The Last Tycoons cover art

The Last Tycoons

The Secret History of Lazard Freres & Co.

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The Last Tycoons

By: William D. Cohan
Narrated by: David Aaron Baker
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About this listen

Wall Street investment banks move trillions of dollars a year, make billions in fees, and pay their executives in the tens of millions of dollars. But even among the most powerful firms, Lazard Frères & 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.

Cohan follows Felix, the consummate adviser, as he reshapes corporate America in the 1970s and 1980s, saves New York City from bankruptcy, and positions himself in New York society and in Washington. Felix's dreams are dashed after the arrival of Steve, a formidable and ambitious former newspaper reporter. By the mid-1990s, as Lazard neared its 150th anniversary, Steve and Felix were feuding openly.

The internal strife caused by their arguments could not be solved by the imperious Michel, whose manipulative tendencies served only to exacerbate the trouble within the firm. Increasingly desperate, Michel took the unprecedented step of relinquishing operational control of Lazard to one of the few Great Men still around, Bruce Wasserstein, then fresh from selling his own M&A boutique for $1.4 billion. Bruce's take: more than $600 million. But as it turned out, Great Man Bruce snookered Great Man Michel when the Frenchman was at his most vulnerable.

©2007 William D. Cohan (P)2007 Random House, Inc.
Banks & Banking Business Business Ethics Economic History Economics Investing & Trading Professionals & Academics Workplace & Organisational Behaviour Banking New York Investing Wall Street Stock Taxation

Critic Reviews

"A competent history of Lazard, a well-written biography of Rohatyn, and an exciting insider's account of Wall Street infighting." (Publishers Weekly)

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