I must admit, it felt to me that the digital revolution started at some point after I commenced work at a local bank branch, in the mid 1970s This wasI must admit, it felt to me that the digital revolution started at some point after I commenced work at a local bank branch, in the mid 1970s This was just a few years after decimalisation and it seemed that every task was completed manually. My branch manager didn’t even allowed me to use an adding machine to complete my till balancing task - all calculations had to be done manually. But according to Isaacson, the revolution’s genesis goes way back to the 1830’s, when the daughter of poet Lord Byron – an amateur mathematician of some repute – began to forecast progressions that lay in the future, in the course of her work with English inventor Charles Babbage.
It seems that the author has two goals here: firstly to walk readers through the major steps taken from these early ideas right up to the date this book was published, in 2011; secondly, to highlight the fact (sometimes to the point of labouring the point) that these progressions were the work of many and that just about every step forward was facilitated through partnerships and collaborations, not by the work of individuals working alone.
He starts by saying that it took about a hundred years from the date that early ideas were propounded to delivery of a really meaningful step forward. We learn that the early ‘wins’ were delivered by people with very specific skills – mathematicians, metallurgists, quantum engineers, physicists and chemists – working collaboratively. There were two basic types of individual involved: theorists (those with the ideas) and experimentalists (those that brought the ideas to life). Through the establishment of symbiotic relationships, these people started to make significant headway from the 1930’s.
In addition to his later work decoding the encryption of German Enigma machines during the Second World War, Alan Turing also advanced the idea that all mathematical computations can be performed by a machine that follows a set of rules. The author shows that in addition to Turing many others – mostly Americans – began building machines, with the first electronic general-purpose digital computer, called ENIAC, being built in 1945. From this point on a series of inventions (the transistor, microchip and microprocessor) gradually allowed the development of smaller and better computers and also the ability to network devices.
ARPANET, in 1969, was the first operational computer network, and this also signalled the birth of email, with the internet being officially born in 1983. The book introduces many key figures up to and including this point but it isn’t until the 1970s that I started to recognise names, such Bill Gates & Paul Allen and Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak. From here Isaacson launches into a discourse on how continued growth was facilitated by a combination of an open source model, in which software and other developments are openly shared (a concept favoured by some, including Apple co-founder Wozniak) and a proprietary approach, in which developments are owned and closely guarded (Microsoft's Gates and Jobs aggressively promoted this route). Finally, there is a section on artificial intelligence and a discussion on where this might lead in the future.
I found the book to be informative, if a little soulless. Personally, I prefer the author’s biographies (e.g. Jobs, Musk and even Leonardo da Vinci) to this lesson in history. In his bio’s, he’s able to get under the skin of a person – even da Vinci – but his brief account of the many personalities involved here just didn’t hold me in the same thrall. Also, at times it’s quite technical and that’s an area in which I’m particularly weak, so I found some of the text hard to follow. But I did find it to be a comprehensive account and from a purely educational standpoint I’m really glad I spent time with it....more
How can a man, admittedly a very intelligent man, who is so brusque and rude with virtually everyone who works for him, is so maverick in the way he cHow can a man, admittedly a very intelligent man, who is so brusque and rude with virtually everyone who works for him, is so maverick in the way he chops and changes things on a whim and who constantly goes ‘all in’ to back his own judgement – often against the advice of seemingly wise counsel - become the richest man in the world? Or, to turn this question around, is it necessary (or, in fact, essential) to be such a man in order to achieve this level of success?
Isaacson clearly spent a good deal of time observing Musk. He had long discussions with him, regularly swapped messages with him, and talked to many others about him. He’s also well placed to judge him against at least one other man who achieved stellar success as he’d previously written an excellent biography of Steve Jobs, having spent a similar amount of time with the late Apple and Pixar boss. He notes that both shared a propensity to treat people badly and were essentially difficult people to work for, but that each could articulate a clear vision and share a one-track mind on delivery. Both, he says, were not afraid to intimidate and upset people in order to get them to achieve things they believed to be impossible. In passing, he further observes that Jeff Bezos (Amazon) and Bill Gates (Microsoft) – other mega-successful businessmen - are similarly objectionable characters.
I’d previously read Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future so I had a reasonable knowledge of Elon’s background. But that was published in 2015, and this book, therefore, brings in more recent events and achievements. It’s also fair to say that Isaacson draws out some insights from the past not covered in the earlier book. For instance, one anecdote tells of how Musk was sent to a summer camp when he was still very young, which featured fighting as a key component of its learning activities. On his first visit, he was on the wrong end of a significant beating, but as he grew, things changed in later visits he was to become one of the beaters of the young and the frail. So perhaps this fed not only his survival instinct but also his determination to prevail.
His relationship with his father, Errol, is covered episodically throughout. Erol is described as a difficult man: temperamental and psychologically abusive. He chastised and criticised Elon consistently through his formative years. His bullying tendencies might be one of the reasons Elon fled his native South Africa at the first opportunity to begin a new life in first Canada and then America. We’re walked through his further education (Queens University, Ontario & University of Pennsylvania) and his business career (Zip2, X.com & PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla, SolarCity, Neuralink, The Boring Company, OpenAI and Twitter/X). It is really amazing to think that he was running quite a number of these companies – and at a pretty granular level – at the same time!
There are some great sections on how Musk developed and deployed what he referred to as his ‘algorithm’, which essentially aims to: question every requirement (and I do mean every requirement); delete anything that might be unnecessary (even if some have to be added back later); simplify and optimise every process; accelerate the time cycle; automate if possible. These steps, Musk says, must be completed in strict order, as many times before he’d tried to simplify or automate a process he really should have already deleted. Isaacson cites a good number of examples demonstrating how this works in practice, very effectively saving money and speeding up delivery. Having worked in operations for much of my career, I wish I’d cottoned on to this checklist many years ago – it’s simple but brilliant.
Elon Musk is a man who prefers danger to comfort, loves drama and conflict, has a compelling sense of urgency about everything he does, and can inspire and repel in equal measure. He’s a natural disruptor, a challenger of the status quo, and he has a brilliant mind which allows him to not only vision the big picture but also to understand the micro detail involved in achieving his aims. I wouldn’t want to work for him, but what he’s achieved really is hugely impressive.
Isaacson has done a brilliant job in pulling this biography together, I absolutely loved it....more
Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Will Bunch poses a number of pressing questions here and proposes some interesting solutions too. The issues coveredPulitzer Prize–winning journalist Will Bunch poses a number of pressing questions here and proposes some interesting solutions too. The issues covered include:
Has the cost of higher education in America now made it a club for the richest families only?
