The Accidental Billionaires

New York Times bestselling author Ben Mezrich pulls back the curtain on the most volatile, complex, and bizarre corporate takeover in history: Elon Musk's acquisition and subsequent occupation of Twitter.<BR><BR>'An excitable, high-octane account' - Independent<BR><BR>In October 2022, Elon Musk marched through Twitter's front doors after buying the digital giant for $44 billion. His takeover came with the promise of fundamental change, but nothing could prepare the company for the chaos to come - brutal mass firings, an exodus of advertisers and 'blue-tick' celebrities and a vicious battle for control.<BR><BR>With unique access to Twitter insiders and Musk's confidants, this is the astonishing story from all sides. Why did Elon overhaul Twitter's blue-tick system, and how did it lead to the near-collapse of the company's revenue? Will Twitter - now X - survive? How has the constant negative press coverage affected Elon?<BR><BR>With a wealth of hidden details, Breaking Twitter gives ringside seats to one of the most dramatic and compelling business stories of our time.<BR><BR>'Mezrich's books are the sort of engrossing reads you pick up in the airport then find the blockbuster film on the plane' - Evening Standard

From Ben Mezrich, the New York Times bestselling author of The Accidental Billionaires and Bringing Down the House, comes Bitcoin Billionaires - the fascinating story of brothers Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss's big bet on crypto-currency and its dazzling pay-off.<BR><BR>Ben Mezrich's 2009 bestseller The Accidental Billionaires is the definitive account of Facebook's founding - and the basis for the Academy Award-winning film The Social Network. Two of the story's iconic characters are Harvard students Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss: identical twins, Olympic rowers, and legal foils to Mark Zuckerberg. Bitcoin Billionaires is the story of the brothers' redemption and revenge in the wake of their epic legal battle with Facebook - and the first great book from the world of bitcoin.<BR><BR>Planning to start careers as venture capitalists, the brothers quickly discover that no one will take their money for fear of alienating Zuckerberg. While nursing their wounds in Ibiza, they accidentally run into a shady character who tells them about a brand new idea: cryptocurrency. Immersing themselves in what is then an obscure and sometimes sinister world, they begin to realize "crypto" is, in their own words, "either the next big thing or total bulls--t." There's nothing left to do but make a bet.<BR><BR>From the Silk Road to the halls of the Securities and Exchange Commission to the Facebook boardroom, Bitcoin Billionaires will take us on a wild and surprising ride while illuminating a tantalizing economic future. On November 26th, 2017, the Winklevoss brothers became the first bitcoin billionaires. Here's the story of how they got there - as only Ben Mezrich could tell it.

'Mezrich's books are the sort of engrossing reads you pick up in the airport then find the blockbuster film on the plane' - Evening Standard<BR><BR>In September 2022, the chess world watched in disbelief as Magnus Carlsen, widely considered the greatest player in history, faced an unthinkable defeat against the nineteen-year-old American upstart, Hans Niemann. When Carlsen withdrew from the prestigious Sinquefield Cup and subtly accused Niemann of cheating, shockwaves hit the chess community, igniting the biggest scandal in the sport's history.<BR><BR>Checkmate dives deep into this modern-day drama, tracing the parallel rises of Carlsen, the stoic virtuoso, and Niemann, the fiery disruptor. Niemann denied the accusations, even as past online cheating incidents surfaced, while powerful entities like Chess.com, a billion-dollar online arena, became entangled in the escalating controversy. As the scandal went viral, it became clear that more was at stake than a single game.<BR><BR>Checkmate is a story of ambition, genius and greed set against the backdrop of a once-niche game exploding into a global, multi-billion-dollar phenomenon. It's a compelling exploration of a world where tradition collides with innovation, and a new generation, forged in the digital age, threatens to upend everything.

From New York Times bestselling author Ben Mezrich: the book Elon Musk doesn’t want you to read. <BR><BR>Breaking Twitter takes readers inside the darkly comic battle between one of the most intriguing, polarizing, influential men of our time—Elon Musk—and the company that represents our culture’s dearest hope for a shared global conversation. From employee accounts within Twitter headquarters to the mission-driven team Musk surrounded himself with, this is the full story from all sides. Can Musk miraculously succeed or will he spectacularly fail?  What will that mean to the global town hall that is Twitter? What, really, is Elon’s end goal? The whole world is watching.  <BR><BR>Breaking Twitter will provide ringside seats.  Elon Musk didn't break Twitter. Twitter broke Elon Musk.  

He played in casinos around the world with a plan to make himself richer than anyone could possibly imagine -- but it would nearly cost him his life.Semyon Dukach was known as the Darling of Las Vegas. A legend at age twenty-one, this cocky hotshot was the biggest high roller to appear in Sin City in decades, a mathematical genius with a system the casinos had never seen before and couldn't stop -- a system that has never been revealed until now; that has nothing to do with card counting, wasn't illegal, and was more powerful than anything that had been tried before.Las Vegas. Atlantic City. Aruba. Barcelona. London. And the jewel of the gambling crown -- Monte Carlo.Dukach and his fellow MIT students hit them all and made millions. They came in hard, with stacks of cash; big, seemingly insane bets; women hanging on their arms; and fake identities. Although they were taking classes and studying for exams during the week, over the weekends they stormed the blackjack tables only to be harassed, banned from casinos, threatened at gunpoint, and beaten in Vegas's notorious back rooms.The stakes were high, the dangers very real, but the players were up to the challenges, consequences be damned. There was Semyon Dukach himself, bored with school and broke; Victor Cassius, the slick, brilliant MIT grad student who galvanized the team; Owen Keller, with stunning ability but a dark past that would catch up to him; and Allie Simpson, bright, clever, and a feast for the eyes.In the classroom, they were geeks. On the casino floor, they were unstoppable.Busting Vega$ is Dukach's unbelievably true story; a riveting account of monumental greed, excess, hubris, sex, love, violence, fear, and statistics that is high-stakes entertainment at its best.