something not only interesting, but true: "Wall Street Meat" is very much about the passing of an Age, the end of an Era.

Paine Webber plucked Kessler from long-suffering geekdom (he had worked as an electrical engineer at Bell Labs, then fled after the AT&T breakup) to cover the brave new world of semiconductors; over the course of his eight-year tour of duty in the trenches on Wall Street---first as a semiconductor analyst for Paine Webber and then Morgan Stanley---Kessler relates how he learned his craft, navigated the perils of a novice analyst, and figured out just exactly how he would survive, and hopefully make some prescient calls for his institutional clients in the meantime.

That is to say: How to be an Axe in a stock. How not to be an Axe in a stock. And how to figure out whether the self-described Axe is sharp as a scythe or dull as a butter knife, and what you can do, O Rookie Analyst craving after a top ranking in Institutional Investor---to make maximum advantage out of that fact.

But let's back up a sec: you look confused. Axe? Clients? Institutional Investor? Huh?

No worries, Gentle Reader. Where other legendary Wall Street chronicles deal with bond trading (Liar's Poker, Bonfire of the Vanities), investment banking and M&A (Den of Thieves, Predator's Ball), "Wall Street Meat" has a considerably different---but incestuously related---emphasis: the secret life of the Wall Street analyst.

Or rather, the transformation---the mutation!---of the analyst in the boom years of the nineties, from scholar to scalliwag, from magus to miscreant, from Jekyll to Hyde.

That's what is so delicious about Kessler's little gem of a tell-all, aside from the fact that it's feverishly paced and delightfully wicked: it cuts to the core, to the meaty viscera, of a sea-change that radically altered the role of the analyst on Wall Street---with relation to the companies covered, to the clients served, and to the investment bankers who, increasingly, wielded the lash---and year-end bonus, an even more terrifying tool for instilling yelping obedience and cringing terror.

The analyst formerly inhabited a nerdy, nebbishy corner of the Wall Street galaxy,and was, in ancient times (before 1987) a scholarly, otherworldly, bookish creature paid a pittance to keep up on a vast hoard of facts and figures relating to the companies they covered, analyze those numbers, and spit back learned---and, one hoped, astute---opinions to the clients of the investment bank they served.

In the 1990's, this all changed.

Analysts had originally served the buy-side---the buyers of gazillions of shares of stocks hawked by the investment banks and their traders. But for a number of reasons, as margins on proprietary trading shrank, the real emphasis went to the white-hot money centers of the big banks: their investment banking arms, underwriting stock offerings for capital-hungry companies.

The formerly nerdpack-equipped analyst, in other words, transformed---nearly overnight---into a promoter. Into something almost cool, white hot, actually. A Rock n' Roll star.

Or something close: and that's what is at the juicy bloody rare center of Kessler's book, which goes into sufficient---but never deadly dull---detail on this curious Revolution, on the new Gods it made---Gods and Goddesses like Frank Quattrone, Jack Grubman, Henry Blodgett, and Mary Meeker, among others---and how Andy hung out with 'em! Traded barbs with 'em!

Marvelled as Meeker pounded the table on a double-bagger for Amazon, and Henry Blodgett, in December of 2000, prophecying that Yahoo (then at 100 bucks a pop) would soar to $200 a share (reality check: it cratered, and is now trading at 38 bucks a share)!

And got out before the Street broke out the guillotines! Timing *really* is everything!

Bookended by two limousines---black and white---chock full of wealthy Saudis and their gun-toting goons ready to wire half a billion in capital tomorrow morning to Kessler's new hedge fund, "Wall Street Meat" is a wild, juicy, timely ride of a truly Gilded Age, and of the crazy-eyed young prophets anointed in a time of Revolution. And like any age of turmoil, the Revolution inevitably ate its own.

Raw.

JSG