Should colleges seek to expand a student’s broad education or should the primary focus be to prepare them for an identified career path?
And what about, so called, blue collar jobs – what’s the route for students wishing to learn a trade?
The author takes us through a history of further education in America from the end of WWII, explaining how the introduction of the G.I. Bill significantly expanded not only the number of students experiencing further education but also radically changing the age profile. He explains how sceptics were proved wrong in their prediction that many returning soldiers would simply accept the benefits on offer but would fail to complete their courses. Then when the baby boomer generation, spawned by the war’s conclusion, was added to the mix an exponential growth in the overall number of students attending college was confirmed. The result was, of course, a huge expansion in the number and scale of colleges.
The immediate post war era was a time in which egalitarian aims held sway over those seeing the profit potential on offer. But a string of student protests in the late 1960’s - regarding the draft, civil rights issues, discrimination and woman’s liberation - created an atmosphere in which some saw education as a threat (to white supremacy, for example) rather than something offering a positive benefit to society. Bunch digs into the political debates and machinations of the time to explain how this has driven the country to the position it finds itself in today. Essentially this requires students to who don’t come from wealthy families to take on significant debt in order to fund a degree course that will give them access to the most remunerative job opportunities.
The average debt facing graduating students is said to be circa $30k. And with repayment required to commence within six months of graduation the financial pressures are quick to take hold. The author states that this demonstrates how the majority of would be college students face the dilemma of whether to gamble on their ability to quickly secure a well paying job after completing their course or to miss out on the opportunity such an education offers. To emphasise this point, he supplies brief case studies of a range of individuals who have one way or another become disenfranchised by their experience.
There’s a good deal of political history here, mixed into the story, and it’s clear that Bunch has little time for Donal Trump and, in fact, the GOP in general. On top of this, he stresses the point that cheating and dodgy dealing have been rife in terms of allowing cash rich families to inveigle routes into the most high profile colleges for their offspring. Amongst those cited in this respect are Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner. And what is stressed throughout is that a college degree isn’t simply a ‘nice to have’ in the current knowledge based economy, it now offers what a high school diploma did 80 years ago. In other words, the route to these high paying careers is only now open to those with a college degree.
In terms of a way forward, a number of steps are proposed which would, the author says, open up the opportunity of a college education to a much wider population. He also suggests that the introduction of a ‘gap year’ for students at around the age of 18 - i.e. after high school and before college - might recreate the environment achieved post the G.I. Bill by bringing students into higher education with a broader view of life. This gap year might take the form of compulsory non-military public service. There are also suggestions concerning the set-up (or rather expansion) of institutions for training those who are intent on a specific trade and have no interest in a broader education.
Finally, there is a fairly comprehensive debate on the issue of who should pay for these proposed ‘improvements’ and whether higher education should be free to students or merely subsidised. Various options are explored but interestingly the English method is not amongst them. Here, the cost for students is capped and the phasing of any repayment of the government loan funding study and other associated costs is put on hold until a salary roughly equivalent to the national average is achieved, post university. Thereafter the amount of any repayment is governed by the salary level and if the loan is not fully repaid within 30 years it is written off. The reality is that many student will never fully repay these loans, so the excess cost falls to the general tax payer.
I found this book to be highly informative, opening my eyes to issues and possible solutions that I was previously blind to. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in a key issue facing all highly developed countries at this time.
My thanks to publishers William Morrow for supplying an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review....more
Anna Wintour has been Editor-in-Chief of Vogue magazine for decades, a workaholic whose somewhat prickly personality has earned her the nickname ‘NuclAnna Wintour has been Editor-in-Chief of Vogue magazine for decades, a workaholic whose somewhat prickly personality has earned her the nickname ‘Nuclear Wintour’. I’d enjoyed The Vanity Fair Diaries: 1983-1992 by Tina Brown in which Wintour featured as somebody Brown had befriended and sought counsel from when she took up the reins at Vogue’s sister magazine and I’d hoped this biography might offer up similarly spicy account of how a talented and ambitious woman worked her way up to the top of her profession.
Born in England, Anna’s father was editor of the London Evening Standard and her mother, an American with strong family lineage. Consequently, Anna never had to struggle for money. She was always interested in fashion, and after working on a number of smaller publications, she found herself heading up British Vogue. But this was never going to be enough for her. She had her eyes on the ‘big job’ in New York. This book details her journey and, along the way, provides a decent commentary on the daily workings of a fashion magazine. In this respect it’s pretty comprehensive, but what it lacks is some real in-depth insight into the woman herself. This is primarily down to the fact that it’s all pieced together from third-party accounts of events and opinions put forward by friends and foes. It really isn’t anything like the first person account Tina Brown produced.
The picture painted is of a woman whose leadership style is decisive but autocratic, who is controlled but also controlling, and yet despite all the power she wields, it seems that Wintour has an aversion to direct confrontation. It’s also clear that she never engages in small talk with her colleagues. Accordingly, some of her behaviours feel odd and unnecessarily cold – such as her one word feedback to those who present their hard work for her approval (either a positive ‘ok’ or a disdainfully abrupt rejection).
There are certainly elements I found interesting, including sections touching on her associations with Donald Trump, and Harvey Weinstein but for me there was too much focus on descriptions of how any number of fashion shoots played out and the piecing together of various editions of her magazine. Also, a good deal of time is spent discussing what everyone is wearing – Anna, it seems, has zero tolerance for anyone who she considers to be badly dressed. Ultimately, I came away with a feeling that the author had failed to get fully under the skin of this enigmatic lady in this detailed but unfortunately dull telling of her story....more
Walter Isaacson’s brilliant biography of Steve Jobs is one of the most compelling accounts of a driven man I’ve come across. At Apple, Jobs was totallWalter Isaacson’s brilliant biography of Steve Jobs is one of the most compelling accounts of a driven man I’ve come across. At Apple, Jobs was totally focussed on producing innovative products of superb quality. He wasn’t too worried about how his abrasive nature impacted those he worked with, he just wanted everything to be done ‘right’ and had zero tolerance for anything less. So what would happen to Apple once its driving force had passed? Well, this book tells the story.
