Non-fiction e-books and audiobooks by Greg Steinmetz, Frank McLynn and Nancy Weber
Simon & Schuster (e-book)
Jacob Fugger may not be a familiar name, even among those who follow the business news. But, according to Greg Steinmetz, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, the German merchant, banker and mining giant was the richest man in history. And so important to him was market-sensitive information, he created the world’s first news service. Impressive, considering Fugger was born in 1459. Steinmetz shows at length how his subject was a pioneer in the art of money-making as we know it today, using shrewd, aggressive tactics to grow an empire that would equal 2 per cent of Europe’s gross domestic product today. His client list included popes and emperors, among them the House of Habsburg’s Frederick III and Maximilian I, and Spain’s Charles V. Greedy for copper, Fugger knew, however, that financing mines would require “scary amounts of money” up front, and it would be years before they would turn a profit. Readers will also learn about his insistence on double-entry bookkeeping and his enjoyment of lending for profit.
Da Capo Press (e-book)