Summary of Greg Farrell's Crash of the Titans

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The CEO of Merrill Lynch, Stan O’Neal, was re-elected almost unanimously by the institutional investors representing huge blocs of votes. The few individual shareholders who did attend the meeting were typically entranced by the prospect of getting themselves in front of a microphone. #2 In 2007, problems emerged in the U. S. real estate market, which was the engine of growth across the country. This led to a 36 percent increase in FICC revenues for the first quarter of 2007 over the previous year’s first quarter. #3 It was clear why O’Neal had touted Semerci as potential CEO material. Poised and elegant, Semerci demonstrated to the board how he had figured out the formula for maximizing the company’s revenues in an overheated real estate market without exposing Merrill Lynch to any of the downside of the real estate crash. #4 In early July, John Breit, a physicist by training, had been a risk manager for Merrill’s fixed-income group until a year earlier. He heard from some of his people that they had been contacted by Dale Lattanzio, Semerci’s second in command. Breit was puzzled. There was a group in place in the FICC department that could have handled this request easily.