Amazon.com
Buffett, the Bard of Omaha, is a genuine American folk hero, if folk heroes are allowed to build fortunes worth upward of $15 billion. He's great at homespun metaphor, but behind those catchy phrases is a reservoir of financial acumen that's generally considered the best of his generation. For example, in an essay on CEO stock options, he writes, "Negotiating with one's self seldom produces a barroom brawl." This is his way of saying that an executive who can give himself compensation totally disproportionate to his performance surely will. There are uncountable gems of financial wisdom to be harvested from these essays, taken from the annual reports he writes for Berkshire Hathaway, his holding company. Just to pick one more, here's a now-famous line about those he competes with when making stock-market investments: "What could be more advantageous in an intellectual contest--whether it be chess, bridge, or stock selection--than to have opponents who have been taught that thinking is a waste of energy?"
While Buffett has a policy of seldom commenting on stocks he owns--he feels public pronouncements will only lead to the public's expectation of more public pronouncements, and he likes to keep his cards close to his vest--he loves to discuss the principles behind his investments. These come primarily from Ben Graham, under whom Buffett studied at Columbia University and for whom he worked in the 1950s. First among them is the idea that price is what you pay and value is what you get--and if you're a smart investor, the first will always be less than the second. In that sense, the value of the lessons learned from Buffett's Essays could be far greater than the book's price. --Lou Schuler
Book Description
The definitive work concerning Warren Buffett and intelligent investment philosophy, this is a collection of Buffett's letters to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway written over the past few decades that together furnish an enormously valuable informal education. The letters distill in plain words all the basic principles of sound business practices. They are arranged and introduced by a leading apostle of the "value" school and noted author, Lawrence Cunningham. Here in one place are the priceless pearls of business and investment wisdom, woven into a delightful narrative on the major topics concerning both managers and investors. These timeless lessons are ever-more important in the current environment.
Customer Reviews:
A brilliant book for the beginng investor or corporate executive.......2007-10-23
Mr. Buffet does a remarkable job of simplifying the complexities of investing. His homespun stories and self-deprecating humor make the subject matter entertaining, easy to understand and very useful.
It is remarkable for a man of his stature in the investment world to openly discuss his many mistakes and bad investment decisions and yet, we should all be so lucky as to have the fortitude and the wisdom to invest with the same degree of success that he has experienced - even with much smaller sums of money.
I highly recommend this book to everyone that owns common stock.
An MBA by reading one book.......2007-10-17
Want the equivalent of an MBA - read this book! Skip the first 26 pages and get right into reading Buffet directly. After reading the rest of the book go back and read the first 26 pages for a great summary.
A must read for anyone interested in business.
Perfect.......2007-08-14
Lucid and brilliant, a clear lesson on capital allocation. The only objection would be the repeated content, but truthfully it helped the ideas sink in a bit.
Thank you for editing this collection Professor Cunningham.
Real Wisdom at a Good Price.......2007-08-05
I work for a financial services company, and I'm subjected to corporate gobbledegook on a daily basis. Warren Buffett gets to the point. His explanations of financial transactions seem so effortless, I can't imagine how others get so confused and obtuse. Here's a mind worth delving in to, and this book lets you sit on the shoulder of a modern genius to see how he thinks. Good stuff.
excellent.......2007-07-09
These are the actual words penned by Buiffett. Not as dry as one would think, he's actually a wonderful writer. The Oracle of Omaha can turn a phrase and while parts of this are slow going, I enjoyed it throughly.
I heartily recommend this book for those desiring wealth. I also strongly recommend The Millionaire Mind by Tom Stanley. The Millionaire Mind
Book Description
A comprehensive guide to the world of mergers and acquisitions
Why do so many M&A transactions fail? And what drives the success of those deals that are consummated? Robert Bruner explains that M&A can be understood as a response by managers to forces of turbulence in their environment. Despite the material failure rates of mergers and acquisitions, those pulling the trigger on key strategic decisions can make them work if they spend great care and rigor in the development of their M&A deals. By addressing the key factors of M&A success and failure, Applied Mergers and Acquisitions can help readers do this. Written by one of the foremost thinkers and educators in the field, this invaluable resource teaches readers the art and science of M&A valuation, deal negotiation, and bargaining, and provides a framework for considering tradeoffs in an effort to optimize the value of any M&A deal. Applied Mergers and Acquisitions is part of a complete suite of resources on M&A that includes a workbook and a CD-ROM with additional spreadsheets.
