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Barbarians at the Gate (by Bryan Burrough & John Helyar)
Directly from the publisher:
Barbarians at the Gate has been called one of the most influential business books of all time - the definitive account of the largest takeover in Wall Street history. Bryan Burrough and John Helyar's account of the frenzy that overtook Wall Street in October and November of 1988 is the story of deal makers and publicity flaks, of strategy meetings and society dinners, of boardrooms and bedrooms - giving us not only a 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.
Oh yes, and then some.
The takeover battle for RJR Nabisco in 1988 still counts as the mother of all leveraged buyouts, and this book gives all the information one could ever desire. Actually the book starts out by telling the story of RJR Nabisco's CEO Ross Johnson and his life up to the point of him initiating a leveraged buyout (LBO) of his own company. After that, events start to unravel. Unexpected by Johnson and his group, other bidders start entering the fray, most notably the kings of LBO Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR). These two groups and some others will for weeks fight for control of the company with ever-escalating bids, intrigues, and frenzied activity with KKR finally taking home the prize (and paying $25bn for it).
Based on hundreds of interviews the authors provide an amazingly detailed look into the proceedings of a couple of months. The information is so detailed and so well-researched that you have to pinch yourself at times to remember that it's actually a real story and not a fiction novel. The book presents itself as a series of dialogues and minute-to-minute accounts of the important actors' actions. Having finished the book, it seemed to me as if I had actually gotten to know these real people. That is also the book's greatest achievement: Presenting a financial story as a page-turner based on character profiles, suspense, and heated discussion.
The other fine thing about "Barbarians at the Gate" is the inside look it gives into investment banking, the corporate world, corporate boards, and sophisticated financial instrument having forever changed the face of banking and having forced corporate CEOs to look shareholder value straight in the eye lest they not be swallowed and/or fired. I have learned a ton about negotiations on a corporate level from the book, and I have a much better understanding of LBOs now.
The book's only weakness is its complexity in dealing with what I think are hundreds of actors. At times, I lost track of who was which person and who was working for whom. Had I read the book over the course of several weeks, I might in fact have gotten lost.
Altogether, I can very much recommend "Barbarians at the Gate". It is a great business account, a fine story, and a good book to learn from. It goes together very well with "Liar's Poker" as a glimpse into the world of investment banking in the 1980's, a defining era for the financial and corporate world still today.
- Book Title: Barbarians at the Gate
- Book Authors: Bryan Burrough & John Helyar
- Year of Publication: 1990
- Buy the book at Amazon.com.
- My rating:
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