The book is really the tale of two men who were to lead the company going forward. Jony Ive had been the Chief Design Officer during the period Jobs introduced the iPod, iPhone and iPad. He and Steve had formed a close partnership, with Jobs dropping in on Ive and his team just about every day. The second figure is, of course, Tim Cook who took over as CEO of the company following the death of Jobs. Cook had formerly been the company’s Chief Operating Officer. If Jobs was authoritarian and a galvanizing force for the company then Cook was democratic in his approach and more focussed on the numbers than the minute details of the products. They were, in fact, chalk and cheese.
This book walks us through Steve’s time at Apple (a scene setter) before focussing thereafter on Ive and Cook. We learn a good deal about what shaped these men and what drove them on, or made them tick. They were very different people: Ive the aesthete and Cook the operations man, forever with his eye on the financial spreadsheet. The chemistry between the two never came close to that established between Ive and Jobs. Eventually Jony became burnt out and, craving more autonomy, left to set up a business of his own. The book points out that despite Cook’s very different style and focus (he eventually turned more towards generating income from services more so than new products) the company's income continued to grow under his leadership.
It’s all told as a story, based on hundreds of interviews with an army of unnamed colleagues, friends and acquaintances of key players. In fact, this is just the way I like to imbibe this sort of information, I loved it and found the whole book to be hugely informative and yet still entertaining, in equal measure. Highly recommended.
My thanks to HarperCollins UK for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
For some reason I really enjoy books about small businesses that grow to become hugely successful. This book tells the story of Pixar, the computer anFor some reason I really enjoy books about small businesses that grow to become hugely successful. This book tells the story of Pixar, the computer animation studio that famously produced the film Toy Story, and later many other award winning films. It starts with the author, a lawyer and business executive, being tempted to join the company, to add to business experience and nous to the existing team. The man inviting Lawrence Levy to join Pixar is Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
On his first visit to the company’s studio, Levy is blown away by the talent, the invention and the sheer brilliance of the output. But it’s clear that the company is being kept alive only by the input of regular injections of cash from Jobs. There’s currently no business plan in place and Pixar seems to be locked into a long-term deal with Disney that almost guarantees that the company won’t be making any serious money for years to come. But Levy loves the early glimpse of Toy Story he’s seen and is wowed by the leap in technological output it represents. And he likes Jobs too – he’s in.
From here there’s a good deal of focus on how the company is work around the restrictions imposed by the Disney deal to bring in more revenue, with the side story being the developing business relationship and friendship between the Jobs and Levy. It’s well presented and even though pretty much everyone knows how this plays out there is still an element of suspense here as Pixar considers its options and takes some significant business risks along the way.
Walter Isaacson’s excellent biography of Jobs provided a telling picture of the man and this books fills in a few gaps. It’s definitely worth catching if you’re interested in the life and achievements of this Silicon Valley legend. Levy too is an interesting character: a dedicated business driver who is to leave Pixar, after helping the company secure its future, to pursue his passion for Buddhist philosophy. ...more
20/11/22 - Update: Elizabeth Holmes sentences to more than 11 years (135 months) in jail, for what prosecutors called one of the “most substantial” wh20/11/22 - Update: Elizabeth Holmes sentences to more than 11 years (135 months) in jail, for what prosecutors called one of the “most substantial” white collar crimes ever seen in the US.
In a separate trial, Holmes’s former boyfriend and Theranos chief operating officer Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani was found guilty for his part, convicted on 12 counts of fraud. He is due to be sentenced in early December. ——————————————————————-
28/1/22 - Update: Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty Jan. 3 on four counts of criminal fraud against investors. She was acquitted on four counts tied to patients. The jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the remaining three counts tied to investors. Holmes’ sentencing is set for later in 2022 (possibly September) to allow for the trial of Sunny Balwani, her former personal and professional partner, whose trial for related fraud charges will begin in March.
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10/9/21 - I'm interested to learn that the trial of Elizabeth Holmes has now commenced, in California. I'll be watching closely for updates on proceedings.
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29/1/21 - I’ve been on a bit of a roll with books telling the story of successful American companies, of late: Tesla and SpaceX, Google and Yahoo all had inspiring leaders who’s drive and focus meant that they developed innovative products and services that caught the public’s imagination. So what about a company called Theranos? No, I hadn’t heard of that one.
This account of the formation and ultimately the failure of a Silicon Valley startup company who produced what they claimed to be an innovative way of drawing and testing blood samples was written by an investigative journalist, John Carreyrou, whilst working for the Wall Street Journal. Having been contacted by a whistle-blower he wrote series of articles questioning claims made by the company’s founder and CEO, Elizabeth Holmes. In this book, Carreyrou takes us back to the forming of Theranos and explains in some detail how the company was formed, the idea that Holmes propagated and how the company drew in investment from a string of venture capitalists (raising over $70 million) and struck huge deals for the roll-out of their product with Safeway and Walgreens.
The company was obsesses with secrecy and when Holmes brought in Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani as Chief Operating Officer he became the de facto enforcer, ruthlessly stamping down on anything and anybody he thought might be compromising the strict rules the company had laid down. Brutal sackings were the norm and a posse of colleagues were frog-marched from the company's headquarters, often for most minor of transgressions. Unknown to the other board members, Holmes and Balwami were in a romantic relationship and due to the way voting rights were structured the pair were able to maintain rigid control over all of the company’s activity’s.
At its peak, the company attracted a valuation of $9 billion and Holmes had cemented close relationships with a number of very high profile figures, including Henry Kissinger, George Schultz and James Mattis. She had also become a presidential role model for American entrepreneurs and had hosted a visit from vice-president Joe Biden. But it all came tumbling down as Carryrou persuaded a number of ex-employees to disclose the tricks and lies that had managed to hoodwink not only investors and customers but also the regulators. In essence, the the product did not work as advertised and more importantly it provided dangerously erroneous readings for many customers. Theranos ceased operation in 2018 and both Holmes and Bulwani have since been charged with fraud, with a trial likely to take place in 2021.