Robert F. Bruner, MBA, DBA (Charlottesville, VA), is the Distinguished Professor of Business Administration at the Darden School at the University of Virginia and Executive Director of the Batten Institute. He directs the Darden School's executive education course on mergers and acquisitions, and teaches the popular MBA elective on that topic. He holds a BA from Yale University, and a MBA and DBA from Harvard University.0471395064 A comprehensive guide to the world of mergers and acquisitions 0471395064 A comprehensive guide to the world of mergers and acquisitions
Why do so many M&A transactions fail? And what drives the success of those deals that are consummated? Robert Bruner explains that M&A can be understood as a response by managers to forces of turbulence in their environment. Despite the material failure rates of mergers and acquisitions, those pulling the trigger on key strategic decisions can make them work if they spend great care and rigor in the development of their M&A deals. By addressing the key factors of M&A success and failure, Applied Mergers and Acquisitions can help readers do this. Written by one of the foremost thinkers and educators in the field, this invaluable resource teaches readers the art and science of M&A valuation, deal negotiation, and bargaining, and provides a framework for considering tradeoffs in an effort to optimize the value of any M&A deal. Applied Mergers and Acquisitions is part of a complete suite of resources on M&A that includes a workbook and a CD-ROM with additional spreadsheets.
Robert F. Bruner, MBA, DBA (Charlottesville, VA), is the Distinguished Professor of Business Administration at the Darden School at the University of Virginia and Executive Director of the Batten Institute. He directs the Darden School's executive education course on mergers and acquisitions, and teaches the popular MBA elective on that topic. He holds a BA from Yale University, and a MBA and DBA from Harvard University.
Customer Reviews:
Very comprehenive in an acedemic way.......2007-04-25
Very complete but not a "how to.." guide.
A great and thought provoking resource.
Should be on every investment banker book shelf
Very Difficult to Follow.......2007-03-19
I found the book to be very difficult to follow in that it seems to be written for graduate level courses on the subject, with very little practical application. The book provides a detailed literature review but it is a bit dated. There is nothing about the rise of private equity and hedge funds in recent years. The book would also benefit from the use of more examples. Its sheer size and number of chapters makes it a bit disjointed.
You should own this book..........2007-02-14
... if you have any interest in M&A. But your professors must have already told you so!
Simply the best text on M&A.......2007-01-27
After attending an executive program in mergers and acquisitions, I decided to purchase this book after reviewing a variety of books on the subject. I also own Arzac's book, but it is only applicable to valuation.
This book is simply the best text on M&A and it has served as a nice supplament to program that I attended. Between the program and reading this book, I now feel like I am an expert on the subject.
Arzac's book on valuation provides the final topping on the subject manner.
Nice Nice Book.......2006-04-10
very nice overview on MnA. Good introduction and provides references for those who wanna dig into specific topics.
However, this is a general overview for a wide range of MnA topics, you will not gain a specific expertise from this book.
For me, the most useful way of learning a topic like MnA is by actually looking at spreadsheets and exhibits instead of reading bunge of writings. This book has many nice exhibits/tables to demonstrate the calculations, so after the reading, I can look at the exhibits/spreadsheets to see if I understand how the numbers are calculated.
this should be the first read, arzac should be followed up to gain a more solid background in valuation.
No comments on the CDROM, I didn't buy it.
Book Description
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 gripping 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.
Barbarians at the Gate -- a business narrative classic -- is must reading for everyone interested in the way today's world really works.
Download Description
With more than 500,000 copies sold, Barbarians at the Gate is the definitive account of the largest takeover in Wall Street history: the frenzy of strategy meetings and society dinners, of boardrooms and bedrooms -- giving us the view from the top of the financial ladder to the social history of wealth at the twilight of the Reagan era.
