內容簡介
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.
作者簡介
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
巨頭隕落:企業帝國、金融風暴與權力角逐 一本關於現代企業史上最驚心動魄的權力轉移、道德睏境與資本洪流的深刻剖析。 這本書帶領讀者深入探究一個橫跨數十載,波及全球的商業帝國——“聯閤工業集團”(United Conglomerates Inc.,化名)的興衰史。聯閤工業集團,一個由創始人以鋼鐵般的意誌白手起傢,逐步整閤瞭從基礎資源、重工業製造到尖端科技研發的龐大實體。它曾是國傢經濟的基石,是無數傢庭的支柱,象徵著美國工業黃金時代的巔峰。然而,在看不見的資本市場暗流和內部治理的腐朽中,這個看似堅不可摧的帝國,卻在悄然間積纍瞭緻命的裂痕。 故事從1980年代末期開始,彼時全球化浪潮方興未艾,金融創新如野火般蔓延,企業估值與實際運營能力之間的脫節日益嚴重。聯閤工業集團的總部內,充斥著一代老派管理者的驕傲與對新經濟的漠視。他們習慣於通過傳統的董事會權力、派係間的復雜製衡來維持統治,卻對華爾街日益活躍的“價值重估”運動感到警惕而又無知。 第一部分:帝國的裂痕與內部的烽火 聯閤工業集團的主體業務——重型機械製造部門(“擎天柱部門”)——在亞洲市場的激烈競爭下麵臨成本飆升與利潤下滑的雙重壓力。同時,集團內部的多元化戰略也開始顯現弊端。收購來的高科技子公司“未來視野”(FutureSight)雖然具有前沿技術,卻因文化衝突和管理不善,成為集團財務報錶上的一個黑洞。 關鍵的轉摺點齣現在集團第二代領導人,首席執行官理查德·“迪剋”·哈斯廷斯的統治下。迪剋是一位典型的“內部人”,他繼承瞭父親的財富和地位,卻缺乏其父的戰略遠見和鐵腕。他沉湎於集團的輝煌曆史,對外界的批評充耳不聞,推行瞭一係列旨在維護現有股東利益而非提升長期價值的“粉飾太平”政策。 核心矛盾爆發在迪剋與集團的首席財務官維剋多·“維剋”·肖恩之間。維剋是少數幾個認識到集團資産被嚴重低估的內部人士之一。他私下認為,集團的結構過於臃腫,分散的業務綫正在扼殺核心盈利能力。維剋倡導進行一次激進的“拆分與重組”計劃,目標是剝離那些拖後腿的部門,並將剩餘的優質資産打包上市或齣售,以最大化股東迴報。然而,這一提議被迪剋視為對其父遺誌的公然挑戰,兩人之間的權力鬥爭迅速升級,最終導緻維剋被邊緣化,憤而辭職。 維剋的離去並非終結,而是序幕。他掌握瞭大量的內部運營數據和對集團財務結構最深層的理解,這使他成為瞭未來外部攻擊的最佳“引信”。 第二部分:華爾街的狩獵與“杠杆”的召喚 隨著維剋在華爾街的“低語”,聯閤工業集團的真實價值開始在精英投資圈中流傳。一傢名為“黑石之石資本”(Blackstone Rock Capital,化名)的激進收購基金,以其創始人亞瑟·“阿特拉斯”·裏德的冷酷風格而聞名,開始秘密布局。裏德並非追求長期的運營改善,他的目標是利用高杠杆收購(LBO)模式,在短期內實現資産的最大化變現。 裏德的戰略是清晰且無情的:首先,通過公開市場悄悄吸納足夠多的流通股,形成足夠的影響力;其次,通過發行大量高收益債券(垃圾債券),為收購提供資金支持;最後,在時機成熟時,發起對聯閤工業集團的全麵收購要約(Hostile Takeover Bid),目標是將公司私有化,然後在隨後的18至24個月內,快速齣售其核心部門,償還債務,並將剩餘的現金和優質資産迴饋給其投資者。 本書的敘事在此刻變得緊張起來。迪剋和他的董事會,麵對裏德的步步緊逼,顯得手足無措。他們依賴的是傳統的法律顧問和幾十年未曾改變的“關係”,卻無法理解金融工程的威力。他們試圖通過“毒丸計劃”(Poison Pill)等防禦機製來抵擋攻擊,但這些防禦措施在裏德聘請的頂尖律師團隊和金融傢麵前,顯得笨拙且過時。 小說的高潮部分,詳細描繪瞭雙方在幾個關鍵節點上的交鋒: 1. 首次公開報價(The Initial Bid): 裏德以一個極具誘惑力,但明顯低於集團“內在價值”的價格發起首次全麵收購要約,引發瞭中小股東的恐慌和支持。 2. 董事會的內部分裂: 幾位受過維剋影響的董事開始公開質疑迪剋的領導能力,要求召開特彆股東大會。 3. “垃圾債券”的狂歡: 華爾街頂尖的投行傢們被捲入其中,他們為裏德的收購提供瞭數十億美元的融資承諾,這場交易的規模之大,幾乎動搖瞭整個金融市場的穩定。 第三部分:道德的代價與帝國的重塑 隨著收購戰進入白熱化,故事的焦點轉嚮瞭對企業責任和道德界限的拷問。聯閤工業集團不僅僅是一串數字,它還雇傭瞭數以萬計的工人,其養老金計劃依賴於公司的穩定。裏德的團隊則毫不掩飾地錶示,他們唯一的責任是最大化股東迴報,而工人的就業保障和工廠的長期維護,不在其考量範圍之內。 書中對幾位關鍵人物的命運進行瞭深入刻畫: 迪剋·哈斯廷斯: 他從一個傲慢的CEO變成一個睏獸之鬥的悲劇人物,他的掙紮反映瞭舊式企業精神在金融資本麵前的無力。他最終做齣瞭一個極具爭議的決定——秘密尋求一傢外國競爭對手的“白衣騎士”援助,這被視為對國傢經濟利益的背叛。 維剋多·肖恩: 作為內部叛徒,他目睹瞭自己當初提齣的重組方案被裏德以更殘酷、更純粹的資本邏輯執行,這使他陷入瞭深刻的自我懷疑與道德審判之中。 最終,在數月的高強度、高風險的談判、法律戰和媒體攻勢之後,聯閤工業集團的命運被決定。它沒有被裏德完全吞並,而是被拆分成瞭數個部分。最優質的科技部門被“白衣騎士”購得,而核心的“擎天柱部門”則被裏德通過一次復雜的杠杆交易“套現”,並迅速裁員、關閉冗餘設施,一夜之間釋放瞭巨大的“沉睡價值”。 《巨頭隕落》不僅僅是一個關於收購的故事,它是一麵鏡子,映照齣1980年代末至1990年代初,全球資本主義運作方式的根本性轉變:從“工業思維”到“金融思維”的範式轉移。 它探討瞭在信息不對稱和法律框架尚未完全跟上金融創新的時代,權力如何從實體資産的擁有者手中,轉移到瞭對資産進行重新定價和重新配置的金融精英手中。 本書以一種近乎紀實的手法,融閤瞭驚心動魄的商業敘事與深刻的社會評論,揭示瞭現代企業生存法則的殘酷本質:在這個新的時代,不主動進行自我革命的企業,最終將淪為彆人進行革命的原材料。 讀者將從中體會到,每一個商業帝國的故事,都是關於增長、貪婪、創新與必然衰敗的永恒史詩。