It’s an amazing story, but I wasn’t quite so taken by the manner in which it is told. There’s a lot of detail here, much of it of a medical nature, and without the requisite background knowledge I found chunks of it somewhat hard to follow. Then there’s the way this audio version was read, by Will Damron – to me, the pace felt too slow and the tone sometimes over dramatic. But overall I did find it a fascinating account of so how many seemingly savvy people can get taken in and put money and/or their personal reputation on the line without having undertaken due diligence....more
Not long ago I was glued to my television set as SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket, carrying two astronauts on their journey to the International SpNot long ago I was glued to my television set as SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket, carrying two astronauts on their journey to the International Space Station. The launch was followed shortly thereafter by the amazing spectacle of seeing the main body of the rocket separate before flipping and completing a descent, culminating in a vertical landing on an autonomous drone ship. This still feels to me like something out of a sci-fi movie – I’m hardly able to believe what I’m seeing! A few days later Audible offered up a cheapie listen to this bio of the company’s founder and driving force, Elon Musk. And, of course, not only is Musk the man behind America’s return to manned space travel he also runs Tesla, a company producing high-end electric cars. Oh, and let’s not forget SolarCity, a subsidiary of Tesla that specialises in providing solar energy services. That’s quite a collection.
Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa in 1971 and from an early age he demonstrated an ability to absorb and retain a huge volume of information. A prodigious reader, he regularly immersed himself in books for up to ten hours a day. As a young boy he wasn’t considered hugely sociable and his habit of routinely correcting other children was hardly going to help him develop an extensive group of school friends. He developed into a geeky adolescent who enjoyed science fiction and fantasy stories. Shortly before his 18th birthday he set off for Canada on his own and from there made his way to America. After obtaining degrees in physics and economics and completing two internships in Silicon Valley he toyed with the idea of beginning doctorate studies before giving that up to launch a web software company called Zip2, in 1995.
After pocketing $10 million from the sale of Zip2 he co-founded an online financial services and email payment company (X.com) which through a merger acquired a money-transfer service called PayPal. A couple of years later Musk was ousted as CEO but in the shakeout he received circa $165 million. This was to be his set-up money for SpaceX and Tesla. Musk had developed into a visionary who believed that to safeguard the human race it would be necessary to build a multi-planetary society – his planet of choice being Mars. Furthermore, he was enthused by the idea building an electric car after test driving a handmade electric sports car. The makers had no interest in mass producing the car but Musk believed in the concept of a future in which cars were no longer powered by petrol or diesel.
This book walks us through Elon’s involvement in both companies, and to a lesser extent the development of SolarCity too. Not surprisingly, he comes across as daring and hugely driven. He rates high on his ability to maximise output from his teams – he recruits highly skilled people, expects them to work long days and accepts no resistance to his lofty targets and goals. But he can be harsh in dealing with his employees and it seems that though almost all respect (and often revere) their boss, it doesn’t necessarily mean they like him. As a leader he is adept at developing a big picture strategy but, unusual for high flying CEO’s, he’s also totally comfortable delving into the fine detail. And there are quite a few examples here describing how Musk uses his photographic memory to the consternation of those around him: in one example he provided feedback on a prototype car, listing around 80 elements requiring attention – all without having taken any notes.
The book was published in 2015, so it doesn’t cover elements that have made the news in the past few years. But what is clear here is just how daring the man is. He is not afraid to go ‘all in’ when investing in his companies, though this nearly cost him dear in 2008 when both SpaceX and Tesla were on the verge of financial collapse. He has also managed to augment his skills as a physicist and an engineer with an eye for design. He’s a man with a big ego and this can sometimes get in the way but his drive and focus ensure that his eyes (and those of his team) are always firmly set on the prize. It’s a fascinating story and sits beside those featuring the likes of Steve Jobs and Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin as another testament to the bright, insightful entrepreneurs Silicon Valley has produced....more
A few years ago I stumbled across an audio version of The Wolf of Wall Street and found it to be wild, funny and brilliantly ‘performed’ by the readeA few years ago I stumbled across an audio version of The Wolf of Wall Street and found it to be wild, funny and brilliantly ‘performed’ by the reader, Eric Meyers. For anyone who hasn’t heard this story (via the book, the subsequent film or by picking up on the news reporting of the time) it tells of the true story of Jordan Belfort who set up an investment company and became a multi-millionaire by ripping-off investors. He lived a lifestyle of unbelievable excess before the authorities eventually caught up with him. I absolutely loved the book, mainly because Belford’s voice shone through the story which was told throughout in an irreverent and totally over-the-top style. I’m sure that some scenes may have been described in a way designed to maximise the entertainment value but I’ve got no issue with that, it remains one of my favourite autobiographies.
And this time around history repeated itself, I spotted this book in an Audible sale and hadn’t even realised that Belfort had penned a follow up to his first book. Here the story picks up from the point he’s been arrested and takes us through subsequent events as he attempts to come to terms with his predicament and, as best he can, manage the impacts on himself and his family. This book was read by Ray Porter and I have to say he does good a job, if not better, than EM. I truly found myself nearly helpless with laughter at some points, which given the fact that the focus here is on Belford’s arrest, interrogation and subsequent incarceration I think is somewhat remarkable. But once again, this is really down the way in which the story is told and how scenes are framed. Belfort is just a born storyteller.
If you’re in the mood for an interesting true(ish) story and can cope with the fairly extreme profanity that goes with it then I’d definitely urge you to seek out Belfort’s books....more
This is the third audiobook I’ve listened to in the past few months that is focused on Silicon Valley. The first two concentrated on the development aThis is the third audiobook I’ve listened to in the past few months that is focused on Silicon Valley. The first two concentrated on the development and life of specific companies, namely Yahoo and Google, whereas this book takes a look at the culture of technology start-ups. Having previously worked in publishing and at a literary agency in New York, Anna Wiener joined a four-person start-up who were developing an eBook reader app. She was to be the person who knew books amongst this small group of techies. This experience turned out to be short lived, however, as she was soon tempted out to San Francisco where she worked at a data analytics company for the next 18 months. Her third job in a technology start-up, also in the Bay Area, was at an open source software development company – essentially a company that develops software for software developers.
I’d observed from the Yahoo and Google books that a clear distinction exists between technical staff (typically computer engineers or coders) and non-technical staff (sales people, administrators and others in customer facing roles). In short, the technical staff are valued the most. Anna finds this out quite quickly and though it clearly rankles she also finds enough interest and reward to keep her working in this industry for a number of years. She walks us through her various roles, her interactions with people inside the companies and her mindset as she wrestled with elements of her work that clearly don’t sit easily with her.
One element here that I found frustrating is that Wiener seems to have an aversion to names: the people she comes across are simply labelled entrepreneur, technologist, CEO, venture capitalist etc. And the same goes for the companies she works for, uses or simply expresses an opinion upon, these being designated as the Seattle software conglomerate or the social media platform everybody hates. Is there a reason for this or is it simply a style choice? I’m not sure, but I didn’t like it. I did manage to work out some of the companies touched on (I think), with my list including Amazon, Google, Uber, eBay and Facebook. But of course I may be wrong.