Over six months on the New York Times bestseller list, Barbarians at the Gate is the definitive account of the largest takeover in Wall Street history. Bryan Burrough and John Helyar's gripping record of the frenzy that overtook Wall Street in October and November of 1988 is the story of deal makers and pulicity flaks, of strategy meetings and society dinners, of boardrooms and bedrooms, giving us not only 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. As compelling as a novel, Barbarians at the Gate is must reading for everyone interested in the way today's world really works.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent.......2007-10-21
No one that works at financial markets can afford loosing this book. It's historical and wonderful. The audio book I bought was to listen on the way to work. It's perfect.
Stranger Than Fiction.......2007-09-22
A takeover story that reads like a Jeffrey Archer novel, Barbarians at the Gate is a meticulously detailed account of the takeover of RJR Nabisco by KKR in the late 80s. The authors were WSJ journalists who covered the story for the Journal and the book does a great job of communicating the tension and intrigue of those six weeks in 1988. The book does slack in pace at times but the story keeps you engaged. Recommended.
Barbarians at the Gate audio book.......2007-09-02
Great book. Great format. I listened to it on the plane. A must read business book - goes along with reading the art of war and the prince.
The business classic.......2007-08-20
Simply compulsive. If you have an interest in business and finance or people, greed and behaviour this is a must read. In many ways this story reflects a broadly held image of the 1980's and its culture of excess that was abound in our worlds financial capitals.
This is a gripping read; the story of the battle for RJR Nabisco and the characters involved contains many elements of the best fiction with the distinct difference of this story being true. Whilst the business finally conducted may not have been the finest work of the venerable KKR it was important mainly due to its Herculean scale which was at the time unprecedented.
This book is simply a must read on many levels. Since it was first published in 1990 it has gripped the imagination of many and has kindled an interest in business reaching far and wide.
The business book of business books.......2007-08-05
To say this book was expertly written, would be an understatement. The authors craft the perfect description of an LBO, with all the players, transactions, and affects on peples lives. How they were able to get inside as well as they did, is really beyond me. This is one for the ages and should be read in Business schools.
Book Description
Provides a practical, 10-step process for managing the human aspect of an M&A
M&A activity is higher than ever with acquisitions becoming an important part of every company's growth strategy. The industries heavily engaging in this activity are high-tech, emerging technologies, and utilities.
The M&A Transition Guide is written for executives, managers, and HR professionals involved with any transaction that moves employees from one company to another. Poor workforce integration is a main cause for M&A failures and this book helps managers make the M&A transition a more positive one by providing a plan of action for the integration that focuses on ten critical steps. These steps encompass the entire M&A process from due diligence to employee retention strategies.
Download Description
Provides a practical, 10-step process for managing the human aspect of an M
Customer Reviews:
Essential guide for HR staff.......2001-04-24
Anyone who has watched the matketplace over the last ten years has observed a couple of trends:
- merger and acquisition activity is on an ever-accelerating uptrend, and
- many mergers fail.
Analysis of the failures in M&A typically point to the difficulty of blending disparate cultures.
Hanson has codified her deep experience in managing the HR aspects of mergers and acquisitions. She has taken a complex and delicate topic, the merger of workforces with different cultures and backgrounds, and created a framework and approach that can be applied to this activity to assure a solid result.
This is a solid piece of work that belongs in the library of every HR professional.
Amazon.com
Five Frogs on a Log is a practical and easy-to-absorb manual for corporate leaders facing those intense periods of total transformation that seem--for better or for worse--to define today's business world. Written by Mark L. Feldman and Michael F. Spratt, both partners and managing directors of PricewaterhouseCoooper's global M&A consulting division, the book aims to help managers through the "jolts, curves, and emotional potholes" that inevitably accompany such large-scale restructuring. "The high-priced bankers and lawyers exit with the close," they write, "leaving management to confront the challenge of producing results that justify the price, the added risk, and/or the significant disruption to current operations. To complicate matters, they face what amounts to a new company and a set of unexpected demands that can easily divert them from capturing the value that drove the deal." With help from insightful illustrations and quotations from those who have been there, Feldman and Spratt build upon their basic theory--that speed is of the essence in corporate upheavals of this type--by offering pragmatic solutions for the myriad problems that invariably arise. --Howard Rothman
Book Description
A riddle:
Five frogs are sitting on a log.
Four decide to jump off. How many are left?
Answer: Five
Why?
Because there's a difference between deciding and doing.
