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The Match King: Ivar Kreuger, The Financial Genius Behind a Century of Wall Street Scandals Paperback – March 9, 2010

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 273 ratings

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At the height of the roaring '20s, Swedish 'migr' Ivar Kreuger made a fortune raising money in America and loaning it to Europe in exchange for matchstick monopolies. His enterprise was a rare success story throughout the Great Depression.

Yet after Kreuger's suicide in 1932, the true nature of his empire emerged. Driven by success to adopt ever-more perilous practices, Kreuger had turned to shell companies in tax havens, fudged accounting figures, off-balance-sheet accounting, even forgery. He created a raft of innovative financial products -- many of them precursors to instruments wreaking havoc in today's markets. When his Wall Street empire collapsed, millions went bankrupt.

Frank Partnoy, a frequent commentator on financial disaster for the
Financial Times, New York Times, NPR, and CBS's "60 Minutes," recasts the life story of a remarkable yet forgotten genius in ways that force us to re-think our ideas about the wisdom of crowds, the invisible hand, and the free and unfettered market.
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Editorial Reviews

Review

George A. Needham, Founder and Chairman of Needham & Company
"The tale of Ivar Krueger, vividly brought to life by Frank Partnoy, is a reminder that Wall Street has not changed much since the late 1920's. The players change, but the animal spirits remain the same. Anyone interested in today's financial crisis will be captivated by this story."


"Time," January 13, 2009
"Frank Partnoy has an exceptionally well-timed book on Ivar Kreuger coming out."


Robert A. G. Monks, author of "Corpocracy" and "The New Global Investors"
""The Match King" is a skillfully told tale of the romance and the corruption involved in attempting to be on top of the world. How did Krueger enlisted the loyalty of the people essential to him? Yes, some he bought, but most -- he beguiled."

About the Author

Frank Partnoy is the author of F.I.A.S.C.O., Infectious Greed, and The Match King. Formerly an investment banker at Morgan Stanley and a practicing corporate lawyer, he is one of the world's leading experts on market regulation and is a frequent commentator for the Financial Times, the New York Times, NPR, and CBS's 60 Minutes. Partnoy is a graduate of Yale Law School and is the George E. Barrett Professor of Law and Finance and the founding director of the Center for Corporate and Securities Law at the University of San Diego.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ PublicAffairs; Reprint edition (March 9, 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1586488120
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1586488123
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.73 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 273 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
273 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book an engaging read that is well-researched and educational. They describe the story as amazing and entertaining, especially for airport travel. The ending surprises readers.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

12 customers mention "Readability"12 positive0 negative

Customers find the book an engaging read, especially for airport travel. They mention it's well-done and a great expose on one of the great schemers of the roaring twenties. The book arrived in excellent condition, as promised.

"...Very well done. If you enjoy tales of financial intrigue you should include this book in your reading...." Read more

"I thought it was a good read especially for airport travel as it was an engaging "start/stop"type book...." Read more

"...The man was a real genius. The book also helps understand the '20s financial times and how the "crash" played out...." Read more

"Great expose on one of the great schemers of the roaring twenties...." Read more

9 customers mention "Research quality"9 positive0 negative

Customers find the book insightful, educational, and thorough. They mention it's an amazing story with good lessons to be learned from this brilliant conman. The book demonstrates clearly the complexity of what Ivar Kruger had achieved in the financial world.

"...Incredibly interesting, entertaining and educational. The ending will also surprise you...." Read more

"...It demonstrates clearly the complexity of what Ivar Kruger had achieved in the financial history in the world, also done fraud against the bankers,..." Read more

"The book is well researched and thorough. The financial system is rigged and was being run by crooks then and now...." Read more

"Fabulous read. Very well researched and balanced view on an innovative and tragic character from the roaring 20's...." Read more

6 customers mention "Story quality"6 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the story. They find it an engaging historical tale with a surprising ending. The book is described as a start-and-stop type of book.

"...Incredibly interesting, entertaining and educational. The ending will also surprise you...." Read more

"...was a good read especially for airport travel as it was an engaging "start/stop"type book...." Read more

"The Match King is an amazing historical story of a larger than life but currently unknown Swedish business figure that reached greatness in the..." Read more

"An absolutely amazing story - masterfully researched and written! I cannot figure out why Ivar Kreuger is not a household name." Read more

3 customers mention "Enjoyment"3 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book. They say it's enjoyable, especially if you didn't know about Ivar.

