''The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine'' is a nonfiction book by

Michael Lewis Michael Monroe Lewis (born October 15, 1960) Gale Biography In Context. is an American author and financial journalist. He has also been a contributing editor to '' Vanity Fair'' since 2009, writing mostly on business, finance, and economics. H ...

about the build-up of the

United States housing bubble The 2000s United States housing bubble was a real-estate bubble affecting over half of the U.S. states. It was the impetus for the subprime mortgage crisis. Housing prices peaked in early 2006, started to decline in 2006 and 2007, and reac ...

during the 2000s. It was released on March 15, 2010, by W. W. Norton & Company. It spent 28 weeks on ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' best-seller list, and was the basis for the 2015 film of the same name.

Summary

''The Big Short'' describes several of the main players in the creation of the

credit default swap A credit default swap (CDS) is a financial swap agreement that the seller of the CDS will compensate the buyer in the event of a debt default (by the debtor) or other credit event. That is, the seller of the CDS insures the buyer against som ...

market that sought to bet against the

collateralized debt obligation A collateralized debt obligation (CDO) is a type of structured asset-backed security (ABS). Originally developed as instruments for the corporate debt markets, after 2002 CDOs became vehicles for refinancing mortgage-backed securities (MBS).Lepke ...

(CDO)

bubble Bubble, Bubbles or The Bubble may refer to: Common uses * Bubble (physics), a globule of one substance in another, usually gas in a liquid ** Soap bubble * Economic bubble, a situation where asset prices are much higher than underlying fundame ...

and thus ended up profiting from the

financial crisis of 2007–08 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

. It also highlights the eccentric natures of people who bet against the market or otherwise "go against the grain". It follows people who believed the housing bubble was going to burst—including

Meredith Whitney Meredith Ann Whitney (born November 20, 1969) is an American businesswoman hailed as “The Oracle of Wall Street” by ''Bloomberg''. She is known for successfully forecasting the difficulties of Citigroup and other major banks during the finan ...

, who predicted the demise of

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking ...

and

Bear Stearns The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. was a New York-based global investment bank, securities trading and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 as part of the global financial crisis and recession, and was subsequently sold to JPMorgan Chase. The compa ...

; Steve Eisman, an outspoken

hedge fund A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as sho ...

manager;

Greg Lippmann Greg Holden Lippmann (born 1968/1969) is an American hedge fund manager, and one of the key figures in Michael Lewis' book ''The Big Short''. Early life Greg Lippmann is the son of Susan Lippmann, a business manager at Purchase College, and Thoma ...

, a

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...

trader; Eugene Xu, a

quantitative analyst Quantitative may refer to: * Quantitative research, scientific investigation of quantitative properties * Quantitative analysis (disambiguation) * Quantitative verse, a metrical system in poetry * Statistics, also known as quantitative analysis ...

who created the first CDO market by matching buyers and sellers; the founders of

Cornwall Capital Cornwall Capital is a New York City-based private financial investment corporation. It was founded in 2003 by Jamie Mai, President and Chief Investment Officer, under the guidance of his father, Vincent Mai, who ran the private equity firm AEA I ...

, who started a hedge fund in their garage with $110,000 and built it into $120 million when the market crashed; and

Michael Burry Michael James Burry (; born June 19, 1971) is an American investor, hedge fund manager, and physician. He founded the hedge fund Scion Capital, which he ran from 2000 until 2008 before closing it to focus on his personal investments. He is best k ...

, an ex-

neurologist Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...

who created

Scion Capital Michael James Burry (; born June 19, 1971) is an American investor, hedge fund manager, and physician. He founded the hedge fund Scion Capital, which he ran from 2000 until 2008 before closing it to focus on his personal investments. He is best k ...

. It also highlights some of the people involved in the biggest losses in the market crash: Wing Chau,

Merrill Merrill may refer to: Places in the United States * Merrill Field, Anchorage, Alaska * Merrill, Iowa *Merrill, Maine * Merrill, Michigan *Merrill, Mississippi, an unincorporated community near Lucedale in George County *Merrill, Oregon *Merrill, W ...

's $300 million mezzanine CDO manager; Howie Hubler, known as the person who lost $9 billion in one trade, the third-largest single loss in history; and

Joseph Cassano Joseph J. "Joe" Cassano (born 12 March 1955) is an American insurance executive who was an officer at AIG Financial Products from the division's founding in 1987 until his resignation in February 2008.Morgenson, Gretchen (September 27, 2008Behind In ...

AIG Financial Products AIG Financial Products Corporation (AIGFP) is a subsidiary of the American International Group, headquartered in New York, New York, with major operations in London. The collapse of AIG Financial Products, headquartered in Wilton, Connecticut, is co ...

, which suffered over $99 billion in losses.

Reception

''The Big Short'' was shortlisted for the 2010 ''Financial Times'' and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award. It spent 28 weeks on ''

'' non-fiction bestseller list. It also received the 2011 Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights Book Award.

Film

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

acquired the rights to ''The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine'' in 2013. On March 24, 2014, it was announced that Adam McKay would direct the adaptation. On January 13, 2015, ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' reported that

Brad Pitt William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. ...

Christian Bale Christian Charles Philip Bale (born 30 January 1974) is an English actor. Known for his versatility and physical transformations for his roles, he has been a leading man in films of several genres. He has received various accolades, including ...

and

Ryan Gosling Ryan Thomas Gosling (born November 12, 1980) is a Canadian actor. Prominent in independent film, he has also worked in blockbuster films of varying genres, and has accrued a worldwide box office gross of over 1.9 billion USD. He has received ...

were set to star in the film, and that Pitt would produce it with McKay and

Dede Gardner Dorcas Wright "Dede" Gardner (born October 16, 1967) is an American film producer and the president of Plan B Entertainment. She is a two-time Oscar winner for '' 12 Years a Slave'' and ''Moonlight'', the first woman to win two Oscars for Best P ...

Steve Carell Steven John Carell (; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He played Michael Scott (The Office), Michael Scott in ''The Office (American TV series), The Office'' (2005–2011; 2013), NBC’s adaptation of the The Office (B ...

then joined.

Plan B Entertainment Plan B Entertainment, Inc., more commonly known as Plan B, is an American production company founded in November in 2001 by Brad Grey, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston and Kristin Hahn. In 2005, after Pitt and Aniston divorced, Grey became the CEO of ...

financed the film with Paramount handling the distribution rights. Production started March 23, 2015 in New Orleans, LA. The film was released on December 11, 2015, and was met with critical acclaim, winning the

Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay adapted from previously established material. The most frequently adapted media are novels, but other adapted narrative formats include stage plays, musica ...

, and receiving a nomination for the

Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film and is the only category ...

References

External links

''The Big Short''
at W. W. Norton (official book site)
'Shorting our Future'
a review of ''The Big Short'' in ''The Oxonian Review'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Big Short Works about the subprime mortgage crisis 2010 non-fiction books 2000s economic history Books about companies Books about traders Business books W. W. Norton & Company books Books by Michael Lewis Non-fiction books adapted into films Non-fiction books about the Great Recession Short selling

Summary

Reception

Film

See also

References

External links