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The World for Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources Kindle Edition

by Javier Blas (Author), Jack Farchy (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.6 2,908 ratings

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'Gripping' Economist
'Jaw-dropping' Sunday Times
'Riveting' Financial Times
'Fascinating' Reuters

We are entering an age of energy crises and food shortages. This book reveals why.

Meet the swashbuckling traders who supply the world with energy, food and metal.

Their goal: To make billions by buying and selling raw materials - flogging Russian gas to Europe, Saudi oil to America and Congolese metals to Silicon Valley.

Their methods: Whatever it takes - whether funnelling cash to Vladimir Putin's sanction-stricken Kremlin, schmoozing Russian metal oligarchs after the collapse of the Soviet Union, or striking deals with the Libyan rebels at the height of the Arab Spring.

These are the commodity traders. You've probably never heard of them. But, like it or not, you're one of their customers.

*Financial Times and Economist Book of the Year*
*Shortlisted for the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award*

'Shows how much money and global influence is concentrated in the hands of a tiny group . . . Remarkable . . . As the authors roam from oilfield to wheatfield, they reveal information so staggering you almost gasp' Sunday Times

'A globe-spanning corporate thriller, full of intrigue and double dealing . . . Changes how we see the world, often in horrifying ways' Spectator

'A rich archive of ripping yarns . . . The 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' Financial Times

'Some of the stories could be straight out of John le Carré. The difference is they're true' Andrew Neil

Print length

411 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

Cornerstone Digital
Publication date

February 25, 2021
File size

3366 KB
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Popular Highlights in this book

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The fourth was the financialisation of the global economy and the growth of the banking sector, beginning in the 1980s.
Highlighted by 646 Kindle readers
The third was the spectacular economic growth of China in the first decade of this century.
Highlighted by 617 Kindle readers
In Switzerland it was even possible to account for the ‘facilitation fees’, as the bribes were often called in corporate-speak, as tax deductible expenses.
Highlighted by 528 Kindle readers

Editorial Reviews

Review

"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

About the Author

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.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08LK7KP6D
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cornerstone Digital (February 25, 2021)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 25, 2021
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3366 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 411 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #136,421 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #8 in Commodities Trading (Kindle Store)
- #40 in Commodities Trading (Books)
- #56 in African Politics

Customer Reviews:
4.6 2,908 ratings

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Jack Farchy
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Jack Farchy is a senior reporter covering natural resources at Bloomberg News. Previously, he was a Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times and the paper's commodities reporter. He regularly appears on BBC Radio 4 Today as an expert on commodities. For more, go to https://twitter.com/jfarchy to follow him on Twitter.
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Javier Blas
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Javier Blas is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy and commodities, based in London. He previously was the chief energy correspondent at Bloomberg News, and wrote for the Financial Times and the Spanish business daily Expansion.
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Pawan Gupta

Fascinating history and anecdotes

Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2024

Verified Purchase

The book provides a very comprehensive overview of the large commodity traders, their history, their business, and rates amd narrates little known anecdotes, which are probably closer home than most of us realize

Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2023

Verified Purchase

As a former commodity trader, who traded with every major commodity house covered in this book, I was very skeptical that any journalists could do a good job on this subject. Boy, was I wrong! Javier Blas and Jack Karchy did a stellar job! Painstakingly researched (with sixty pages of reference notes), well-written, engaging and the authors should be commended for their success in conducting personal interviews with many traders and key players. Great read! It will be a permanent addition to my library.

10 people found this helpful

Helpful

Alejandro Contreras

Surprisingly engaging and insightful

Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2024

Verified Purchase

A surprisingly engaging book about a lesser-known business: the commodity traders.
Blas and Farchy’s book starts in the middle of the 20th century, and details how a group of entrepreneurial men (yes, it’s a men-dominated business) leveraged information asymmetries to (very) profitably trade oil, grains and metals.
The authors uncover many fascinating stories about the traders and their willingness to take risks, going to where no one else wants to go and negotiating with the outcasts of the world.
This is a cool book. The subject is not on everybody’s radar screen. And that’s what makes it even more interesting.

One person found this helpful

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COLONEL RONALD

INCREASE YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2024

Verified Purchase

READING WILL INCREASE YOUR EDUCATION AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE WORLD.

Helpful

Ted

Excellent historical and economic analysis of the commodities trade

Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2022

Verified Purchase

This book captures the reader’s attention while explaining the evolution of commodities trading. The authors describe the history and corporate battles within the commodity trading houses and provide the political-economic context that shaped the trading houses, and that the houses also shaped.

For a reader interested in economics and without much background reading in commodities trading, this book was intellectually exciting and entertaining.

For those interested in the dirtier and corrupt side of commodities trading, I recommend pairing this book with the Looting Machine and The Dictator’s Handbook. This book does discuss the role corruption has had in commodities trading, and structurally why traders have the incentive to bribe, but corruption has a relatively small role in it.

4 people found this helpful

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Tina Foster

I found it fascinating.

Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2022

Verified Purchase

I thought this might be kind of dull reading with lots of statistics, since I don't follow the stock markets or invest in stocks. But the writing was superb, and I was pulled into the world of commodety traders immediately. The authors gave a history or how commodety traders began and how it reached a global market. And the millions and billions of dollars at stake. The upside and downside of how the trading works. I found it all fascinating.

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Bayard B.

Terrific book! Tells of licit and illicit international trading to become fabulously wealthy.

Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2022

Verified Purchase

I thought this was a fantastic book on international commodities trade and finance. It is written in a style that makes it easy and fun to read. You don’t need any knowledge of commodities accounting to understand and appreciate it.

The book tells of the individuals who created the very concepts of international commodities trading in the 1950s and then moved to establish private partnership companies specializing in certain commodities such as coal, oil, copper, ferrous ores, nickel, cobalt, and now in the 21st century the rare earth metals necessary for cellphones and computers. By the 1990s or early 21st century the profits were in the billions of dollars.

There are many stories how a trader rescued an entire country or government from potential bankruptcy. There are also stories of how one or more of these trading companies were complicit in aiding a local dictator to raid his country of resources for him to become fabulously wealthy.

5 people found this helpful

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Bryan J. Kaus

Want to know what makes the world go round? Read this book!

Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2021

Verified Purchase

I preordered this book and waited with great anticipation; it did not disappoint. Blas and Farchy of Bloomberg, two of the leading energy and commodity reporters in the world, take readers deep inside the world of commodity trading - chronicle commodity trading's rise from a boring backwater to kingpin status.

The highly accessible and an enjoyable read for industry experts and laypersons alike. The narrative stands riveting, keeping the reader in suspense and thirsty for more. Better still, everything in the book actually happened.

Without a doubt, this will be lauded as a critical work in the years to come and be required reading for traders, bankers and business schools around the globe.

I just wish there was another volume.

Bravo to Blas and Farchy on a stellar work.

23 people found this helpful

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