'The Money Trap': How a surfeit of capital created own troubles at SoftBank

The author paints an elaborate portrait of Masa. At one point the world's richest man, he also held the dubious distinction of having lost the most amount of money until surpassed by Elon Musk

The Money Trap: Grand fortunes and lost illusions inside the tech bubble

Author: Alok Sama

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Pages: 293 

Price: Rs 496

In 1983, while pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from St. Stephens College, Delhi, the author of The Money Trap receives career advice from a friend of his father who taught statistics at Wharton. The latter suggests he should do an MBA in Finance. “Americans are scared of maths, we (Indians) are good at it,” is his pitch. Alok Sama, whose ambition then is to solve Fermat’s last theorem, accepts his counsel and flees the India of Licence