Gary Weiss facts for kids

Gary Weiss is an American investigative journalist, a writer who looks deeply into important topics. He is also a columnist and an author of books. His books often explore the rules and fairness of Wall Street, which is where big financial deals happen. Gary Weiss was also an editor for Condé Nast Portfolio magazine. His articles for Businessweek magazine helped show problems in the financial world, like the Salomon Brothers bond trading issue in the 1990s. He also wrote about the 2008 financial crisis and what happened after it. Gary Weiss helped start The Mideast Reporter, a news organization.

Early Life and Education

Gary Weiss grew up in New York City. He went to public schools there, including the Bronx High School of Science. He earned degrees from the City College of New York and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. These schools helped him learn the skills he needed to become a journalist.

A Career in Journalism

Gary Weiss started his career as a reporter for the Hartford Courant newspaper. Later, in 1984, he began writing for Barron's magazine. In 1986, he joined Business Week magazine, where he became well-known for his investigative work.

Investigative Reporting at Business Week

From 1986 to 2004, Gary Weiss wrote many important articles for Business Week. He wrote cover stories about new dangers of the Internet. He also wrote about problems with stock trading and unfair actions by stockbrokers. His articles showed widespread improper trading at the American Stock Exchange. He also broke the story about a big bond trading problem at Salomon Brothers in 1991.

Gary Weiss also wrote articles that were critical of groups like the Securities and Exchange Commission. These groups are supposed to regulate, or oversee, financial markets. In 1995, he wrote a cover story about how people were starting to invest online.

Impact of His Reporting

In 1991, Warren Buffett, a famous investor, was temporarily in charge of Salomon Brothers. He told a U.S. Senate committee that he learned about the bond trading problem by reading Gary Weiss's article in Business Week. At the time, Salomon Brothers was saying there was no problem. Buffett said he didn't fully know about the issue until he read Weiss's story.

In 1996, Gary Weiss wrote a Business Week cover story called "Fall of the Wizard." This article was critical of Julian Robertson, who managed a large investment fund called Tiger Management. Robertson then sued Weiss and BusinessWeek for a lot of money, saying the article was untrue. However, the lawsuit was settled without any money changing hands. BusinessWeek stood by what its reporting said. Tiger funds later closed in 2000 after two years of poor performance.

In 1998, Weiss wrote that there should be strict limits on how much money companies could borrow to invest. He said that limiting this borrowing might make some high-tech investment plans harder. It might also reduce business for banks and Wall Street firms. He believed that if this happened, it would be okay.

Praise for His Work

In December 2000, then-FBI Director Louis Freeh praised Gary Weiss's stories, including "Mob on Wall Street." Freeh wrote that Weiss had done a great service to the country. He said Weiss's reports on how organized crime was affecting the stock market helped the FBI start investigations in Florida and New York.

Later Contributions

In 2006, Gary Weiss became a founding member of Project Klebnikov. This was a group of journalists who worked together to investigate the murder of Paul Klebnikov. Paul Klebnikov was the editor of the Russian Forbes magazine. The project aimed to continue the investigative work he had started.

From 2006 to 2008, Weiss wrote columns for Forbes.com. He also wrote for The New York Times and Salon. From 2008 to 2010, he was an editor for Condé Nast Portfolio magazine. After the magazine closed, he continued to write a weekly column called "The Weiss File" for its website until December 2010.

Books by Gary Weiss

Gary Weiss has written several books that explore important topics in finance and society.

• Born to Steal (2003): This book focuses on a stockbroker named Louis Pasciuto, who had connections to organized crime. It also looks at Wall Street firms that were affected by organized crime in the 1990s.

• Wall Street Versus America (2006): This book looks at the fairness of Wall Street, its regulators, and financial news. It is critical of certain investment funds and the process for solving disputes on Wall Street. The book also questioned some financial journalism.

• Ayn Rand Nation (2012): This book studies the ideas of Ayn Rand, a writer and philosopher. It looks at how her philosophy, called Objectivism, has influenced politics and the economy in the United States.