Written by Mark L. Feldman and Michael F. Spratt of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Five Frogs on a Log offers readers an entertaining and no-nonsense field guide to the mergers and acquisitions jungle, packed with insight and instruction for executing corporate change and capturing shareholder value. Whether you're buying another company or acquiring a new vision of the future, this book proffers an unconventional perspective and a practical, readily accessible set of solutions to the single greatest challenge facing today's managers: executing rapid transitions ion mergers, acquisitions and gut wrenching change.
Designed for corporate managers and CEOs caught up in the whirlwind of change, every chapter provides accessible ideas and wisdom for navigating the most demanding business transitions. The authors offer a unique hands-on perspective based on their work with top Fortune 500 firms. As they state:
"Increasingly, the companies that win are those that learn faster, act quicker and adapt sooner. They will compress time by making and executing early, informed decisions about economic value creation, ruthless prioritization and focused resource allocation. They will use these decisions to take early firm stands on management deployment, organization structure and culture. Their actions will increasingly be linked to long-term, sustained economic value creation."
The advice and expertise offered in this book can be used to solve a range of operational problems from speeding up new product development to merging two businesses; from changing company culture to repositioning a business in a while new marketplace.
Whatever the challenges and opportunities facing you, your company, your industry, Five Frogs on a Log will move you from deciding to doing.
Customer Reviews:
Definitely Worth Reading.......2007-03-24
My organization is in the process of a major change and reorganization. I found this book to be right on target in identifying the challenges and hurdles that we faced as well as providing some effective solutions to ensure that we do not make the same mistakes that others before us have made. I believe this is an excellent book and a must read for anyone within the organization, not just CEOs.
good for frogs.......2006-07-11
Feldman and Spratt advise lots of CEOs of large corporations as part of their work for PricewaterhouseCoopers (a mergerized mouthful if there ever was one), and those consulting habits show. The book is anecdotal and clever without being practical or useful, even if you're actually contemplating a merger. You will, however, learn the riddle of the five frogs on a log, which in the interest of saving time, we offer here: Five frogs are sitting on a log. Four decide to jump off. How many are left? Five. Because there's a difference between deciding and doing. "Execution," the authors tell us, "is always more difficult than it seems."
Here's the lesson: Smart advice is timeless. If you do want a quick take on making effective decisions, then consider the very short chapter "The Effective Decision" in Peter Drucker's Managing the Non-profit Corporation (HarperCollins, 1990). Drucker writes sharply about the evils of reaching consensus too quickly, the dangers of not doing your homework, and the fact that decision making always involves risk taking. He also observes that "far too many decisions remain pious intentions." Even more memorable than the frog story.
Very thought provoking.......2002-06-27
This book is an excellent view of the M&A process from a very different angle. Many books cover the mechanics of the process, but this one looks at the outcomes for human beings - our most important assets. I would recommend it highly.
Worth reading.......2002-04-30
Having been on the receiving end of several poorly-executed acquisitions, I much appreciated the authors' vivid descriptions of merger complexity - and their straightforward advice on how to avoid it. Definitely worth reading.
The best of them all.......2002-04-29
My company has been making acquisitions for over twenty years and I think we've read all the merger books in print. "Five Frogs" is the winner when it comes to candid, practical and intuitive advice on how to accelerate through the post-deal transition without destroying shareholder value. Its a fast and easy read that makes its points clearly and with great examples that force you to think intelligently about decisions that must be made and executed quickly. The two chapters on internal and external communications planning and execution alone are worth the price. Our results from following the authors'advice on post-deal priority setting were both powerful and surprisingly painless. We're about to go through the biggest merger in our history and every member of every transition team in both companies now has a copy of "Five Frogs." It's become our merger bible. Also, if you get a chance to hear Feldman speak on the subject, don't miss it. He's an articulate and entertaining speaker who's seen it all. Very motivating.
Book Description
When should you acquire a target or enter a new business? How do you go about structuring and valuing leveraged buyout transactions? What do you do id the application of the weighted average cost of capital approach is not correct? Answers to these commonly encountered valuation problems and more are given right here in this complete valuation toolkit for mergers, buyouts, and restructuring. Enrique Arzac, an internationally recognized authority on the subject, provides an up-to-date, comprehensive synthesis of current valuation theory and practice, including free cash flow valuation, financing and valuation of leveraged buyouts, real option analysis for entry and exit decisions, contract design to resolve disagreements about value, and the valuation of special offer structures.
