Overview

A kaleidoscopic account of the financial carnage of the pandemic, revealing the fear, grit, and gambles that drove the economy’s winners and losers—from a leading business reporter “A true masterwork . . . perceptive, well researched, and captivating.”—David M. Rubenstein, co-founder and co-chairman of The Carlyle Group, bestselling author of How to Invest It was the ultimate test for CEOs, and almost none of them saw it coming. 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 were 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 that, they hoped, 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. After the global financial crisis in 2008, corporate leaders embraced cheap debt and growth at all costs. Wages flatlined. Millions were pushed into the gig economy. Companies crammed workers into offices, and airlines did the same with planes. Wall Street cheered on this relentless march toward efficiency, overlooking the collateral damage and the risks sowed in the process. Based on astonishing access inside some of the world’s biggest and most iconic companies, Crash Landing is a kaleidoscopic account of the most remarkable period in modern economic history, revealing—through gripping, fly-on-the-wall reporting—how CEOs battled 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’ Doug Parker, shuttling between K Street and the White House, determined to secure a multibillion-dollar bailout; and Ford’s Jim Hackett, as his assembly lines went from building cars to churning out ventilators. In the tradition of Too Big to Fail and The Big Short, Crash Landing exposes the fear, grit, and gambles behind 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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9780593239018

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Reviews

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 Crash Landing is a true masterwork. Liz Hoffman's perceptive, well researched, and captivating look at how the pandemic 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 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 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

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 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 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 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

Author Information

Liz Hoffman is the business and finance editor at Semafor. Previously, she was a senior reporter at The Wall Street Journal, where she covered financial markets, corporate dealmaking, and the machinations of Wall Street. A native of central Pennsylvania, Hoffman graduated from Tufts University and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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