"...Incredibly interesting, entertaining and educational. The ending will also surprise you...." Read more

"and enjoyable, especially if like me you did not know about Ivar but know a lot about similar more recent phenomena" Read more

"Enjoyable and Compelling Read..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2015
    THANK YOU Mr. Partnoy for going to a lot of trouble to piece together the history, life and story of Ivar Kreuger. Very well done. If you enjoy tales of financial intrigue you should include this book in your reading. Incredibly interesting, entertaining and educational. The ending will also surprise you. If you can find the old "Match King" movie someplace, it's fun to watch as well.
    6 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2009
    I thought it was a good read especially for airport travel as it was an engaging "start/stop"type book. It was fascinating how innovative Ivar was in creating investment vehicles that are prevalent today but considered radical at the time. Equally fascinating was how long he was able to keep afloat despite the great depression. Certainly a different perspective on the period than I had read before.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2010
    The Match King is an amazing historical story of a larger than life but currently unknown Swedish business figure that reached greatness in the modern financial era of the 1920s. His lifelong rise to wealth and prominence was built on "modern" looking financial innovations like derivatives, exotic bond financing mechanisms and "creative" financial reporting that resembles the current mark to model and mark to inflated value scenarios in the US financial markets. He was an advisor and friend to US president as well as kings and prime ministers & financial ministers in North America, Europe and South America. His worldwide business empire was real, but it was smaller and worth far less than advertized. However, his willingness to consistently pay inflated and above market returns on his bonds and equities made everyone a "true"
    believer. In this regard, he was much like Bernie Madoff. If the above market returns were consistent, then the sophisticated investors and the journalists believed that he just had to be real. Like Madoff, he was a master of building his image and reputation as a larger than life figure. Unfortunately and again like Madoff, he continually needed new money from investors to pay returns and keep his fraudulent empire cash flow positive. In the end, his empire was worth far less than the debt, as it had been from almost day one. When the game was up, he committed suicide instead of face the music of investigators and angry investors. As with the current worldwide financial meltdown, there were many enablers that helped keep this fraud alive. In the end, this tragic situation resulted in some much needed regulation of the securities markets that was enacted in the 1930s, which stayed in place until about 12 years ago! It was interesting in that even after this tragic event, many accounts and regulators were still calling for no new regulation, but keep promoting self regulation as the preferred avenue of markets.
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2011
    It's pretty hard to make a book about finance come alive but Partnoy's done just that. Ivar Kruger is a fascinating character who seems almost fictional. His extraordinary exploits kept me amazed through the entire book. The man was a real genius. The book also helps understand the '20s financial times and how the "crash" played out. Partnoy's analysis of Kruger is completely balanced and non judgmental. But that doesn't take away from his fascination of Ivar's character. The book reads like a who-done-it. Great read.
  • Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2015
    My Kindle edition suffers from neglect of I.K.'s early years which, as is well known from other bio. info., involved instances & experiences essential to an understanding of his later, mature life. It's guess-work as to how, why & when his character flaws developed as they did.

    The telling of Swedish Match corporate strategies & stock market machinations is summarily laid out but lack precision so it's hard to follow the thread of deceptions. I.K.'s originality in creating various classes of shares is fairly well described, as is the complex structures using U.S. and international markets -- but, it seems to me, they seem sketchy and incomplete.
    However, finding reliable info. at this late date is virtually impossible due to much records destruction & deliberate fudging on all sides.
  • Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2014
    Since reading his name mentioned in Galbraith book, I wanna know more about Kruger, then this book turned out to be a perfect fit. It demonstrates clearly the complexity of what Ivar Kruger had achieved in the financial history in the world, also done fraud against the bankers, other rich guy, or simply investor. This book reminds me Buffet's quote. "Building reputation takes several decades, but for collapse, it takes only five minute". But, this quote itself is too simple to get a grip of his life. Even though his reputation has atomized over dozens of decades, his legacy still harbors above this business world, including not merely Swedish Match in Sweden, but also Other financial instrument such as Class B share now Buffet uses or other off-balance sheet financial vehicle once swallowing the global economy in 2008. This book completely explain his, Ivar, sophisticated legacy, and wrong doing, and last the implication of those.
    The conclusion? I highly recommend this book.
    2 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2018
    But the lack of knowledge of the author on financial issues is shown.
  • Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2020
    The book is well researched and thorough.
    The financial system is rigged and was being run by crooks then and now. Bankers are legal thieves.... coming with elaborate scheme to steal other people’s money is considered innovation....
    2 people found this helpful
    Report

Top reviews from other countries

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  • Santiago Bolaños
    4.0 out of 5 stars Interesante y bien documentado
    Reviewed in Mexico on August 30, 2023
    Todo ok.
  • Joseph Myren
    5.0 out of 5 stars AWESOME
    Reviewed in Canada on July 11, 2022
    AWESOME
  • Joshua S
    5.0 out of 5 stars Forgotten History
    Reviewed in Australia on June 11, 2018
    A well written and researched book about a forgotten titan of business.
  • Stefan
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great Biography
    Reviewed in Germany on September 14, 2016
    I loved this biography! Ivar Kreuger is such an interesting businessman, even though his business practices are unimaginable in our current society. I highly recommend this book!
  • S.
    5.0 out of 5 stars A great read for forgetful people
    Reviewed in Italy on October 7, 2014
    An excellent book, charming and thrilling, on a story many people in the financial industry shoulnd't have forgotten.
    Frank Partnoy's style is utterly entertaining.