Javier Blas and Jack Farchy are two of the world's best-known journalists covering energy, commodities, and trading houses. They both work for Bloomberg, where Blas is a columnist specializing in energy and commodities and Farchy is a senior reporter covering natural resources. The World for Sale is their first book.
"A colorful and alarming exposé of the shadowy world of global
commodity trading... Hair-raising anecdotes... An engrossing look
at an obscure yet consequential corner of the financial world."
--Publishers Weekly"A virtuoso depiction of the globe's top oil,
food and metals traders... Javier Blas and Jack Farchy should be
awaiting the call from Hollywood. The World For Sale contains at
least half a dozen narrative threads that would form the basis of a
good thriller. But the authors' main achievement is to subject the
biggest commodity players, and their impact on the real world, to
proper critical scrutiny... The depth of the reporting by the
Bloomberg journalists, who previously worked for the Financial
Times, is impressive... Fascinating." --Reuters"Some of the stories
beggar belief... A fascinating story, it's just incredible some of
the routes that the money takes." --Lawrence Pollard, BBC
Newsday
"Could there be a better moment for Javier Blas and Jack Farchy's
rollicking new account of [commodity] markets' recent history to
land on investors' desks? ...This high level narrative is gripping
enough. But it is the details of what these freewheeling companies
actually got up to that give the book a thriller-like quality. The
World For Sale opens with the private jet of [the late chief
executive of Vitol] making corkscrew turns into Benghazi airport in
2011 so he can dodge hostile missiles and strike a deal to supply
the rebel forces with oil in the middle of the Libyan civil war.
That turns out to be one of the more conventional deals that pepper
the narrative... Educational and entertaining..." --Felix Martin,
Financial Times"If you have the slightest interest in how the
modern world was made, by whom, at what price, and at what profit,
this is the book for you... Superbly researched and tidily
written... A clean, compelling chronicle of the central role that
commodity traders have played in the global economy from the end of
World War II to the present. What they found isn't pretty -- but
it's plenty illuminating. --Foreign Policy
"A highly readable study in world economics and a valuable primer
for would-be oil barons." --Kirkus"Blas and Farchy shine light on
what's long been the financial market's darkest corner the crucial,
yet underappreciated, role commodity traders play in global finance
and geopolitics. The characters are fascinating and their impact
cannot be understated. The World For Sale is a fascinating,
eye-opening read." --Gregory Zuckerman, New York Times-bestselling
author of The Man Who Solved the Market "Javier Blas and Jack
Farchy deftly peel back the curtain on the amoral swashbucklers of
capitalism who trade in commodities natural resources like oil,
coal and aluminium. The World For Sale is a gripping account of how
they achieved their stranglehold over the world economy, and their
troubling influence on global politics to this day." --Brad Stone,
New York Times-bestselling author of The Everything Store"The World
For Sale is the definitive, eye-opening story of the most powerful
and secretive traders in the world. These commodity traders,
including all manner of cutthroats, eccentrics and amoral
corruptors, play a major role in the global economy one that few
people understand. Javier Blas and Jack Farchy illuminate it
perfectly, helped by their decades of experience covering the beat
from the ground up." --Bradley Hope, New York Times-bestselling
author of Billion Dollar Whale"The World for Sale is a meticulously
researched, eye-opening, and balanced account that exposes the
immense power and often unethical practices of the commodity
trading industry that shapes the modern world." -- Sungsoo An,
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