The Bond King

How One Man Made a Market, Built an Empire, and Lost It All

By: Mary Childs

Narrated by: Mary Childs

This program is read by the author.

From the host of NPR’s Planet Money, the deeply investigated story of how one visionary, ruthless investor changed American finance forever.

Before Bill Gross was known among investors as the Bond King, he was a gambler. In 1966, a fresh college grad, he went to Vegas armed with his net worth ($200) and a knack for counting cards. Ten thousand dollars and countless casino bans later, he was hooked, so he enrolled in business school.

The Bond King is the story of how that whiz kid made American finance his casino. Over the course of decades, Bill Gross turned the sleepy bond market into a destabilized game of high risk, high reward; founded Pimco, one of today’s most powerful, secretive, and cutthroat investment firms; helped to reshape our financial system in the aftermath of the Great Recession - to his own advantage; and gained legions of admirers, and enemies, along the way. Like every American antihero, his ambition would also be his undoing.

To understand the winners and losers of today’s money game, journalist Mary Childs argues, is to understand the bond market - and to understand the bond market is to understand the Bond King.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books

©2021 Mary Childs (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

2022, Amazon.com Best Books of the Year, Long-listed

Extremely well researched and informative.

The author went to extra extraordinary length to write a comprehensive report on the subject. She also wrote it in such a way that it explained Bill Gross’s role in creating the bond market we know today.

Great book and performance by the author

The story covered the details of so many large events I didn’t know the inside information for until now. Also where “the new normal” came from and the backstory to why Mohammed El Erian is always on CNBC

Nerdy & Juicy

Brilliantly reported, and a fun ride for those interested in wall st and money. Bravo!

Good driving while listening book

Excellent to listen too. I had to look up the latest saga to the neighbor artwork gilligans island song warfare. They finally settled with each side declaring victory in June.

I appreciate that Mary narrated her book

I listened to the entire book twice. Mary’s experience with the content makes her uniquely qualified to tell her own years long story. I am old enough to remember many many of these events. Having a chance to go down memory lane, and learn many additional details about the characters involved, has been fun. Thank you Mary for your dedication in bringing this book to us lifetime financial advisors.