Crash Landing: The Inside Story Of How The World's Biggest Companies Survived An Economy On The Brink

(Hardback)

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Description

It was the ultimate test for CEOs, and almost none of them saw it coming.

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In early March 2020, with the Dow Jones flirting with 30,000, the world's biggest companies were riding an eleven-year economic high. By the end of the month, millions would be out of work, iconic firms were begging for bailouts, and countless small businesses were in freefall. Slick consulting teams and country-club connections were suddenly of little use: business leaders were fumbling in the dark, tossing out long-term strategy and making decisions on the fly-decisions, they hoped, that might just save them.

In Crash Landing, award-winning business journalist Liz Hoffman shows how the pandemic set the economy on fire-but if you look closely, the tinder was already there.

Based on astonishing access inside some of the world's biggest and most iconic companies, this is a gripping account of the most remarkable period in modern economic history, revealing how they battled against an economic catastrophe for which there was no playbook: among them, AirBnB's Brian Chesky, blindsided by a virus in the middle of a high-stakes effort to go public; American Airlines's Doug Parker, shuttling between K Street and the White House, determined to secure a multi-billion-dollar bailout; and Ford's Jim Hackett, as his assembly lines went from churning out cars to ventilators.

Crash Landing reveals the fear, grit, and gambles of the pandemic economy, while probing its implications for the future of work, corporate leadership, and capitalism itself, asking: Will this remarkable time give rise to newfound resilience, or become just another

costly mistake to be forgotten

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A gripping account of the financial carnage of the pandemic, revealing the fear, grit, and gambles that drove the economy's winners and losers.

Reviews

'With the urgency of Too Big to Fail and unforgettable characterizations of The Big Short, Crash Landing tells a momentous story: how the Covid-19 pandemic threatened not just billions of lives but the livelihoods and economic safety of nearly everyone on the planet.' -- Brad Stone, author of Amazon Unbound and The Everything Store
"Hoffman takes readers behind the scenes to show how corporate, business and government leaders responded to a once-in-century calamity. Crash Landing is full of drama. Those eager to prepare for the next crisis should read this book and heed its lessons." --Gregory Zuckerman, New York Times bestselling author of The Man Who Solved the Market

"Crash Landing is a true masterwork. Liz Hoffman's perceptive, well researched, and captivating look at how COVID transformed the business and financial industries should be on the shelf of every student of the business world."
--David Rubenstein, co-founder and co-chairman, The Carlyle Group; New York Times bestselling author of How to Invest

"A rare look inside the split -second, high-stakes decisions at the top of America's corporate giants. This book reflects Liz Hoffman's rare combination of valuable gifts: vivid writing, incredible access and sourcing, and actual insight." -- Mary Childs, author of national bestseller The Bond King, cohost of NPR's "Planet Money"
"There is a reason Liz Hoffman is known in journalism circles as a scoop machine: she gets people to talk. In Crash Landing she takes us inside the heads of the business world's biggest power players as they stare at an economic abyss. The result is a riveting chronicle of the boardroom brinksmanship that-mostly-succeeded, but also how this unprecedented era exposed new risks and thrust an uncomfortable spotlight on the role of corporate leaders that will endure." --Bradley Hope, New York Times bestselling author of Billion Dollar Whale and The Rebel and the Kingdom

'This book reads like a suspense thriller, because that's what it is, even though every word is true. Hoffman casts her brilliant reportorial eye on the economic upheaval that began in late 2019. She reveals just how often the supposed rational leaders of the economy are actually shooting from the hip, relying on gut instinct, cronyism and self-interest to try and steer the economy away from the abyss.' -- Brian Koppelman, co-creator, showrunner, and executive producer of Showtime's Billions

'In Crash Landing, Liz Hoffman offers something fresh and much-needed: an insider tale of what it takes to steer a company-indeed, an economy-through a shock that nobody saw coming. Having spent time in boardrooms in times of crisis, the portrait she paints is highly accurate. The aspiring C-suite class should take note.' -- Harvey Schwartz, former president and co-chief operating officer, Goldman Sachs

Author Bio

Liz Hoffman is a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in New York, where she covers business and finance. She's covered some of the biggest deals of the last decade, breaking key stories and, more recently, covering the pandemic. Liz graduated from Tufts University and has a masters degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.