Details
Synopsis
This corporate portrait of the esteemed investment firm Lazard Frères covers several decades, and includes accounts of big money, huge egos, and high-stakes power plays, as well as sordid tales of office hijinks and sexcapades. William D. Cohan explains the complex world of investment banking, and reports on the changes in Wall Street as its tradition-bound mix of old customs and social rankings (of people and companies) gave way to bold new masters of the universe. He tracks the legendary power struggle between Felix Rohatyn and Steve Rattner, as well as the battle for succession between Michel David-Weill and Bruce Wasserstein for what became Lazard, Ltd., 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 Fráeres & 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. Author 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 in this tale of vaulting ambitions, whispered advice, worldly mistresses, fabulous art collections, and enormous wealth.--From publisher description.
| Size | | Length: | 742 pages | | Height: | 9.8 in | | Width: | 7.0 in | | Thickness: | 2.0 in | | Weight: | 39.2 oz |
Industry Reviews
"Mr. Cohan's thoroughness--he interviewed over 100 current and former bankers and assorted bigwigs--unearths a trove of colorful tidbits, many quite racy....THE LAST TYCOON is a solid read."
(04/14/2007)
"Cohan, who once worked at Lazard, tells a sprawling, gossip-filled tale about the firm, the careful cultivation of its lustrous reputation and, in the last decade or so, that reputation's apparent undoing."
(05/27/2007)
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