Customer Reviews:
Hard but very comprenhensive and useful .......2007-06-03
This book is a must for anyone who desires to improve her valuation and modeling skills.
It includes well detailed examples of LBO deal, which is quite rare in the literature.
The computation of the wacc is very comprehensive (may be too much) but the reader does not need to understand it to benefit from the other valuable chapters and demonstrations.
Planet Best.......2006-11-22
I have read many many books on Valuation for investment banking purposes. Many of them have good theories and decent number crunching. But this is the best one in regard technical aspects of finance. It's not for everyone. The book really is for practioner and MBA students who want go ahead of their peers. If you are through with this book nobody can beat you in valuation world.
Enrique I would really want you to cover Project Finance in your next addition.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and liked the technical cocenpts especially the explanation about fomulas and derivations at the end of the book. Moreover the book is absolutely to the point and covers analytical part of Valution for M&A, LBO and Restructuring.
Great Work Enrique.
Manu
For those who love going into the detail..........2006-06-20
This is one of the best books I have read to date on Valuation. It spanks various methodologies and speaks to their differences. It goes into the detail and stays there to provide the depth necessary to get a intuative understanding. WARNING: not for those who do not like math. You can follow the derivations and I found it very good practice and reinforcement to learning the concepts.
Buy it and try it on a company in the news.
Cool!
OK but very technical.......2006-03-03
Overall, the book covers relevant M&A material but it's difficult to read. Coming from a finance background, I was looking for a reference book to be used at work. There are other books that are more user-friendly. Recommendation: get Applied Mergers & Acquisitions from Wiley Finance instead; same topics but a pleasure to read.
Purely for Reference.......2006-01-14
As an M&A finance practitioner, I am torn between giving this book a 3-star or 4-star rating. As many reviewers have noted, this is structured to be a reference book. There is more math than is typically needed or used in most small or medium-sized transactions, and there is very little introductory material for the uninitiated to get their bearings. Instead, the books delves straight into valuation exercises that are at times even more difficult than what I have encountered in the profession. The examples, while numerous and varied, are often reviewed much too quickly, and occasionally with so many permutations and small digressions that it is difficult to keep track of the purpose of the original endeavor. And as good students know, it is very hard to remember how to do something when you do not know *why* you are doing it. As such, it is difficult to recommend this book with much enthusiasm to anyone who does not at least have a few transactions under their belt because as a general guide it does not at all do the trick.
However, for more experienced users, it can come in handy, although I will still have to say that information is unnecessarily difficult to find. I feel like this book is so dense that it would be much more effective in an electronic (and hence, searchable) version. That being said, I really enjoyed a few chapters, including Chapter 9, which had some excellent examples of the effect different tax treatments have on a transaction. It came in very handy for a deal I was working on where I had to deal with NOLs.
Book Description
Based on the authors' consulting experience with numerous Fortune 500 companies, this resource will help you capture the synergies of your next merger or acquisition more quickly and effectively. Augmenting their step-by-step advice with helpful templates, checklists, graphs and tools; Galpin and Herndon provide sound guidance for successfully integrating different processes, organizations, and cultures. The authors also address pre-deal dos and don'ts, people dynamics, common mistakes, communications strategies, and specific actions you can take to create measurable positive results throughout the integration process.
Customer Reviews:
Great review of prior experiences.......2006-03-18
This is a very nice review of M&A's taking place in the late 90's good to get an overview of the M&A keys to success.
Post-Merger Process Tools for Big Companies.......2001-09-20
Having been a manager at a large company, I can see how this book would be beneficial for managers at large companies that are doing acquisitions. But from the perspective of a manager at a smaller company that is being acquired, this book was not particularly helpful.
