Surviving Wall Street: A Tale of Triumph, Tragedy, and Timing

Summary

Surviving Wall Street portrays the dramatic transformation of the investment banking business in recent decades through the tumultuous saga of one firm (Greenhill & Co., a specialist in mergers and acquisitions) and one man (Scott Bok, the longtime CEO of that firm). Written in the style of an adventure tale, this book is also a "coming of age" story for a naive young man who came to Wall Street and managed to grab a front-row seat for a period of epic change.

Listeners will gain an insider's perspective on an M&A firm's journey from start-up to wildly successful first-of-a-kind IPO and later to a sale to a major global bank; numerous crises that rocked Greenhill and all of Wall Street, including the dot-com crash, global financial crisis, and pandemic; how the creation of new firms and mergers or collapses of old ones have driven the evolution and growth of the industry; and the author's role in a battle for control of the University of Pennsylvania that featured activist shareholder and corporate takeover tactics.

A firsthand account of deals and dealmakers told from inside the boardroom, Surviving Wall Street will captivate those wanting to understand the dramatic evolution and expansion of Wall Street, as well as younger listeners hoping to chart their own path to success in this Darwinian industry.