内容简介
A book that stormed both the bestseller list and the public imagination, a book that created a genre of its own, and a book that gets at the heart of Wall Street and the '80s culture it helped define, Barbarians at the Gate has emerged twenty years after the tumultuous deal it so brilliantly recounts as a modern classic--a masterpiece of investigatory journalism and a rollicking book of corporate derring-do and financial swordsmanship.
The fight to control RJR Nabisco during October and November of 1988 was more than just the largest takeover in Wall Street history. Marked by brazen displays of ego not seen in American business for decades, it became the high point of a new gilded age and its repercussions are still being felt. The tale remains the ultimate story of greed and glory--a story and a cast of characters that determined the course of global business and redefined how deals would be done and fortunes made in the decades to come.
Barbarians at the Gate is the gripping account of these two frenzied months, of deal makers and publicity flaks, of an old-line industrial powerhouse (home of such familiar products a Oreos and Camels) that became the victim of the ruthless and rapacious style of finance in the 1980s. As reporters for The Wall Street Journal, Burrough and Helyar had extensive access to all the characters in this drama. They take the reader behind the scenes at strategy meetings and society dinners, into boardrooms and bedrooms, providing 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.
At the center of the huge powerstruggle is RJR Nabisco's president, the high-living Ross Johnson. It's his secret plan to buy out the company that sets the frenzy in motion, attracting the country's leading takeover players: Henry Kravis, the legendary leveraged-buyout king whose entry into the fray sets off an acquisitive commotion; Peter Cohen, CEO of Shearson Lehman Hutton and Johnson's partner, who needs a victory to propel his company to an unchallenged leadership in the lucrative mergers and acquisitions field; the fiercely independent Ted Forstmann, motivated as much by honor as by his rage at the corruption he sees taking over the business he cherishes; Jim Maher and his ragtag team, struggling to regain credibility for the decimated ranks at First Boston; and an army of desperate bankers, lawyers, and accountants, all drawn inexorably to the greatest prize of their careers--and one of the greatest prizes in the history of American business.
Written with the bravado of a novel and researched with the diligence of a sweeping cultural history, Barbarians at the Gate is present at the front line of every battle of the campaign. Here is the unforgettable story of that takeover in all its brutality. In a new afterword specially commissioned for the story's 20th anniversary, Burrough and Helyar return to visit the heroes and villains of this epic story, tracing the fallout of the deal, charting the subsequent success and failure of those involved, and addressing the incredible impact this story--and the book itself--made on the world.
