Anron had sco very poorly on our financial strength. It lowered six % return on capital, exactly. Was a hedge fund trading at five times any week. Teern tsx times cent a year. And people just swallowed itit reminds me, by the way, the inventory wasn't on boatsor capitalized cos so during the whole anron thing,. i had a debate with a guy who was massively long anron. And we don't talk to management either. It's just numbers for us. I'm like the saturday night live skit where ducacus acter playing him. I can't believe i'm living in this gy ye.
Our guest this week is renowned short-seller Jim Chanos, founder, and president of Kynikos Associates. Over the course of his long and successful career, Jim has publicly bet against companies like Enron, which Barron’s deemed the “market call of the decade, if not the past 50 years.” While many know him for these famous shorts, fewer know that Jim is also a passionate historian, and is a firm believer in the notion that history can act as a useful guide for investors today. In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss:
- How Jim started his career in finance
- The Mississippi Bubble
- How past financial frauds and manias can be useful for modern investors
- Tesla
- Lessons from the Great Financial Crisis
- Jim’s financial history course at Yale and Wisconsin
- Theranos
And much, much more… we hope you enjoy.