Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frères & Co.

The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frères & Co.

By William D Cohan

Cohan explores the mysterious and secretive world of Lazard Freres & Co., one of the country's most storied investment firms, and presents a compelling portrait of Wall Street through the tumultuous history of this exalted and fascinating company.

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Book Information

Publisher: Anchor Books
Publish Date: 04/08/2008
Pages: 752
ISBN-13: 9780767919791
ISBN-10: 0767919793
Language: English

What We're Saying

December 19, 2007

Love the lists

By Porchlight

Gotta love this time of year. Lots of lists. As is true in business book publishing. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

December 17, 2007

After nearly 300 submissions and weeks of intense reading, the 8cr editorial staff has narrowed down the top titles to be considered as the best in 13 categories for the first 800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards. The shortlist for the Best Business Book of 2007 was also announced which includes: The Dream Manager Matthew Kelly The Last Tycoons William D. Cohan Made to Stick Chip and Dan Heath Strengths Finder 2. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

December 13, 2007

Another List

By Porchlight

Rebecca pointed us all to Amazon's Best Books of 2007 last month, and in light of all the other lists coming out lately, I thought it'd be a good idea to revisit that list and highlight the business titles on it. There were three business categories--Business, Business Narratives, and Finance & Investing. So without further ado, the choice of Amazon's editors were. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

December 06, 2007

We've been in Chicago for the past two days for our second annual Author Pow-wow. I'll write more on that soon. There's much to share. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

November 28, 2007

If you're looking for a gift guide for books to buy for presents, here are a few of the books the 8cr crew bought for the holidays. Feel free to add your best buys, too: Proust Was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer One Hundred Young Americans by Michael Franzini Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough, Michael Braungart When You Were Me by Robert Rodi The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, Scott Brick How to Be Idle by Tom Hodgkinson Sublime Spaces & Visionary Worlds by Erika Doss, Ruth D. Kohler, Lisa Stone, Jane Bianco, Leslie Umberger (Editor) The Last Tycoons by William D. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

October 26, 2007

The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Freres & Co. The Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book Award was announced at a gala dinner last night at the British Library in London, and William D. Cohan took home the prize. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

September 25, 2007

This morning Financial Times and Goldman Sachs revealed the semifinalist titles in the running of being named their Business Book of the Year. Judges will determine the final winner on October 25. The list is as follows: Zoom by Iain Carson and Vijay V Vaitheeswaran The Last Tycoons by William D Cohan The Age of Turbulence by Alan Greenspan Immigrants by Philippe Legrain The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb Wikinomics by Don Tapscott and Anthony D Williams Good luck! READ FULL DESCRIPTION

May 03, 2007

101 Mission Statements From Top Companies>>The Wall Street Journal | Telling a Big Story in a Few Words The book, he says, is about that great modern creation, the "company positioning statement known generally as a mission statement. " (tags: businessbooks public_relations strategy) The Last Tycoons >> The Economist | Clash of the titans More illuminating are Mr Cohan's descriptions of the scheming, politicking and general dysfunction that was Lazard. . READ FULL DESCRIPTION

October 15, 2008

The Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year was announced last night at a Gala Dinner in New York, and congratulations are in order for Mr. Mohamed El-Erian. He has won the prize for his book When Markets Collide: Investment Strategies for the Age of Global Economic Change. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

January 15, 2008

The day has finally arrived. After careful consideration, the winners have been determined for our first annual Business Book Awards. Nearly 300 titles were submitted which were then critiqued and reviewed by our editorial staff. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

August 12, 2009

The longlist for the 2009 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award has been announced. The press release states that "The award is designed to highlight the book that provides the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern business issues, including management, finance, and economics. " The books on the longlist are: Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism by George A Akerlof, Robert J Shiller Clever: Leading Your Smartest, Most Creative People by Rob Goffee, Gareth Jones Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson Good Value: Reflections on Money, Morality and an Uncertain World by Stephen Green House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street By William D Cohan (Cohan won the award two years ago for his first book, The Last Tycoons. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

August 19, 2011

Understandably (looking at the award sponsors), the FT/Goldman Sachs Book Award always tends more toward macroeconomics, high finance and big business. But they always seem to pick well, and I always find books I feel the need to revisit when they announce their list. Just in case you missed the announcement of the the award's longlist as I did, it is: Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius by Sylvia Nasar, Simon & Schuster No Angel: The Secret Life of Bernie Ecclestone by Tom Bower, Faber & Faber Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty by Abhijit V. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

May 10, 2011

The call is on for submissions to the 2011 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award. From the press release: Now in its seventh year, the award is firmly established as a feature of the business and publishing calendars. [. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

May 29, 2012

The search is now on for the 2012 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year. From the official announcement: This annual Award, promoted by the Financial Times Limited and the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. aims to identify the book that provides the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern business issues, including management, finance and economics. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

May 21, 2014

There has been a shake up around one of the major business book awards given every year, with McKinsey & Company taking the place of Goldman Sachs as the partner of the Financial Times for the tenth year of their prestigious award. Submissions have been open since last month, and they officially announced the launch of the 2014 Business Book of the Year Award yesterday. Also a first this year, they have announced an additional award—the Bracken Bower Prize—which "will be given to a promising young writer with the best proposal for a book about an emerging business theme. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

Full Description

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 Frères & 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.

About the Author

William D. Cohan was an award-winning investigative journalist before embarking on a seventeen-year career as an investment banker on Wall Street. He spent six years at Lazard Frères in New York and later became a Managing Director at JPMorgan Chase & Co. He is a graduate of Duke University and received both an MS from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and an MBA from its Graduate School of Business.

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