In 2007, a stranger-than-fiction multibillion-dollar bidding war for the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) erupted between the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and Atlanta's Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). “Zero-Sum Game: The Rise of the World's Largest Derivatives Exchange” takes readers behind the scenes of this battle to tell the gripping-and often comical-story of how the historic merger between CME and CBOT almost didn't happen. Author Erika S. Olson, a managing director at CBOT during the bidding war, delivers a blow-by-blow account of the fight for the world's oldest futures exchange, taking you inside CBOT's landmark Chicago Loop headquarters, onto the high-octane trading floor, and into executives' offices. Through the lens of the CME/CBOT deal, Zero-Sum Game: • Introduces the colorful and outspoken personalities who call the shots in this close-knit and frequently misunderstood industry • Details the reasons behind the recent, spectacular growth of a market that's existed for over 160 years • Explains how derivatives affect the lives of average consumers worldwide by influencing everything from interest rates on credit cards to the cost of a cheeseburger to the price of a gallon of gas • Reveals the inner workings of futures exchanges and differentiates the various types of derivatives that are routinely lumped together and vilified by the media.
