Unfortunately, Merton was of little use in selling the fund. He was too serious-minded, and he was busy with classes at Harvard. But in the summer of 1993, J.M. recruited a second academic star: Myron Scholes. Though regarded as less of a heavyweight by other academics, Scholes was better known on Wall Street, thanks to the Black-Scholes formula. Scholes had also worked at Salomon, so he, too, was close to the Meriwether group. And with two of the most brilliant minds in finance, each said to be on the shortlist of Nobel candidates, Long-Term had the equivalent of Michael Jordan and Muhammad
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