Books

Oh ya, forgot to mention: I finished Big Deal. Man, this book should be required reading for finance students. It was really good. Not only had a run-down of the history of M&As but goes into the makings and intricacies of deal-making and then goes into the more sophisticated (albeit U.S.) legal, tax and reporting statues. Very, very cool. The best part is Wasserstein's writing style is concise, deep and friendly. Even when he talks about deals he was involved in he doesn't get seduced by hubris and talk and talk (unlike some people...hehe) but instead just says stuff like: "We were advising Time on their side of the merger." Quite gentlemanly.

I also skimmed though Big in Asia. If you've never been to Asia and want a good primer on it this is a good source. It basically lays it all out for many countries (Korea, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia) and focuses mostly on business dealings. Not a ton of culture stuff in here (although it's prevalent throughout as it relates to corporate dealings); I liked it a lot.

Hmmm...for some reason both books have Big in the title. I guess now my Goooooogle ads will change to Viagra or something. You know, in the past month or so they changed from ads on Korea to ones on hedge funds and investing. Interesting. As a result my click-throughs (and earnings, meager as they are) have tripled. So keep clickin' on them ads!