The deals that made the world : reckless ambition, backroom negotiations, and the hidden truths of business

"Excellent. ... Impressive." — Financial Times An award-winning investigative journalist takes us inside the ten business deals that have transformed the modern world We tend to think of our world as controlled by forces we basically understand, primarily the politicians we elect. But in The Deals That Made the World, Jacques Peretti makes a provocative and quite different argument: much of the world around us—from the food we eat to teh products we buy to the medications we take—is shaped by private negotiations and business deals few of us know about. The Deals That Made the World takes us inside the sphere of these powerful players, examining ten groundbreaking business deals that have transformed our modern economy. Peretti reveals how corporate executives engineered an entire diet industry built on failure; how PayPal conquered online payments (and the specific behavioral science that underpins its success); and how pharmaceutical executives concocted a plan to successfully market medications to healthy people. For twenty years, Peretti has interviewed the people behind the decisions that have altered our world, from the CEOs of multinational corporations to politicians, economists, and scientists. Drawing on his vast knowledge, Peretti reveals a host of fascinating and startling connections, from how Wall Street's actions on food commodities helped spark the Arab Spring to the link between the AIDS epidemic in 1980s San Francisco and the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008. Touching upon tech, finance, artificial intelligence, and the other levers of power in a postglobalization environment, Peretti offers a compelling way to understand the last hundred years—and a suggestion of what the next hundred might hold. An essential book for anyone seeking to understand the hidden forces that shape our modern economy, The Deals That Made the World is illuminating and surprising—and an immensely fun read. Filled with startling observations and thought-provoking findings, an award-winning BBC investigative reporter's compelling and informative look at twelve business deals that have transformed the modern world. While the laws that guide our lives are written by the politicians we elect, much of the world around us-from the food we eat to the products we buy to the medications we take-is shaped by private negotiations and business deals few of us know about. In The Deals That Made the World, Jacques Peretti takes us inside the world of the powerful dealmakers who influence our daily lives as he examines a dozen groundbreaking business deals that have transformed our society. Peretti reveals how diet company executives engineered an entire industry built on failure; how PayPal came to conquer the online payment world (and the specific behavioral science that underpins its success); and the plan concocted by pharmaceutical executives to successfully market medications to healthy people. For twenty years, Peretti has interviewed the people behind the decisions that have altered our world, from CEOs of multinational corporations to politicians, economists, and scientists. Drawing on his vast knowledge, Peretti reveals a host of fascinating and startling connections, from how Wall Street's actions on food commodities helped spark the Arab Spring to the link between the AIDS epidemic in 1980s San Francisco and the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008. He proves a sure guide, combining both eye-opening on-the-ground reporting and a narrative flair that makes esoteric financial and business concepts clear and understandable. Like Steven Levitt, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Brad Stone, Michael Lewis, and Malcolm Gladwell, Peretti takes the ordinary and turns it inside out to give us a compelling new perspective on our lives and our world. " ... much of the world around us--from the food we eat to the products we buy to the medications we take--is shaped by private negotiations and business deals few of us know about. The Deals That Made the World, takes us inside the sphere of these powerful players, examining ten groundbreaking business deals that have transformed our modern economy. Peretti reveals how corporate executives engineered an entire diet industry built on failure; how PayPal conquered online payments (and the specific behavioral science that underpins its success); and how pharmaceutical executives concocted a plan to successfully market medications to healthy people. For twenty years, Peretti has interviewed the people behind the decisions that have altered our world, from CEOs of multinational corporations to politicians, economists, and scientists. Drawing on his vast knowledge, Peretti reveals a host of fascinating and startling connections, from how Wall Street's actions on food commodities helped spark the Arab Spring to the link between the AIDS epidemic in 1980s San Francisco and the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008. Touching upon tech, finance, artificial intelligence, and the other levers of power in a postglobalization environment, Peretti offers a compelling way to understand the last hundred years--and a suggestion of what the next hundred might hold."--Publisher's description "Much of the world around us--from the food we eat to the products we buy to the medications we take--is shaped by private negotiations and business deals few of us know about. The Deals That Made the World, takes us inside the sphere of these powerful players, examining ten groundbreaking business deals that have transformed our modern economy. Peretti reveals how corporate executives engineered an entire diet industry built on failure; how PayPal conquered online payments (and the specific behavioral science that underpins its success); and how pharmaceutical executives concocted a plan to successfully market medications to healthy people. For twenty years, Peretti has interviewed the people behind the decisions that have altered our world, from CEOs of multinational corporations to politicians, economists, and scientists. Drawing on his vast knowledge, Peretti reveals a host of fascinating and startling connections, from how Wall Street's actions on food commodities helped spark the Arab Spring to the link between the AIDS epidemic in 1980s San Francisco and the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008. Touching upon tech, finance, artificial intelligence, and the other levers of power in a postglobalization environment, Peretti offers a compelling way to understand the last hundred years--and a suggestion of what the next hundred might hold"--Dust jacket flap. The upgrade : engineering dissatisfaction Food : owning fat and thin Drugs : the medication of modern life Cash : killing physical money to monetize the internet Work : from what we do to who we are Risk : how chaos was harnessed by Wall Street Tax : why everywhere wants to be the Cayman Islands Wealth : the business of inequality Globalization : how Asia rewrote the rules Robots : the human swap Epilogue. Now : the New World.