The height of the society-wide insanity occurred when eight speculators, known as “the Cavaliers,” floated a total of $55 billion in postdated checks, seemingly in an attempt to corner the market. The most prolific check writer among the Cavaliers was Jassim al-Mutawa, a Passport Office employee in his early-twenties, who managed to pass off $14 billion all by himself. Sloppy accounting on the part of his brother and partner, Najeeb al-Mutawa, caused Jassim to become a staggering $3.4 billion overdrawn.
A really fascinating article on Souk Al-Manakh in the early 80s. The numbers quoted in the article are insane! I had always been curious about what happened and how it all happened so I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. [Link]
Also, here are some photos of the Souk Al-Manakh building taken in the early 80s via the MIT Libraries.
Thanks faahqueimmanutjawb
8 replies on “The Souk Al-Manakh Stock Bubble and Collapse”
There is a very good documentary on this, in which people who were actually involved and witnessed firsthand what happened, talked about their stories. It was never released.
how can i watch it?
This is the trailer for that documentary https://youtu.be/E7sDY5WZyZo
Khalid Alroudan was the producer I think, try contacting him you might be allowed a private view. Please do let me know if you can get anything.
They showed the film during the Kuwaiti students conference in the US.
Good subject for a Hollywood movie.
As I’m born in 90s, just asked my dad about it and he went chaos. He told me stories of people he personally knew who made millions and lost millions in blink of an eye. People would sell their belongings to get their hands on the share. How thrilling it would be at that time.
hello Mark, the link no longer works – do you happen to have the article saved as text? I’m writing a feature on it. thanks
Sorry I dont