Synopses & Reviews
In 2007, a stranger-than-fiction multibillion-dollar bidding war for the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) erupted between the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and Atlanta’s IntercontinentalExchange (ICE).
Zero-Sum Game: The Rise of the World’s Largest Derivatives Exchange takes readers behind the scenes of this battle to tell the gripping—and often comical—story of how the historic merger between CME and CBOT almost didn’t happen.
Author Erika S. Olson, a managing director at CBOT during the bidding war, delivers a blow-by-blow account of the fight for the world’s oldest futures exchange, taking you inside CBOT’s landmark Chicago Loop headquarters, onto the high-octane trading floor, and into executives’ offices.
Through the lens of the CME/CBOT deal, Zero-Sum Game:
- Introduces the colorful and outspoken personalities who call the shots in this close-knit and frequently misunderstood industry
- Details the reasons behind the recent, spectacular growth of a market that’s existed for over 160 years
- Explains how derivatives affect the lives of average consumers worldwide by influencing everything from interest rates on credit cards to the cost of a cheeseburger to the price of a gallon of gas
- Reveals the inner workings of futures exchanges, and differentiates the various types of derivatives that are routinely lumped together and vilified by the media
Erika S. Olson is a former managing director of the Chicago Board of Trade and spent over ten years working in and consulting to the financial services industry. She received her MBA from Harvard Business School and her BBA from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.
Synopsis
The Zero-Sum Game: The Rise of the World's Largest Derivatives Exchange and its Influence on the Global Economy offers a behind-the-scenes look at how CME Group came seemingly out of nowhere to give Wall Street's power players a run for their money--literally. The merger between the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) formed CME Group in mid-2007 and permanently altered the landscape of the financial services industry. CME Group develops and hosts trading of futures contracts that influence everything from the interest rate on your credit card to the cost of a cheeseburger at McDonald's to the price you pay for gas.
$5 trillion is a lot of money. It's six times the value of all of the U.S. dollars in circulation. It's greater than the economies of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and India--combined. It's also the value of derivatives contracts handled by CME Group, the world's largest derivatives exchange, every day.
Against the backdrop of the tumultuous (and at many times, comical) CME/CBOT merger, The Zero-Sum Game explains just how extensively futures trading affects the daily lives of consumers worldwide, whether they are directly invested in the markets or not. The book also introduces the enormous personalities responsible for bringing the derivatives industry into the spotlight, and will show how these same pioneers are still struggling to transform their exchanges from good ol' boy networks to publicly-run companies. Told by Erika Olson, an insider to the merger, The Zero-Sum Game gives you insight into one of the newest and most politically-connected power players in their industry, while making the inner workings of futures exchanges accessible.
About the Author
Erika S. Olson is a business consultant, financial writer, and blogger, and was a managing director at the Chicago Board of Trade during the bidding war between CME and ICE. She holds a BBA from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Table of Contents
Preface.
Cast of Characters.
Chapter 1 Welcome to the Jungle.
Chapter 2 Into the Groove.
Chapter 3 This Is How We Do It.
Chapter 4 Don't Speak.
Chapter 5 Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'.
Chapter 6 Dirty Laundry.
Chapter 7 Under Pressure.
Chapter 8 ICE ICE Baby.
Chapter 9 War.
Chapter 10 Suspicious Minds.
Chapter 11 Land of Confusion.
Chapter 12 Fight for Your Right.
Chapter 13 Down Under.
Chapter 14 Take the Money and Run.
Epilogue.
Notes.
Glossary.
References.
Acknowledgments.
About the Author.
Index.