Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of Rjr Nabisco - Couverture rigide

Burrough, Bryan; Helyar, John

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0060161728 ISBN 13 : 9780060161729

Editeur : Harpercollins, 1990

Synopsis

Book by Burrough Bryan

A propos du livre

Quatrième de couverture

A book that stormed both the bestseller list and the public imagination, a book that created a genre of its own, and a book that gets at the heart of Wall Street and the '80s culture it helped define, Barbarians at the Gate has emerged twenty years after the tumultuous deal it so brilliantly recounts as a modern classic—a masterpiece of investigatory journalism and a rollicking book of corporate derring-do and financial swordsmanship.

The fight to control RJR Nabisco during October and November of 1988 was more than just the largest takeover in Wall Street history. Marked by brazen displays of ego not seen in American business for decades, it became the high point of a new gilded age and its repercussions are still being felt. The tale remains the ultimate story of greed and glory—a story and a cast of characters that determined the course of global business and redefined how deals would be done and fortunes made in the decades to come.

Barbarians at the Gate is the gripping account of these two frenzied months, of deal makers and publicity flaks, of an old-line industrial powerhouse (home of such familiar products a Oreos and Camels) that became the victim of the ruthless and rapacious style of finance in the 1980s. As reporters for The Wall Street Journal, Burrough and Helyar had extensive access to all the characters in this drama. They take the reader behind the scenes at strategy meetings and society dinners, into boardrooms and bedrooms, providing an unprecedentedly detailed look at how financial operations at the highest levels are conducted but also a richly textured social history of wealth at the twilight of the Reagan era.

At the center of the huge power struggle is RJR Nabisco's president, the high-living Ross Johnson. It's his secret plan to buy out the company that sets the frenzy in motion, attracting the country's leading takeover players: Henry Kravis, the legendary leveraged-buyout king whose entry into the fray sets off an acquisitive commotion; Peter Cohen, CEO of Shearson Lehman Hutton and Johnson's partner, who needs a victory to propel his company to an unchallenged leadership in the lucrative mergers and acquisitions field; the fiercely independent Ted Forstmann, motivated as much by honor as by his rage at the corruption he sees taking over the business he cherishes; Jim Maher and his ragtag team, struggling to regain credibility for the decimated ranks at First Boston; and an army of desperate bankers, lawyers, and accountants, all drawn inexorably to the greatest prize of their careers—and one of the greatest prizes in the history of American business.

Written with the bravado of a novel and researched with the diligence of a sweeping cultural history, Barbarians at the Gate is present at the front line of every battle of the campaign. Here is the unforgettable story of that takeover in all its brutality. In a new afterword specially commissioned for the story's 20th anniversary, Burrough and Helyar return to visit the heroes and villains of this epic story, tracing the fallout of the deal, charting the subsequent success and failure of those involved, and addressing the incredible impact this story—and the book itself—made on the world.

Quatrième de couverture

'All the suspense of a first-rate thriller ... one of the finest, most compelling accounts of what happened to corporate America and Wall Street in the 1980s' New York Times Book Review

20th ANNIVERSARY EDITION, with a NEW AFTERWORD by the authors

The battle for the control of RJR Nabisco, which became the largest and most dramatic corporate takeover in American history, sent shock-waves through the international business world and became a symbol of the greed, excess and egotism of the eighties. Twenty years on, the world is once again recovering from a period of financial extravagance and irresponsibility. This new edition brings the ultimate business thriller up to date for a new generation of readers.

The rules were simple:--NEVER PAY IN CASH--NEVER TELL THE TRUTH--NEVER PLAY BY THE RULES.

'Mouthwatering stuff' Griff Rhys Jones

'One of the greatest business books ever written' - New York Times

'The most bizarre financial mock-epic of our age. Read it open-mouthed; wonder and shudder' Independent

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Harpercollins
• Date d'édition: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0060161728
• ISBN 13: 9780060161729
• Reliure: Relié
• Langue: anglais