The other key thing here – and I found it to be the main thrust of the book – is that in Wiener’s opinion Silicon Valley is run by men, and usually men she doesn’t like very much. She particularly dislikes the way that these men treat the women in their employ. The author, a self confessed feminist, does go some way to explaining how she formed this view and the examples she gives are reasonably persuasive. But for me what fights against this is her obvious antipathy toward the male species in general. Others may disagree but I found it to be a pervasive flavour throughout.
Overall I enjoyed the insight this book provided into how things work in a technology start-up. I also admired the author’s ability to string sentences together, often using obscure words and phrases. But Wiener herself came across as a royal pain in the arse. I know I'll be an outlier here but I'm afraid I found the whole thing to be way too annoying and for this reason I can only award it two stars....more
Having recently listened to an audio version of In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works and Shapes Our Lives it created a desire in me for more informaHaving recently listened to an audio version of In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works and Shapes Our Lives it created a desire in me for more information on probably the key forerunner to Google. Yahoo is referenced many times in the Google book, it’s clear they had paved the way for later technology companies to push on and further leverage the opportunities presented by the World Wide Web. In this book a former executive tells of his time at Yahoo and how and why the company later fell from prominence and was ultimately bought by Verizon it what has been called the saddest deal in tech history.
Jeremy Ring joined Yahoo in the mid 1990’s and stayed on for five years. His background had been in advertising and in the course of doing business with Yahoo he’d befriended Jerry Yang, one of the co-founders. At this stage Yahoo was in its infancy and Yang and fellow co-founder David Filo were two of only a handful people working at the fledgling tech company. Yahoo designed a system to categorise web sites, developed a web portal and a search engine and then added an advertising service to generate revenue. They were a pioneer of the internet age in the 1990’s and at its height its website was one of the most visited globally. Ring walks us through his early life and his time at Yahoo and then provides his thoughts on what went wrong with the company after he left.
The autobiographical element (essentially the first half of the book) was interesting enough, particularly a section in which Ring tells of how he was targeted by a blackmailer - a strange and disturbing tale indeed! But the meat of the book is the story of Yahoo. After rising to prominence and creating huge wealth for all the early Yahoo team it started to fall behind other, newer technology companies. According to the author, this boils down to a lack of foresight and innovation, a catastrophic series of missed opportunities (the company, it seems, spurned early chances to buy Google, Facebook and eBay), and a failure to properly integrate the businesses they did acquire. Much of this is blamed on the appointment of a series of badly chosen CEO’s, with Terry Semel receiving the majority of the flak. By the time they brought in a leader that might have avoided the disastrous slide (Marissa Mayer from Google) it was too late.
The format is slightly jumpy and a little repetitive as the author struggles to find a balance between telling his own story and that of the tech giant. The writing style is odd too – a little ‘old fashioned’ and stilted and with many of his points supported by multiple analogies and sometimes a ranting diatribe. The book did, in the end, provide me with what I was looking for, though perhaps not in the way I was looking for it. Therefore, three stars is as high as I can go with this one....more
I knew little about Google other than the fact that it's the name of the company that produced the eponymous internet search engine, which has gained I knew little about Google other than the fact that it's the name of the company that produced the eponymous internet search engine, which has gained a market share of nearly 90% as at April 2019. But I kept hearing how powerful the company was and how it formed one of the big four technology giants, along with Apple, Amazon and Facebook. It was about time I learned a little more about this outfit. In this audiobook, technology reporter Stephen Levy tells of the time he spent meeting and talking to people within the company and expands this to an overview of how Google was first founded and the key activities it undertook in the period 1998 - 2011.
Founded in 1998 by two Stanford University Ph.D students named Larry Page and Sergy Brin, the original focus was indeed on producing a search vehicle for the internet. Page and Brin were themselves brilliant computer engineers and they gradually recruited more very smart people to join them, a process that could drag perspective employees through more than twenty interviews. The growth of the business was built on the back of a focus on volume (gather as much information as possible and build huge capacity by having a massive infrastructure of servers) and exhaustive analysis of the data gathered. The culture of the company was hard working but informal and they believed in experimentation and risk taking - the phrase ready-fire-aim is one that is used to encapsulate their propensity for launching early and for preventing paralysis from the analysis of potential problems.
There are quite a few similarities between Google’s approach to getting things done and the methodology propounded by Facebook and other fast moving tech companies – in essence it amounts to don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good. And this seemed to have worked really well for Google as it quickly expanded from being a leading search company to the dominating force in generating income from advertising too. There’s a reasonable amount of detail here regarding the development of both the search facility and AdWords which, in time, brought in billions of dollars for the company.
There are details of some failures too, most notably Googles attempt to be a serious player in China but also a number of smaller tech companies (mainly start-ups) they acquired who failed to gain the attention or investment that might have made them a success. But as Google grew there were other major successes too, such as: the launch of the Chrome browser, Gmail and Google Maps plus the acquisition and development of Android.
This book ends as Larry Page takes over as CEO, the founders having brought in an experienced executive in Eric Schmidt to head up the company for the previous ten years. I found this account to be a fascinating study of how the daring and brilliance of a couple of bright geeks enabled them to become amongst the most successful (and richest) businessmen in history. It’s an inspiring story which is told in a way that is both easy to understand (for non-techies like me) and riveting in the way I was made to feel a watcher as historically important technical advances were proposed, developed and ultimately brought to market. Highly recommended....more
I think most are aware of the role subprime mortgages played in the 2007 banking crisis and the resulting worldwide financial crisis that followed in I think most are aware of the role subprime mortgages played in the 2007 banking crisis and the resulting worldwide financial crisis that followed in 2008. The subprime market was made up of house purchase loans and secondary (often re-finance) loans which were also secured against the property. This book walks us through the timeline following the rise in the popularity of these loans, how and when they began to get batched together and sold off in packages and the resultant collapse of the market. It also follows a few bright people who had nous to predict the fall of the market and take steps to enrich themselves on the back of it.
The first thing that struck me was that some of the terminology – actually much of the terminology – is impenetrable without detailed explanation. In truth, it’s only marginally less unyielding with the explanation! But though the minutia of the story might be a little too intricate for most its fair to say that the central idea is easy enough to grasp. The second thing that grabbed me is that the financial world was replete with people who either didn’t understand what they were doing or were knowingly and maliciously manipulating events to put money in their own pockets.