Packed With Knowledge!.......2001-03-16
This thorough, detailed book focuses on the misunderstood aspects of merger and acquisition management. Timothy J. Galpin and Mark Herndon clearly have vast experience and draw on case studies to illustrate their suggestions. They provide sample surveys and integration flow charts to guide hands-on planning, and offer practical advice that you can apply in real-world situations. Not all of these ideas are new, nor do the authors claim them to be. Instead, they apply the most relevant ideas from management and psychology to M&A. The authors hammer home an extremely consistent message: You must communicate. They present their ideas clearly, even though the book is often wordy and uses a lot of passive voice (alas, business prose). Nonetheless, this is actually a very dense book and the authors are careful not to waste the reader's time. This is essential reading for virgin M&A managers, and we at getAbstract think that even experienced acquirers may find much to learn.
About as "Complete" as Possible.......2000-07-15
There is already an abundance of resources on the subject of M&A, especially those available on the WWW. If you are looking for a single-volume source, this is probably one of the best. The authors devote 14 chapters to virtually all aspects of M&A. In process, with clarity and eloquence, they explain the "Watson Wyatt Deal Flow Model" which, after appropriate modifications, can be applied to almost any organization involved in M&A negotiations, either as a buyer or as a seller. The final chapter, all by itself, is well worth the cost of the book. In it, the authors suggest various "keys" to M&A success. They then provide:
Resource A: Sample Task Force Charter
Resource B: Integration Planning Template
Resource C: Executive Summary of Watson Wyatt Worldwide's 1998-1999 Mergers and Acquisitions Survey
What we have here is a single-volume in which two experts on the subject of M&A seem to share everything they know about the subject. Even if your company is not currently a buyer or seller, its senior-level executives should read this book. Why? Because you just never know. Perhaps sooner than now anticipated, your company will be courted by another...or it will be attracted to another company as a prospective acquisition. In either situation, this book (and the "Watson Wyatt Deal Flow Model" it discusses) will be invaluable.
Supplement to Wall Street M&A deals.......2000-05-17
The book is a great supplement to the subject of Valuation models and talks about in depth analysis that goes into the art of valuing a company. It actually goes in to informing the reader about the pre-merger and post-merger outcomes.....very informative and analytical!
Customer Reviews:
A Piece That Has What Others Don't........2007-09-02
Highly regarded as one of the finest pieces of business investigative journalism written, Connie Bruck's groundbreaking work on the subject of junk bonds and corporate financing was written during a time when the business press universally admired Drexel Burnham for their ability to turn junk into gold.
You will find this book quite entertaining and comprehensible. A smooth read not filled with too much industry jargon, its nomenclature friendly enough even for the beginner. It highlights the bright sides as well as the dark sides of the critically acclaimed Junk-bond king Michael Milken and allows each of us to have his or her own view on Milken and Drexel Burnham's underlying philosophy.
Although the book does lean heavily towards Milken having a me first attitude, it does manage to pin down a few important business lessons underscored by him that cannot be overlooked. You will not waste any time reading this piece. You will definitely be on the winning side by reading this book.
This book will definitely generate scores of topics to discuss and debate about the philosophies of American business that dominated Wall Street in the 1980s. This future classic highlights many corporate raiders that are still vehemently visible today. Just to name a few: players like Carl Icahn, Nelson Peltz, Ron Perelman, T. Boone Pickens and a host of others.
A definite must read for those interested in banking, financial history, and especially for business students.
Amazing account of the rise of Drexel.......2007-04-11
Connie Bruck tells the tale of the rise of Drexel Burnham, Michael Milken, and the modern day junk bond market, from the early beginning all the way up to the end.
The Predators Ball is a great bit of investigative writing. The dramatic events really keep you hooked, although at some points the level of detail requires hunkering down for the long haul. Overall, recommended for any Street junkie or anyone interested in Drexel Burnham and Michael Milken.
Good background information on finance in the 80s.......2007-02-25
This book is a great reference point to many of the activities that occurred in the 1980s and how those events impact Wall Street and the financial markets today. While not as well written as other books in the genre, it makes an emphasis of using facts as opposed to circumstantial evidence presented as facts (which many similar books such as "Den of Thieves" and "Barbarians at the Gate" use) and that makes this book a cut above the rest.
One sided, but a good read.......2007-01-10
I gave the book 4 stars simply for the topic, it reads reasonably well, and it appears that the author has done a good amount of research, covering much of Milken's and Drexel's rise and fall. The book, however, is one sided (against Milken). The last few chapters are blatantly so and become almost unbearable in there tone.
