pedersen - wall street primer (2009)

[...]... volume of material authors have to work with) WHAT THE WALL STREET PRIMER IS The Wall Street Primer is about practical knowledge and providing context for better understanding the dealings of Wall Street It is, as its name indicates, a primer It is intended to be a concise narrative for those looking to quickly gain a real-world understanding of Wall Street and, more specifically, who the players are; what... leveraged buyout, people on Wall Street do deals Some plan deals, some execute deals, and some fund deals, but all need and do deals Though the ethos of Wall Street (and perhaps American business in general) can probably be summarized as “if you can help me make money, you’ll make money and if you can’t, you won’t,” the principal purpose of Wall Street is 2 THE WALL STREET PRIMER to provide capital for... on Wall Street: those commonly known as the sellside, the buyside, and others When average people think of Wall Street, they probably think of stockbrokers and day traders They may even think of some high-flying IPO that minted a new billionaire or the celebrity executives and financiers who routinely grace the covers of Business Week and Forbes or find themselves in the Wall Street Journal or on CNBC Wall. .. the get-go Why take the long road on knowledge accumulation when a shorter road can provide the same foundation and permit quicker growth? I searched high and low for a book that would arm me with this knowledge Though some touched on useful topics, I found none that provided the full picture It was in those long-ago days that the seeds for The Wall Street Primer were planted WHAT THE WALL STREET PRIMER. .. pieces of Wall Street fit together The names of the company, its characters, and the investment banks and other firms it encounters are purely fictional OUR FICTIONAL COMPANY The Primer needed a hypothetical that could effectively illustrate capital formation through each stage of a company’s development as well as provide some 14 THE WALL STREET PRIMER rudimentary insights into how venture-capital-backed... a taboo topic, probably because it is the primary product of their daily work It 8 THE WALL STREET PRIMER 2 3 4 5 is like mechanics talking about cars or writers talking about books Although this phenomenon affects some Wall Street professions more than others, it touches them all It is fiercely competitive Wall Street is filled to the brim with Type A personalities—people who like to win and need to... other forms of institutional capital due to limited needs, goals, or business models Although indirectly impacted by the affairs of Wall Street, as they are by the affairs of Washington, these businesses are not the focus of The Wall Street Primer This book is focused on Wall Street and those businesses that want and need capital to achieve loftier ambitions At their core, successful businesses require... beyond the four walls of a lecture hall I reflected on my own transition from student to professional and my own knowledge at the time and concluded that I, too, had been clueless I first entered the securities industry as a fresh-out-of-law-school corporate and securities attorney with a leading U.S law firm I cannot pinpoint exactly what led me to this career choice I was not raised around Wall Street My... grace the covers of Business Week and Forbes or find themselves in the Wall Street Journal or on CNBC Wall Street, or at least the concept of Wall Street, with its perceived riches and high-profile deals, is well known Its impact on our culture, economy, and psyche is far reaching Yet, its day-to-day dealings are not well known or understood The securities industry in the United States directly employs... planted WHAT THE WALL STREET PRIMER IS NOT Rather than start by telling you what The Wall Street Primer is, I shall first tell you what it is not Beyond a few historical works, reference manuals, and narrowly focused career guides, almost every book concerning Wall Street falls into one of three categories: (1) the salacious tell-all; (2) the “how to” for picking stocks, getting rich, planning for retirement, . It was in those long-ago days that the seeds for The Wall Street Primer were planted. WHAT THE WALL STREET PRIMER IS NOT Rather than start by telling you what The Wall Street Primer is, I shall. THE WALL STREET PRIMER IS The Wall Street Primer is about practical knowledge and providing context for better understanding the dealings of Wall Street. It is, as its name indicates, a primer. . Wall Street Primer This page intentionally left blank The Wall Street Primer The Players, Deals, and Mechanics of the U.S. Securities Market Jason A. Pedersen Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication