Summary of Liar’s Poker: by Michel Lewis | Includes Analysis

By . IRB Media

Inside this Instaread Summary of Liar’s Poker

· Overview of the book

· Important People

· Key Takeaways

· Analysis of Key Takeaways

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Mar 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781945048173

. IRB Media

With Instaread, you can get the key takeaways, summary and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Overview

Liar's Poker is the story of the investment banking firm Salomon Brothers during the tenure of CEO John Gutfreund, lasting from 1978-1991, and to a lesser extent, a description of the wider financial world of the 1980s. The growth of Wall Street firms like Salomon Brothers was boosted by government deregulation which allowed for the growth and creation of risky mortgage-backed securities and high-yield junk bonds during this period. During the 1980s, Salomon Brothers was the largest investment banking firm in the United States.

A chance encounter at a party helped the author, Michael Lewis, earn an interview with Salomon Brothers. He spent three years working at the firm. During this time he largely worked out of the firm’s London offices, but took many trips to New York. He left the firm shortly after it was nearly acquired in a hostile takeover bid in 1987.

The author describes his own experience as a trainee and, subsequently, as a member of the mortgage bond department of Salomon Brothers, in the first person. Lewis is surprised by the irreverence and lack of expertise of many new hires in the industry, including himself. After his graduation from the firm’s training program, he was in turn shocked by the fraternity-like antics and business ethics of many Salomon Brothers employees. After his departure from