Loans were granted to many people who didn’t have the financial means to keep up payment. These loans in themselves were risky but subsequent loans granted on the presumption that any loss would be covered by the ever increasing value of the property were even less secure. When someone came up with the idea of batching these loans up and selling them on as subprime mortgage bonds it had the effect of protecting the original lender against future default. It’s clear that few people in the investment banks that dealt in such bonds really understood the risks involved. In any case, there was a standing presumption that property values would continue to increase and that defaults would be minimal, so what was there to worry about?
On the other side of the equation the few people with the insight to realise that the bubble would have to eventually burst on this market and, crucially, the means to do something about it set about effectively gambling on a market implosion. An instrument called a credit default swap was purchased by a number of hedge funds. These derivatives were structured to pay out huge sums of money if mortgage defaults went beyond, say, 7%. When the implosion came many investment banks went into meltdown as their holdings of subprime mortgage bonds became effectively worthless whereas the holders of credit default swaps made hundreds of millions in profits.
It’s an interesting angle on events and it did provide quite a few answers in a way that’s reasonably easy to understand. Worth seeking out if you’re interested in getting further under the skin of an event that’s had such worldwide impact....more
In 2009 Bernie Madoff was jailed for 150 years. A former chairman of the Nasdaq stock exchange, he had set up a Ponzi scheme – the largest in world hiIn 2009 Bernie Madoff was jailed for 150 years. A former chairman of the Nasdaq stock exchange, he had set up a Ponzi scheme – the largest in world history – which at the time of it’s collapse left a financial hole totalling some $65 billion. In case you’re not familiar with the terminology, a Ponzi scheme involves accepting investment funds and then fabricating reports showing the promised levels of return. In essence, it’s similar to a pyramid scheme in that early investors are repaid from the flow of money from new investors. The scheme was finally brought down by the global collapse in 2008 with some individual investors losing millions.
In this podcast series (free to Audible members) author Steve Fishman walks us through the events leading up to the arrest of Madoff and casts an eye at other likely players in the fraudulent scheme. A New York journalist, Fishman had spent over 10 years interviewing more than one hundred people and working through thousands of documents. He had also managed to speak directly to Madoff via a phone link to his jail, taping some of the conversations. They reveal the fraudster to be somewhat charming but certainly hell bent on putting his own personal spin on events.
In the final episodes, Fishman starts to question whether others might have escaped their share of the blame for these shameful events. There are some big investors who seems to have gained substantially from their involvement and then there are a number of banks who ‘sold’ investments to some of their customers – money that ended up in the Ponzi scheme.
It’s a short but insightful look into one of the biggest financial crimes in history and well worth catching if you have an interest in such events....more
Ross Ulbricht, born in Texas in 1984, is a libertarian and one of his staple beliefs is that people should be able to put into their bodies whatever tRoss Ulbricht, born in Texas in 1984, is a libertarian and one of his staple beliefs is that people should be able to put into their bodies whatever they wish, including any type of drug they choose. To this end, he believes that the sale of drugs should be decriminalised. So it’s probably not that surprising that this highly educated individual (bachelor’s degree in physics and masters degree in materials science and engineering) would be attracted to the idea of building an online site to provide a service supplying drugs to anyone willing to stump up the appropriate cost. This he did, with the site being situated on the darknet and accessible via a browser called Tor. Payments were to be made using the cryptocurrency bitcoin, as with due care transactions could thereby be conducted with relative anonymity. The drug suppliers who utilised this site (it was similar in set-up to eBay or Amazon) simply sent the product to customers via the standard mail system, with Ulbricht collecting a commission on all sales.
This book tells the story of Ulbricht’s ‘adventure’ as he progresses from Texas Boy Scout to becoming, effectively, the largest online supplier of drugs in the world – and in the process a multi-millionaire. There’s a great deal of research behind this real-life tale, the detail of which is documented at the end of the book. The story is told, however, in narrative form, and it therefore has the flow and feel of a fictional tale. I liked this way of taking in events as it kept the suspense element alive, even though it was ever evident that Ulbricht would not escape eventual capture.
The site (given the name Silk Road) was launched in 2011, and initially, because individual purchases tended to be for small amounts of the chosen drug, delivery was relatively problem free. Even when packages were considered suspicious and intercepted, the fact that they contained such a small amount of the drug (sometimes as little as a single tablet) ensured that authorities weren’t inclined to launch an investigation to track down the supplier – they were after bigger fish. Eventually, that would change as federal agencies learnt more about the aggregate volumes being shipped via this supply route.
For me, there were two key points of interest:
1. I enjoyed the story of Ross: how he developed this idea and, using admirable entrepreneurial drive, built a massive money spinning business. We’re introduced some really interesting characters and get a feel for how ruthless he’s forced to become to avoid capture and to protect his site from hackers and other undesirables.
2. The parallel effort of various agencies to track down the operators of the site and the drug traffickers who used the site to sell their wares is, at times, a Keystone Kops tale of mistakes, clashing egos, inter-agency rivalries and crooked agents. If it wasn’t true it’d be hilarious! Of course, they got their man in the end, but it was anything but a smooth operation.
It’s a fascinating story on a number of levels – certainly one to catch if the subject matter in any way floats your boat....more
A compilation comprising a number of short documentary episodes focused on the impact of free pornography, now so widely available via the Internet. WA compilation comprising a number of short documentary episodes focused on the impact of free pornography, now so widely available via the Internet. We are introduced, through a series of interviews, to a young Canadian man who seems to have kicked off the phenomenon and we also get to meet others who are either involved in the production of the porn films or are otherwise impacted by them. A porn filmmaker rues the fact that a film he shot two months ago is already available for nothing via the Internet, a female porn star tells of the moment her thirteen year old daughter was shown videos of her in action by a friend and a teenage boy tells how he fell foul of strict laws concerning sexual text messages he sent to a girl, partly due to his having viewed pornography. The tenor, though not judgemental in itself about the viewers of porn, is almost universally negative. There is a makeweight story of hope thrown in at the end, but this feels a little contrived in the big scheme of things.
