American Express


Book Description

A dramatic inside look at the evolution of one of the most powerful financialinstitutions in the world. 16 pages of photographs.




American Express: The People Who Built the Great Financial Empire


Book Description

A dramatic inside look at the evolution of one of the most powerful financialinstitutions in the world. 16 pages of photographs.




Buffett's Early Investments


Book Description

Buffett’s Early Investments investigates ten investments that legendary investor Warren Buffett made in the 1950s and 1960s—earning him his first millions—and uncovers unique insights in the process. Using the same documents Buffett used when he made these investments, the author reveals the fascinating inside stories of: - How Philadelphia and Reading, Buffett’s largest investment in 1954, transformed from a declining coal company to a diversified conglomerate whose stock went up twentyfold due to the intervention of Buffett’s mentor, Ben Graham. - How Buffett and Charlie Munger made their first formal investment together in Hochschild-Kohn. - How corporate governance issues actually presented serious risk to Buffett’s 1966 investment in Walt Disney. Other investments analyzed include American Express, British Columbia Power, Cleveland Worsted Mills, Greif Bros, Marshall-Wells, Studebaker, and Union Street Railway. Not all of these investments worked out—this book shows why. Buffett’s Early Investments helps readers understand how history’s greatest ever investor really made his returns in the years where he produced his best numbers.




Forbes Greatest Business Stories of All Time


Book Description

What do Bill Gates, Henry Ford, J. P. Morgan, Mary Kay Ash, and Walt Disney all have in common? Uncompromising vision, a willingness to take risks, and exceptional business acumen. Not only did these individuals amass great fortunes, they revolutionized the business world and helped shape society as we know it. Theirs are just a few of the stories collected in this anthology of commercial ingenuity. Drawing on a wealth of sources, this priceless collection brings to life extraordinary achievements, many of them forgotten or little known: how Robert Morris, the preeminent merchant of the eighteenth century, financed the American Revolution with his personal credit; how Ray Kroc used a shrewd real estate strategy to turn a faltering hamburger franchise operation into the McDonald's fast food empire; and how Mary Kay Ash built a billion-dollar direct sales cosmetics company by preaching a message of economic empowerment to women. Enlightening and fascinating, Forbes(r) Greatest Business Stories of All Time celebrates larger-than-life ambition, inspired leadership, wheeling and dealing, and hard work. Forbes is a registered trademark of Forbes Inc. Its use is pursuant to a license agreement with Forbes Inc.




Encyclopedia of American Business History


Book Description

Presents an alphabetically-arranged reference to the history of business and industry in the United States. Includes selected primary source documents.




Paying with Plastic, second edition


Book Description

The definitive account of the trillion-dollar payment card industry. The payment card business has evolved from its inception in the 1950s as a way to handle payment for expense-account lunches (the Diners Club card) into today's complex, sprawling industry that drives trillions of dollars in transaction volume each year. Paying with Plastic is the definitive source on an industry that has revolutionized the way we borrow and spend. More than a history book, Paying with Plastic delivers an entertaining discussion of the impact of an industry that epitomizes the notion of two-sided markets: those in which two or more customer groups receive value only if all sides are actively engaged. New to this second edition, the two-sided market discussion provides useful insight into the implications of these market dynamics for cardholder rewards, merchant interchange fees, and card acceptance. The authors, both of whom have researched the industry for more than 25 years, also examine the implications of the recent antitrust cases on the industry as well as other business and technological changes—including the massive consolidation brought about by bank mergers, the rise of the debit card, and the emergence of e-commerce—that could alter the payment card industry dramatically in the years to come.




A Financial History of the United States: From Christopher Columbus to the Robber Barons (1492-1900)


Book Description

The first comprehensive financial history of the United States in more than thirty years. Accessible to undergraduate level readers, it focuses on the growth and expansion of banking, securities, and insurance from the colonial period right up to the incredible growth of the stock market during the 1990s and the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. The author traces the origins of American finance to the older societies of Europe and Northern Africa, and shows how English merchants transferred their financial systems to America. He explains how financial matters dominated the founding and development of the colonies, and how financial concerns incited the Revolution. And he shows how the Civil War began the transformation of America from a small economy largely dependent on foreign capital into a complex capitalist society. From the Civil War, the nation's financial history breaks down into periods of frenzied speculation, quiet growth, periodic panics, and furious periods of expansion, right up through the incredible growth of the stock market during the 1990s.




Trailblazers, Heroes, and Crooks


Book Description

Develop a sound investment philosophy based on lessons from history Trailblazers, Heroes, and Crooks: Stories to Make You a Smarter Investor is a highly entertaining and insightful look into key stories from history, teaching lessons about sound principles of investing, and controlling emotions and bias when managing your investment portfolio to help you become a stronger, more intelligent investor. Written by author and finance professor Stephen R. Foerster, this book spans from before the Middle Ages to the 2020s. Some of the stories in this book include: Cristiano Ronaldo taking two bottles of Coke off a table at a press conference, and ostensibly causing Coca-Cola's stock value to plunge $4 billion Harry Markopolos trying to develop a strategy similar to Bernie Madoff's, realizing his strategy was bogus, and spending a decade proving his case A hostage crisis in twelfth century Venice involving trumped-up charges, conflict, deceit, a plague, and an angry mob, leading to the birth of government bonds A salad oil swindle almost destroying American Express, prompting Warren Buffett to make one of the best stock investments ever For both experienced and novice investors, Trailblazers, Heroes, and Crooks: Stories to Make You a Smarter is a fun, accessible, and informative guide that through history shows, not tells, you how to develop an investment philosophy of guiding principles, and become a better investor.




Out Where the West Begins


Book Description

Between 1800 and 1920, an extraordinary cast of bold innovators and entrepreneurs—individuals such as Cyrus McCormick, Brigham Young, Henry Wells and James Fargo, Fred Harvey, Levi Strauss, Adolph Coors, J. P. Morgan, and Buffalo Bill Cody—helped lay the groundwork for what we now call the American West. They were people of imagination and courage, adept at maneuvering the rapids of change, alert to opportunity, persistent in their missions. They had big ideas they were not afraid to test. They stitched the country together with the first transcontinental railroad, invented the Model A and built the roads it traveled on, raised cities and supplied them with water and electricity, established banks for immigrant populations, entertained the world with film and showmanship, and created a new form of western hospitality for early travelers. Not all were ideal role models. Most, however, once they had made their fortunes, shared them in the form of cultural institutions, charities, libraries, parks, and other amenities that continue to enrich lives in the West today. Out Where the West Begins profiles some fifty of these individuals, tracing the arcs of their lives, exploring their backgrounds and motivations, identifying their contributions, and analyzing the strategies they developed to succeed in their chosen fields.




Antitrust Law Journal


Book Description