“It feels kind of icky and un-American, betting against a company.” --Tom Farley, NYSE Group President, June 2017.
In the early 17th century, Amsterdam became the world’s first stock exchange, though only one company was traded -- the Dutch East India Company -- a shipping giant that monopolized the trading of pepper, yarn, cinnamon and other commodities between the East Indies and Europe.
[timeless]
But in 1609, Isaac Le Maire, a former board member of Dutch East India, believed that France was about to launch a major competitor. So he formed an investment group that placed a large bet on the Amsterdam exchange that Dutch East India’s shares would drop substantially. His group sold a large block of Dutch East India shares without...