It’s ok, but really quite narrowly focused. For instance, the Canadian entrepreneur is presented as a negative figure who has made millions through ‘stealing’ the intellectual property of others but no insight is provided as to how his money is actually generated. The makers of the films are depicted as naïve luddites who have failed to adapt their enterprises to survive in the Internet age. And the viewers of the films? Well if the numbers quoted are to be believed then that's just about everyone! A short series that’s interesting enough if you want to have a glimpse behind the scenes of this huge industry, but it’s certainly not comprehensive in its approach....more
I’m not a techie - I use a minimal amount of my smartphone’s many capabilities and survived the introduction of major technology into my chosen careerI’m not a techie - I use a minimal amount of my smartphone’s many capabilities and survived the introduction of major technology into my chosen career with a bit of luck and much help from friends and colleagues – but I am interested in the business of technology. That’s to say, how the introduction of electronic technology has transformed industries I’ve known and worked in and how it has introduced new businesses I couldn’t have dreamt of when I began my working life. I know (or knew) little about Silicon Valley, other than an awareness that it’s the home of mega-companies such as Facebook, Google and Apple. So this ‘insider’ exposé, from a man who had worked his way up the ladder from launching his own start-up company to holding a prominent role at Facebook, seemed like the ideal place to commence my education.
Antonio Garcia Martinez quit his PhD studies in Physics to earn some lucre working for Goldman Sachs. His job was to model prices for credit derivatives (he explained this but I’d have to say it flew way over my head). After becoming disillusioned with banking he used his skill set to set up a new technology company in the field of advertising and after it’s sale to Twitter he took up a role within the Facebook hierarchy. By this stage he’d developed some expertise in linking data streams (e.g. Facebook’s own knowledge of it’s members and their personal internet browsing history) with which he hoped to leverage monetisation of the business through the improved ability to supply a more focused advertising approach. Well, that’s my own interpretation/understanding of what he was trying to achieve – in truth, one downside of this book is that there is a lot of technical language here with dozens of acronyms thrown in for good measure and consequently I’m sure his own one-liner on this would be much more colourful.
Aside from this, there is a good deal of interesting insight here. For instance, how new technology businesses are typically funded and how the entrepreneurs are ultimately rewarded for their efforts is explained in some detail. Also, the way in which online advertising has become increasingly targeted to individuals is brought to life. This is good stuff and it’s interspersed with the account of the author’s own life and experiences, though there’s not a lot on Martinez’s life outside of work simply because there wasn’t much life outside of his work. It’s clear that if you’re going to be a success in Silicon Valley then work is your life! There are some humorous moments too, but in truth these are few and far between.
Possibly the most interesting section for me was where he lifted the lid on the culture inside of Facebook. For instance, I didn’t know that meals were (and maybe still are) provided free to all workers - either as purely benevolent act on the part of the company or possibly to remove a reason for workers to head home or outside of the workplace for their next refuelling stop. And in the eager push to land new projects mantras such as ‘done is better than good’ and ‘perfect is the enemy of good’ were thrown about with abandon.
Overall I enjoyed my time with this book. I do think that the tech-savvy reader/listener will extract more than I was able from this account but there was certainly enough here for non-techies like me too....more
As someone who spent his whole working life in the employ of a large retail bank in the UK, the title of this book intrigued me. How could anyone consAs someone who spent his whole working life in the employ of a large retail bank in the UK, the title of this book intrigued me. How could anyone considered to be middle class (almost regardless of the precise definition) survive without using a bank? Well, in this book Lisa Servon (Professor of Urban Policyan at Milano School of International Affairs) delves deep into the issues confronting potential bank customers in America today. She starts by stating that there are, in essence, three avenues to basic banking services:
- Banks - Alternative financial services providers (e.g. check cashers, payday loan shops and pawn shops) - Informal set-ups (e.g. via friends, family and work colleagues)
Each of the above is explored in some detail, with the advantages and disadvantages of each presented in a clear, no-nonsense way. Indeed, she even spent time working as a teller in a South Bronx check casher branch and as a lender in a payday loan shop. Both were eye opening experiences!
I did notice some interesting differences between mainstream retail banking in the UK versus the US. Some examples:
1. Bank charges have certainly come under the microscope in the UK but I’m convinced customers get a much better deal here. The charging policies and shady practices adopted by large banks in the US (e.g. treatment of overdrafts, sequencing debit transactions to maximise their ability to charge and even charging up to $25 for a replacement debit card) far outstrips anything I’ve experienced or heard about in this country. 2. It feels to me that the use of checks (cheques in the UK) is more predominant in the US. Here, electronic payments have all but made cheque issuance redundant. This difference helps to account for the widespread presence of check casher branches in the US. 3. The availability of basic bank accounts in the UK, allied to the prevalence of electronic payments and the direct debit system should mean that there is no need for anyone to look outside banks for access to standard services. That said, there remains circa one million people in the UK who don’t have a bank account of any type.
An interesting point that is made throughout this book is that banks really only want to have relationships with relatively well off people. Banking for people on the margins of financial security can be very expensive and, indeed, some can be excluded altogether due active credit scoring policies. Another strong message is that the banks generally provide a depersonalised service offering, this is much in contrast to the check casher and payday loan shop experience where customers tend to be well known to staff. In fact, customers using the non-bank services even tended to bring gifts to staff, tip them following transactions and ask after the welfare of favoured tellers.
Another key point is that many people who have bank accounts also use check casher and payday loan facilities. So why would they do this?
Check Casher: The short answer is because of instant access to funds rather than having to wait days for a cheque to ‘clear’. There is an up-front cost for this but when the cash is needed to buy food or other necessary good or to pay workers (in the case of small businesses) this is a necessary expenditure.
Payday Loan: There are several reasons but the expense of overdrafts and lack of access to cheaper loans both play a part.
The whole credit scoring issue is a big deal and once someone is driven below a certain score (for a host of potential reasons) they become tagged as ‘subprime’ and lending becomes harder to access and interest rates rise to account for the perceived additional risk.
I hadn’t realised that payday loans have a hidden trap. The facility is short-term and a one-off fee is payable upon repayment (pay day), but many customers can’t afford to carry the whole cost of repayment in such a short space of time and are forced to take out another loan to cover the shortfall. This can become an extended, and very expensive, process. Often these loans are used to pay for emergencies such as medical needs or a car repair and this highlights the plight of many Americans living close to the ‘breadline’. Another interesting fact is that even though payday loans are illegal in some states, there exist more payday loan stores in America than the combined total of McDonalds and Starbucks outlets!
At the end of the book there are some sensible recommendations as to the way forward for a country whose banks increasingly cater only for the well-off, leaving everyone else to settle for more expensive ways of resolving their financial services needs. Despite some differences in systems and policies, there are a lot of parallels with the UK here. I found this to be a thoroughly researched and enlightening piece of work.
My thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for providing an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review....more
I’d heard about (but not seen) the Scorsese film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, concerning this Wall Street guy who basically made a huge amount of moneI’d heard about (but not seen) the Scorsese film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, concerning this Wall Street guy who basically made a huge amount of money, took bucket loads of drugs and ripped off a group of wealthy investors. It looked like fun… but a bit over the top. Then the opportunity to grab an audio version of the book came up and I was about to dismiss it when I glanced at the blurb and realised it was claiming to be a non-fiction piece. Could this be true, was this guy a real life Gordon Gekko?
In 1962 Jordan Belfort was born to a Jewish family in the Bronx borough of New York City. His parents were both accountants. After college he found work as an entry level assistant in a Wall Street brokerage firm and quickly realised that the place was more ‘zoo’ than office. The brokers treated their assistants badly, took drugs constantly and earned lots and lots of money. Belford was hooked. But he quickly realised – in fact he knew from the start – that he had the drive and personality to rapidly rise to the top in this business. In 1989 he opened his own brokerage firm, Stratton Oakmont, with his friend Danny Porush. He subsequently employed a whole series of old acquaintances and friends as his company grew to become the largest over-the-counter finance firm in the country, through the period of the early 1990’s.
The book does describe how Belford manipulated the market to his own advantage but it (thankfully) doesn’t delve into the micro-detail. The focus is more on the personalities involved and the capers they enjoyed. There is quite a lengthy piece describing how some of the money was laundered but this is interesting in itself and important in the overall context of the narrative.
The audiobook is read (or more accurately ‘enacted’) by American voice-over actor Eric Meyers, and I have to say he does a superb job. Accents, emotions, comic timing – he delivers it all - in spades. His ability to bring this story to life and to draw out the humour is one of the main reasons I warmed to this account. A truly brilliant performance.
It’s a roller-coaster tale (you know it’ll end badly) and most of the fun is tied up in the anecdotes about the wilder elements of Belfort’s lifestyle. He was introduced to drugs in his early days on Wall Street and this was to become an escalating problem – not that he saw it as a problem at the time. His drug of choice was Methaqualone (marketed as Quaalude). It’s a sedative and has muscle relaxant properties – but it’s also a depressant. Consequently, the drug dependence intensified as extra substances were added to balance off its effects and increase the ‘high’. At one point, whilst in London, he called his assistant to demand that an employee be dispatched on the next available Concorde to fly a supply of ‘ludes to him at his luxury hotel. Such extravagances became routine.
It’s a tale of excess and hedonism. Feminists will hate this book – women are treated pretty badly throughout – but most blokes I know will lap up the stories of debauchery in the office and at the parties. It’s crude and it’s lairy but it’s all told in a semi-deprecating way that makes you think Belford didn’t take himself too seriously. As a piece of modern history it’s certainly a cautionary tale, and in many ways the actions described are totally despicable. But as a piece of entertainment it’s something else: a story to make you gasp and cringe and smile and laugh out loud. I loved it....more
In the time I worked in banking I experienced two mergers (well, one merger and a takeover). The first involving Lloyds and TSB was, in retrospect, faIn the time I worked in banking I experienced two mergers (well, one merger and a takeover). The first involving Lloyds and TSB was, in retrospect, fairly easy: ok, the IT systems didn’t speak to each other for an age, but on the staff side it always felt like we were all pulling in the same direction. The second one was different. When Lloyds ‘rescued’ HBOS in 2008 the banking world was in turmoil and after the deal was done, and particularly after it became clear how swallowing this toxic beast had impacted the healthy bank, it felt… well, difficult to swallow.
For most staff I knew in the new Lloyds Banking Group there were three questions we wanted (but never got) answers to:
1. Were Victor Blank (Chairman of Lloyds) and Eric Daniels (CEO) pushed into the takeover of HBOS by the then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown?
2. Did Daniels, as he later suggested, fail to complete satisfactory due diligence before the takeover was signed and sealed – and if so why didn’t he extract guarantees from the government to protect Lloyds against unforeseen problems in the HBOS business?
3. Why was the deal done without a guarantee that the government would look after competition issues (including Brussels) to prevent the need to sell off branches later?
The answers to all these questions are here, and a good deal more too. I found it to be a comprehensive walkthrough of the recent history of Lloyds Bank, the strategic challenges it faced leading up to the 2008 banking crisis and a pretty detailed meeting by meeting account of how events played out. It also provides an interesting view on what the longer term impacts of the takeover are.
The scope of this book is actually wider than just the Lloyds/HBOS issue, taking in the impacts on all the UK banks and also exploring the global picture. It’s familiar stuff to anyone who followed the news at that time, but I learnt a good deal more about how events played out.
It’s not possible to tell just how accurate this portrayal is, but the author is a well respected journalist and he seems to have gained access to many key sources in writing this account. Through it all, Blank and Daniels actually come out of it quite well – better than I thought they would. It’s pretty damning of the Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority, though. Brown, too, doesn’t come come out of it well at all.
By the way, the answers to the questions are:
1. No. Daniels had been talking to Andy Hornby (CEO, HBOS) for a couple of years about a possible merger. They hadn’t progressed due to the competition issues. The financial crisis provided a window of opportunity to slip this deal through.
2. No. Due diligence was completed to the standard you’d expect in a takeover of this kind. The problem was twofold: Lloyds couldn’t see the detailed lending book until the deal was completed and the economic downturn ran much deeper than anyone predicted, thus throwing out all the calculations anyway. But, the guarantee was never sought – and given the pace of events it should have been.
3. A verbal confirmation was obtained, but this was never confirmed in writing. Interestingly, in his conclusion the author suggests that this might turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Lloyds probably ended up with too many branches and in batching up and selling off TSB it actually disposed of something that was cost heavy and revenue light.
A compelling read for anyone interested in learning more about how the banks and the government worked their way through the crisis and also anyone who has a hankering to learn a bit more about how top executives in big businesses earn their crust. ----------------------------------
pre-read thoughts...
Having spent just about 40 years with TSB, then Lloyds TSB, then Lloyds Banking Group, I know how it felt to go through the HBOS merger from the inside: the bad feeling and suspicion from the staff of both banks and further down the line the growing certainty that the whole deal had been botched. It'll be interesting to see what some of the people who were involved in framing and executing the deal have to say about it. I don't expect the whole truth - this will, no doubt, come out in time - but I'm looking forward to hearing their story, all the same....more
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