Big Deal Mergers and Acquisitions in the Digital Age

by Wasserstein, Bruce

• ISBN13: 9780446675215
• ISBN10: 0446675210
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-09-01
• Publisher: Business Plus

Summary

From 1993 to 1999 an astounding $2 trillion worth of corporate assets changed hands. American-as-apple-pie companies like Chrysler became part of foreign conglomerates. The biggest bank merged with the biggest insurance company. And the map of international capitalism was radically redrawn. In a book that is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the shape of big business today, legendary deal maker Bruce Wasserstein looks at why it happens, how it happens, and who the key players are in a decade of colossal buyouts and mergers. He takes us inside the boardrooms and high-stakes meetings, where GEOs and investment bankers go toe-to-toe, armed with numbers, bravado, and vision. Highlighting recent blockbuster deals, Wasserstein brilliantly shows how the current era compares to the years and even centuries before it, how technology and government affect these mega-mergers and buyouts, and, most important, what it means for us -- and for our future. Book jacket.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Preface	xv
Introduction	1	(6)
One Past as Prelude
The Digital World Cometh	7	(8)
Mel, Barry, and Sumner Go Digital	15	(25)
History's Shadow	40	(32)
The Rise and Fall of the Conglomerate	72	(21)
The Deal Decade: Early Years	93	(43)
Troubled Years	136	(21)
The Merits of Mergers: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly	157	(32)
Two The Strategic Challenge
The Strategic Dilemma	189	(16)
The Energy Wars: Globalization Reigns	205	(57)
Metamorphosis: Conglomerates Transformed	262	(29)
Financial Services in the Digital Age	291	(55)
The Telco Revolution: The Story of Ma Bell, Her Children, and Her Rivals	346	(63)
Racing Toward Cyberspace: The Media and the Message in the Age of Convergence	409	(72)
The Tumultuous World of Health Care	481	(64)
Three Doing the Deal
A Guide to the Players	545	(38)
The Price	583	(39)
Structuring the Deal	622	(28)
Implementing the Deal	650	(38)
Offense: Battlefield Tactics	688	(51)
Defense: Fight or Sell?	739	(47)
Defense: Building the Battlements	786	(30)
Defense: Battlefield Tactics	816	(33)
The Government Intervenes	849	(42)
Postscript	891	(5)
Bibliography	896	(6)
Index	902