Given the realization of how absolutely astonishing it is that one man influenced, almost singlehandedly, a financial era, I would recommend reading as much on the topic as possible. This would include the Predators Ball.
Good for what it sets out to do but really leaves a lot out.......2006-12-21
This is a decent overview of the malfeasance that was perpetuated by Drexel Burnham and Michael Milken. It however pails in comparison to the account that James Stewart presents in Den of Thieves. If you want to focus on the big event during one year this is a decent way to do it but you are really missing out on a much better account.
Book Description
Written for CEOs, CFOs, and the investment bankers, lawyers, and auditors who advise them, this is the first book to explain how reverse mergers work, from the business and legal points of view.
Customer Reviews:
Professional manual for reverse mergers.......2006-12-11
Only a few years ago, it seemed that nearly every company was going public with an IPO. Now many quality companies are locked out of the IPO market, but companies have other ways to go public. One of the most popular paths is a "reverse merger." In this transaction, your private company merges into a public company (often a "shell") and controls it, giving you a public stock with which to raise capital. This may sound shady, but it's not: many well-known companies have gone public through reverse mergers, including Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, Turner Broadcasting System, Occidental Petroleum and Blockbuster Entertainment. Experienced Wall Street securities attorney David N. Feldman takes you through the reverse merger process in detail. The book is wonderfully clear and thorough, and should become the definitive textbook on reverse mergers. It is, however, a dry read. A profusion of technical rules and especially acronyms (SPAC, SOX, Form 10-B, Rule 419, Regulation A, SB-2, PIPE) make the book slightly MEGO (My Eyes Glaze Over) for the uninitiated - but then, they are not its target audience. We enthusiastically recommend this book to sophisticated investors, lawyers, accountants, investment bankers and executives who want all the details on this increasingly popular financing technique.
This book changed my life!!!.......2006-10-10
Well, maybe it didn't exactly change my life, but it gave my law firm a new direction. My firm specializes in strategic transactions - initial public offerings, private placements, mergers & acquisitions - but we had steered clear of reverse mergers because of the uncertainty and confusion. Feldman and Dresner cleared up that confusion we now offer reverse mergers as part of our services.
This book showed the mechanics of structuring a reverse merger, how to create shell corporations and guidelines on financing. It covers due diligence, securities filings and and plenty of mistakes to avoid.
Whether you're an attorney, accountant, investment banker, business owner or private investor, this book will offer you an new strategy for growth and finance by way of reverse mergers.
excellent book.......2006-10-02
This is a most informative book and tells you how to do it. The concept is mysterious at first but is clearly explained in this book. It is a must for anyone considering taking his business public. I highly recomend it.
An excellent investment if you're interested in reverse mergers.......2006-10-01
If you want to know the right way to organize and structure Reverse Mergers, this is the book to go for. It's an excellent up to date reference as well as a guidebook of do's, don'ts and "tricks of the trade"; even better, it's written so both newbies and professionals can benefit from it.
At the very minimum, Reverse Mergers will pay for itself many times over in saved legal fees; more importantly it will almost certainly save you a lot of time and may well save you from some very expensive mistakes. If you intend to do anything in this area, Mr. Feldman's book is undoubtedly the best $50 investment you can make.
Book Description
In his classic bestseller Venture Capital Handbook, leading venture capitalist David Gladstone showed thousands of companies how to get funding and work with early stage investors. Now, in his revision of the classic, Venture Capital Investing, he looks at venture capital through the eyes of the investor. Gladstone shows all of you VC investors and angels exactly how to weed through scores of business proposals and find the gem that will deliver outstanding returns, especially in these soft economic times. You will learn what to look for in a business proposition; how to assess entrepreneurs and their management teams; how to evaluate financial statements, market niches, competitive environments, and product innovations; how to investigate a business that's already operating; and how to build effective partnerships with existing portfolio companies.
Download Description
"
- Venture capital and buyouts from the investor's perspective
- Start-to-finish advice on identifying winning business opportunities
- Evaluating management, finance, products/services, growth opportunities, and exit strategies
- Essential reading for every VC, leveraged buyout (LBO) funds professional, angel, and private investor
High risk, spectacular return...that's the idea behind VC investing. But smart investors reduce unnecessary risks and maximize return at every step.
