The author of The Big Short Michael Lewis is writing his next book about the fall of FTX—and has spent considerable time with founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
Key Details
- Michael Lewis is a financial journalist known for his books Moneyball, Flash Boys, and The Big Short, which lasted 25 weeks atop the best-seller list and became a major motion picture starring Brad Pitt, Steve Carell, and Christian Bale.
- He is now reportedly working on a non-fiction book about the collapse of FTX, The Ankler reports.
- Lewis began shadowing FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) six months ago to write a biography called SBF. He hinted at the subject in an August interview with The Financial Times.
- Neither Lewis nor his publisher W. W. Norton & Company has officially confirmed The Ankler’s report, nor are there details as to the amount of the book advance.
Why it’s News
As we previously reported, the collapse of one of the largest names in cryptocurrency has been precipitous since rumors of the company’s liquidity crisis were revealed on November 8. The company filed for bankruptcy on November 11, SBF resigned, crypto markets collapsed as billions of dollars were lost, and bankruptcy lawyers declared the internal operations of the company as some of the worst managed since the collapse of Enron.
“With the stunning collapse of crypto exchange FTX still rippling through the financial markets, the entertainment industry sprang into action over the weekend with a far more pressing concern: Who’s going to nab the rights to this story? The town was abuzz Saturday after an email spread that revealed that Michael Lewis had embedded with FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried for the past six months,” says The Ankler.
The Ankler released a leaked Creative Artists Agency (CAA) email on November 13 that revealed Lewis’s plans and that the FTX collapse has created an urgency to push the forthcoming book and adaptation forward quickly.
“The events of the past week have provided a dramatic surprise ending to the story. It also highlights the rivalry between Bankman-Fried and Binance head Changpeng Zhao…. Michael hasn’t written anything yet, but the story has become too big for us to wait. Let me know if I’ve piqued your interest,” says the email.
