In 1987, Salomon Brothers became a takeover target from Revlon, backed by Drexel Burnham, Salomon's long time rival on Wall Street. Drexel Burnham, under the leadership of Michael Milken, fostered an era of corporate takeovers by supplying a way to finance such take over with junk bonds collateralized by the assets of the target itself. In the author's view, the takeover attempt materialized because of the failure of Salomon's leadership to see it in the first place. John Gutfreund then made a deal with Warren Buffet to avoid the takeover, at the expense of Salomon shareholders. Michael painted a picture of Gutfreund's hypocrisy.
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