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The book was shipped on regular time. However, the quality wasn't good. The buyer stated its new, but obviously its an used book.
At the end the book's arch-villain Ross Johnson also turned out to be its most poignant and pathetic character, helplessly and haplessing witnessing the world implode around him. Rather it's their psychological penetration of the epic's characters, allowing us a glimpse of their twisted worldview that combined form the ethos of corporate America and Wall Street today. What makes their journalism so great is not merely their meticulous and painstaking research, and not even their fluid flawless narrative rendering of the chaotic take-over of RJR Nabisco in the late eighties. And that is something that no one can laugh at. The funniest scene in the book is when Henry Kravis's arch-nemesis Ted Frostmann arrives to negotiate with Ross Johnson and his bankers to see if they could join forces. In the end, America's financial system almost guarantees that no matter how incompetent and stupid, evil and malicious its leaders are they will always triumph.
As chief executive of RJR Nabisco (the result of the merger of Standard Brands (which Johnson led) into Nabisco, and then of that entity into RJ Reynolds), Johnson was king and kingmaker. Johnson was careless and callow, glib and greedy, a powerfully charismatic Canadian who would maneuver and manipulate his way into one of America's most powerful executives simply by appealing to everyone's worst instincts: he flattered and bribed his way to the top. He had his own air force, a loyal band of executives called the Merry Pranksters, and an army of celebrities. For whatever reason -- the authors speculate that he was just a impulsive personality or he felt pressure from his trophy wife or he was trying to escape the grief from his son in a coma -- Johnson destroyed his own empire by making a pact with Wall Street and making a gamble that showed the depth of his greed. Veteran Wall Street Journal reporters Bryan Burrough and John Helyar have written a masterful and powerful epic that represents journalism at its best. It is these cruel and sadistic bankers that would compete against each other for the biggest prize in corporate America. The battle would offer a lot of moments of tragicomedy, as well as of surreal greed and depravity.
Not only did they make Frostmann and his team wait hours but they did so because they were busy negotiating with Kravis to come to terms: they had used and insulted Frostmann, and when the negotiations with Kravis broke down they incredibly asked the angry Frostmann to negotiate, and incredibly he did. And then there is the entire bidding process for RJR Nabisco, where everyone abandoned manners and decency, reason and sense to sate their insatiable greed. When the authors first introduce us to Johnson we as readers find it hard to imagine that there could be people more corrupt and depraved than him, but then Wall Street enters the picture. The anti-hero of this sad story is Ross Johnson, the chief executive of RJR Nabisco. The only thing he could do was laugh hysterically.
Johnson and his bankers would attempt a leveraged buy-out of RJR Nabisco, making it private (essentially stealing it from shareholders) and making him insanely rich.In the end, all the LBO did was make Johnson insane. Gone are the days of the gentlemen banker, and today it's the aggressive hard-charging thugs(as typified by the LBO specialist Henry Kravis) who rule Wall Street. Reading the book we readers are forced to think Wall Street as a confederacy of dunces, but looking back at what actually happened -- all of Wall Street triumphed and because it's a small network the bitterest of rivals quickly reconciled with each other, RJR Nabisco's executives either rose in power or were rescued by golden parachutes, and RJR Nabisco was destroyed -- RJR Nabisco shareholders could not be considered too paranoid if they thought the entire fiasco were a wild conspiracy by America's powerful elite to steal the company from them.
I loved this book, especially the first half where the writers focused on rise and personality of Ross Johnson, and the rise of KKR. Yes, toward the middle of the book it got bogged down with many details and characters; so for a while I had a hard time following everything, but then it all sank in. I suppose the authors could have left out some material, and that would have made the book an easier read, but I wanted to learn as much as possible about what went down, so In the end I'm grateful for all the detail, and an in-depth view into a world I knew so little about. Randy
"Barbarians at the Gate" is an excellent read in regard to understanding the excesses of corporate America. This is merely one case study, but one has to wonder if this is not typical behavior of corporate executives, and if so, who is looking out for the shareholder. It is absolutely appauling how the senior executives at RJR Nabisco disregarded $50-100M in expenses as if it was too minimal for anyone to pay attention. Private jets, airplane hangers, landscaping for the hanger, all expenses that the executives felt were completely acceptable and untouchable after a change in ownership. John W. TaylorTiarta LLC[.].
Even though my work does not deal with financial stuff, and my real contact with that world does not go beyond managing my 401(k), I have found this book totally fascinating and engaging. It has been a much better read than many 'thrillers' that have been in my hands. The writing is great and the characters are portrayed with vivid details. More interestingly, it made me realize that whatever we have seen in the last year is a deja vu all over again.
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