Invest Like a Dealmaker:
Secrets from a Former Banking Insider

by Christopher Mayer

It takes more than the latest technology and some timely tips to make money in today's markets. What you need to ultimately succeed is a firm understanding of how these markets really work and the ability to look at the investment process from a slightly different perspective. With Invest Like a Dealmaker, author Christopher Mayer will prepare you to do this and much more.

As a former banking insider and current Editor of Capital & Crisis—a highly regarded financial newsletter—Mayer has gained some invaluable investment insights during the course of his career. Drawing from a wide range of sources, this book pulls together anecdotes and stories from some of the greatest investors of years past, such as nineteenth-century speculator Jay Gould, investment theorist John Burr Williams, and even seventeenth-century businessman Joseph de la Vega. Invest Like a Dealmaker also examines some of the best ideas from today's top performing investors, such as Marty Whitman, Seth Klarman, Joel Greenblatt, and many more. Also included are lesser known names and quirky characters—like poker great Puggy Pearson—who have all contributed to the pile of investment wisdom.

Written in a straightforward and accessible style, Invest Like a Dealmaker outlines an approach to investing that is far removed from what most investors have been conditioned to believe, but which has produced consistent profits for its practitioners decade after decade. While the concepts covered are not well known by the average investor, they are well appreciated by Wall Street insiders and dealmakers—particularly those who think about stocks as whole companies, as things with real assets, and cash flows that exist in the real world.

With this book as your guide, you'll quickly become familiar with the two markets that exist for stocks—the market of public quotations and the private market for control—and discover how to profit from discrepancies between the two.

There are many paths you can take on the investment journey, but only a few are worth following. By translating sophisticated financial ideas into approachable investment insights, this book will show you how to think like a dealmaker when trading the markets and put you in a better position to make profitable investment decisions.