作者简介
Bryan Burrough is a reporter for the
Wall Street Journal in New York. In 1987 he won the John Hancock Award for Excellence in Business and Financial Journalism. John Helyar worked for the
Wall Street Journal for nine years. He is now a senior editor of Southpoint, a business magazine based in Atlanta, Georgia.
前言/序言
巨头陨落:企业帝国、金融风暴与权力角逐 一本关于现代企业史上最惊心动魄的权力转移、道德困境与资本洪流的深刻剖析。 这本书带领读者深入探究一个横跨数十载,波及全球的商业帝国——“联合工业集团”(United Conglomerates Inc.,化名)的兴衰史。联合工业集团,一个由创始人以钢铁般的意志白手起家,逐步整合了从基础资源、重工业制造到尖端科技研发的庞大实体。它曾是国家经济的基石,是无数家庭的支柱,象征着美国工业黄金时代的巅峰。然而,在看不见的资本市场暗流和内部治理的腐朽中,这个看似坚不可摧的帝国,却在悄然间积累了致命的裂痕。 故事从1980年代末期开始,彼时全球化浪潮方兴未艾,金融创新如野火般蔓延,企业估值与实际运营能力之间的脱节日益严重。联合工业集团的总部内,充斥着一代老派管理者的骄傲与对新经济的漠视。他们习惯于通过传统的董事会权力、派系间的复杂制衡来维持统治,却对华尔街日益活跃的“价值重估”运动感到警惕而又无知。 第一部分:帝国的裂痕与内部的烽火 联合工业集团的主体业务——重型机械制造部门(“擎天柱部门”)——在亚洲市场的激烈竞争下面临成本飙升与利润下滑的双重压力。同时,集团内部的多元化战略也开始显现弊端。收购来的高科技子公司“未来视野”(FutureSight)虽然具有前沿技术,却因文化冲突和管理不善,成为集团财务报表上的一个黑洞。 关键的转折点出现在集团第二代领导人,首席执行官理查德·“迪克”·哈斯廷斯的统治下。迪克是一位典型的“内部人”,他继承了父亲的财富和地位,却缺乏其父的战略远见和铁腕。他沉湎于集团的辉煌历史,对外界的批评充耳不闻,推行了一系列旨在维护现有股东利益而非提升长期价值的“粉饰太平”政策。 核心矛盾爆发在迪克与集团的首席财务官维克多·“维克”·肖恩之间。维克是少数几个认识到集团资产被严重低估的内部人士之一。他私下认为,集团的结构过于臃肿,分散的业务线正在扼杀核心盈利能力。维克倡导进行一次激进的“拆分与重组”计划,目标是剥离那些拖后腿的部门,并将剩余的优质资产打包上市或出售,以最大化股东回报。然而,这一提议被迪克视为对其父遗志的公然挑战,两人之间的权力斗争迅速升级,最终导致维克被边缘化,愤而辞职。 维克的离去并非终结,而是序幕。他掌握了大量的内部运营数据和对集团财务结构最深层的理解,这使他成为了未来外部攻击的最佳“引信”。 第二部分:华尔街的狩猎与“杠杆”的召唤 随着维克在华尔街的“低语”,联合工业集团的真实价值开始在精英投资圈中流传。一家名为“黑石之石资本”(Blackstone Rock Capital,化名)的激进收购基金,以其创始人亚瑟·“阿特拉斯”·里德的冷酷风格而闻名,开始秘密布局。里德并非追求长期的运营改善,他的目标是利用高杠杆收购(LBO)模式,在短期内实现资产的最大化变现。 里德的战略是清晰且无情的:首先,通过公开市场悄悄吸纳足够多的流通股,形成足够的影响力;其次,通过发行大量高收益债券(垃圾债券),为收购提供资金支持;最后,在时机成熟时,发起对联合工业集团的全面收购要约(Hostile Takeover Bid),目标是将公司私有化,然后在随后的18至24个月内,快速出售其核心部门,偿还债务,并将剩余的现金和优质资产回馈给其投资者。 本书的叙事在此刻变得紧张起来。迪克和他的董事会,面对里德的步步紧逼,显得手足无措。他们依赖的是传统的法律顾问和几十年未曾改变的“关系”,却无法理解金融工程的威力。他们试图通过“毒丸计划”(Poison Pill)等防御机制来抵挡攻击,但这些防御措施在里德聘请的顶尖律师团队和金融家面前,显得笨拙且过时。 小说的高潮部分,详细描绘了双方在几个关键节点上的交锋: 1. 首次公开报价(The Initial Bid): 里德以一个极具诱惑力,但明显低于集团“内在价值”的价格发起首次全面收购要约,引发了中小股东的恐慌和支持。 2. 董事会的内部分裂: 几位受过维克影响的董事开始公开质疑迪克的领导能力,要求召开特别股东大会。 3. “垃圾债券”的狂欢: 华尔街顶尖的投行家们被卷入其中,他们为里德的收购提供了数十亿美元的融资承诺,这场交易的规模之大,几乎动摇了整个金融市场的稳定。 第三部分:道德的代价与帝国的重塑 随着收购战进入白热化,故事的焦点转向了对企业责任和道德界限的拷问。联合工业集团不仅仅是一串数字,它还雇佣了数以万计的工人,其养老金计划依赖于公司的稳定。里德的团队则毫不掩饰地表示,他们唯一的责任是最大化股东回报,而工人的就业保障和工厂的长期维护,不在其考量范围之内。 书中对几位关键人物的命运进行了深入刻画: 迪克·哈斯廷斯: 他从一个傲慢的CEO变成一个困兽之斗的悲剧人物,他的挣扎反映了旧式企业精神在金融资本面前的无力。他最终做出了一个极具争议的决定——秘密寻求一家外国竞争对手的“白衣骑士”援助,这被视为对国家经济利益的背叛。 维克多·肖恩: 作为内部叛徒,他目睹了自己当初提出的重组方案被里德以更残酷、更纯粹的资本逻辑执行,这使他陷入了深刻的自我怀疑与道德审判之中。 最终,在数月的高强度、高风险的谈判、法律战和媒体攻势之后,联合工业集团的命运被决定。它没有被里德完全吞并,而是被拆分成了数个部分。最优质的科技部门被“白衣骑士”购得,而核心的“擎天柱部门”则被里德通过一次复杂的杠杆交易“套现”,并迅速裁员、关闭冗余设施,一夜之间释放了巨大的“沉睡价值”。 《巨头陨落》不仅仅是一个关于收购的故事,它是一面镜子,映照出1980年代末至1990年代初,全球资本主义运作方式的根本性转变:从“工业思维”到“金融思维”的范式转移。 它探讨了在信息不对称和法律框架尚未完全跟上金融创新的时代,权力如何从实体资产的拥有者手中,转移到了对资产进行重新定价和重新配置的金融精英手中。 本书以一种近乎纪实的手法,融合了惊心动魄的商业叙事与深刻的社会评论,揭示了现代企业生存法则的残酷本质:在这个新的时代,不主动进行自我革命的企业,最终将沦为别人进行革命的原材料。 读者将从中体会到,每一个商业帝国的故事,都是关于增长、贪婪、创新与必然衰败的永恒史诗。