You will discover realistic guidance for identifying hidden opportunities...assessing products and markets...evaluating entrepreneurs and managers...negotiating and closing deals...and much more.
Venture Capital Investing also includes insider's tools for expert investing: everything from sample due diligence questions to psychological assessments of entrepreneurs.
Whatever your role in investing in new companies, this book can help you reduce your misfires--and supercharge your profits.
Venture Capital Investing shows VC investors and angels exactly how to weed through scores of business proposals and find the gem that will deliver outstanding returns.
You'll learn how to assess entrepreneurs and their management teams, and systematically evaluate every facet of the opportunity they may or may not present. The authors walk you through assessing financial statements, market niches, and competitive environments; appraising the real value of new product and service innovations; and investigating businesses that are already operating. They also offer expert guidance on improving your odds by building effective partnerships with your portfolio companies.
The authors' best-seller Venture Capital Handbook is the top book for entrepreneurs seeking funding. Now, in Venture Capital Investing, they've created a classic for everyone who invests in small- and medium-sized businesses. "
Customer Reviews:
False review.......2006-10-16
I've noticed same comment made (almost word by word) to the previous book of Gladstone (Venture Capital Handbook) meaning that they're not reviews at all but sheer PR or advertisement to sell books. I didn't buy both of them.
VC Investing Basics.......2004-07-13
Much updated from previous editions, David Gladstone's useful text provides a very cursory survey of deal and investment techniques, albeit for slightly later than "sexy" stage deals. However, as this book is designed for the novice, and as Lipper's text has fallen out of print, this sadly remains the only general text on VC investing for the inexperienced, and is useful in context of the level which it is designed to educate. While the many checklists may be somewhat annoying to seasoned VCs, they are probably indispensable to the novice investor, since they provide a summary framework when working through deal and business terms. And while the book is designed more for later stage (through certainly not LATE stage, as some have alluded to) deals, the book is, again, designed to educate the novice venture investor, who really shouldn't be doing high tech start-ups anyway. Irrespective of that, anyone who presumes to write a text on investing in high tech start ups would likely find his text applicable only for the next few months after printing. Ours is an industry that evolves very quickly, and changes rapidly in accordance to the latest trends. No one can teach you how to pick the winners in the trend that hasn't happened yet. Getting the basics from a text like Gladstone's, however, can give you the fundamentals on which to build that "knack".
Insightful!.......2004-04-30
This book is a thorough, practical guide to the nitty-gritty of venture capital investing. This comprehensive, well-organized instruction manual summarizes the homework you should do before you make a venture capital investment, the paperwork needed to carry out the investment and the ongoing work you will have to undertake to have a prayer of seeing your investment pay off. If it is a little plodding, you can understand why. It covers a lot of ground. The authors compare venture capital investing to a partnership at one point, to a marriage at another. They don't attempt to sell you on venture investing. In fact, by telling you how difficult and labor intensive it is, they may even drive you away. We believe this book definitely belongs in the library of anyone who has ever taken a serious interest in venture investing. It will also help entrepreneurs who need venture capital financing by showing them how to evaluate their companies according to the criteria that serious investors are apt to use.
Books:
- The Fires of Heaven (The Wheel of Time, Book 5)
- The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels
- The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels
- The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
- The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action
- The Minto Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing, Thinking, & Problem Solving
- The Minto Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing, Thinking, & Problem Solving
- The Restaurant Managers Handbook: How to Set Up, Operate, and Manage a Financially Successful Food Service Operation
- The Silva Mind Control Method
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Eat What You Kill: The Fall of a Wall Street Lawyer
- The Simple Home: The Luxury of Enough
- More Gore Score: Brave New Horrors
- MY COUNTRY VERSUS ME: THE FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT BY THE LOS ALAMOS SCIENTIST WHO WAS FALSELY ACCUSED OF
- The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security
- The Ultimate Gift
- The Club and Coral Mushrooms
- Force of Finance: Triumph of the Capital Markets
- Readings and Cases in International Management: A Cross-Cultural Perspective
- Some Bitter Taste
Corporate Finance
| Finance
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel
Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings
The Interpretation of Financial Statements
One Up On Wall Street : How To Use What You Already Know To Make Money In The Market
Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist
