Barbarians at the Gate
A Book Review
Barbarians At The Gate
The Fall of RJR Nabisco
By
Bryan Burrough and John Helyar
Barbarians at the Gate has been called one of the most influential business books of all time - the definitive account of the frenzy that overtook Wall Street in October and November of 1988 from the leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco, Inc. by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for $24.9 billion. It was the largest takeover in Wall Street history. It was co-written by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar, both journalists for the Wall Street Journal. They wrote a series of articles about the takeover attempt. In 1989, they obtained additional information for the book by doing over 100 interviews. They interviewed all the major people -executives, lawyers, bankers and Wall Street traders - involved in the story, as well as many others. They provide a detailed account of the events in October and November of 1988 leading up to the buyout, as well as biographies of major players in the takeover attempt.
It is an insightful book, with respect to business, finance and corporate law and tells a complex, entertaining story--a drama, replete with a colorful ensemble of characters. Foremost of these characters, is Ross Johnson. It is also the story of his rise to the heights of corporate business. Johnson had come late to management at the age of forty in the early 1970s, but, in the next 15 years, he rose to be head of the nineteenth largest corporation in the United States - RJR Nabisco. At the time, RJR Nabisco was America's nineteenth largest industrial company, formed in 1985 after the merger of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and Nabisco Brands, Inc. Its other major subsidiaries included Del Monte Corporation and Planters Life Savers Company. Johnson's methods were ruthless but effective. He worked for himself, for the extravagant perks which he valued, and for the ultimate power which he insisted on. He believed that a CEO can do anything. In the process, however,
Barbarians At The Gate
The Fall of RJR Nabisco
By
Bryan Burrough and John Helyar
Barbarians at the Gate has been called one of the most influential business books of all time - the definitive account of the frenzy that overtook Wall Street in October and November of 1988 from the leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco, Inc. by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for $24.9 billion. It was the largest takeover in Wall Street history. It was co-written by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar, both journalists for the Wall Street Journal. They wrote a series of articles about the takeover attempt. In 1989, they obtained additional information for the book by doing over 100 interviews. They interviewed all the major people -executives, lawyers, bankers and Wall Street traders - involved in the story, as well as many others. They provide a detailed account of the events in October and November of 1988 leading up to the buyout, as well as biographies of major players in the takeover attempt.
It is an insightful book, with respect to business, finance and corporate law and tells a complex, entertaining story--a drama, replete with a colorful ensemble of characters. Foremost of these characters, is Ross Johnson. It is also the story of his rise to the heights of corporate business. Johnson had come late to management at the age of forty in the early 1970s, but, in the next 15 years, he rose to be head of the nineteenth largest corporation in the United States - RJR Nabisco. At the time, RJR Nabisco was America's nineteenth largest industrial company, formed in 1985 after the merger of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and Nabisco Brands, Inc. Its other major subsidiaries included Del Monte Corporation and Planters Life Savers Company. Johnson's methods were ruthless but effective. He worked for himself, for the extravagant perks which he valued, and for the ultimate power which he insisted on. He believed that a CEO can do anything. In the process, however,