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The Predators' Ball: The Inside Story of Drexel Burnham and the Rise of the Junk Bond Raiders (平装)
by Connie Bruck
| Category:
Junk bond trading, Wall Street, Scandal, Stock market |
| Market price: ¥ 168.00
MSL price:
¥ 158.00
[ Shop incentives ]
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| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
An outstanding coverage of the age of the junk bond raiders (in the go-go 80s) and a classic look at the inside of Milken's world. |
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AllReviews |
1 Total 1 pages 9 items |
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Carey Harris (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
This book is NOT the inside story of Drexel Burnham Lambert; it is NOT the inside story of how Milken conducted his professional business or his personal life and it is NOT the inside story on the dangers of junk bonds (or high yield bonds as they are known to professionals) bearing in mind that boiling water scalds the hands of those who can't manage to hold a cup properly. Remeber when you read this book that the notion that Milken was convicted of "insider trading" is fictitious when you consider that the term had not (at the time) even been defined. The most Rudi Giulliani could get on Milken was a charge of running up a stock price by an eighth in the last minutes of trading on a few random days - if that is a bona fide crime Wall Street would be a very quiet place indeed. Of course readers of this book will be none the wiser regarding these and many other facts concerning Michael and his revolutionary ideas regarding finance for companies whose products are household names in the US and throughout the world and who utilised Milken to bring their products to market and ultimately to consumers who benefit from them every day. If you want the facts about Michael, Rudi Giulliani & Ivan Boesky (who incidentally turned states' witness to save himself from being convicted of fraud charges in return for his testimony against Mr. Milken) read "Payback" by Daniel Fischel and "Fall From Grace" by Fenton Bailey.
These two authors share with Connie Bruck an obvious interest in the fate of Michael and others involved in this saga but there unfortunately lies the end to the similarities. Her willingness to point a gun in the direction of an innocent victim and so eagerly pull the trigger suggests that only one of the three felt a little jilted about not being invited to the ball in the first place.
(A negative review. MSL remarks.)
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USA Today (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
Wall Street’s reading list starts off with a sizzler: The Predator’s Ball. |
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The New York Times, USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
Connie Bruck traces the rise of this empire with vivid metaphors and with a smooth command of high finance’s terminology. |
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
A national bestseller, The Predators' Ball tells about the rise of Drexel Burham Lambert, a second-rate bank that was completely transformed by the arrival of Michael Milken and his plans with junk bonds. Milken broke ground in changing the way banks thought of junk bonds, those bonds that are so poorly rated that they are a substantially greater risk to investors. The flip side to this is that if you take a risk on a junk bond you also have the possibility of making significantly more money, as the rates are much higher.
Previously, other banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley wouldn't touch junk bonds, as they felt that junk bonds were "below" them. When they saw how much money Drexel Burham Lambert was making, they began to salivate for junk bonds too. Michael Milken pioneered this new change at Drexel Burham and became somewhat of a god-like figure. He made Drexel Burham king of the junk bond market. Milken decided he wanted to move to Southern California, and so he opened a Drexel Burham office there, bringing the best and the brightest in the company along with him. He and his partners would get to work at 4:30 AM and stay till the wee hours of the night. They were richly compensated for their efforts, and many became multi-millionaires in a very short period of time.
This book gives you terrific insight into the world of Drexel Burham at its apex, when it was at the top of the business world. It tells you about Michael Milken, his intense personality and the loyal following he built. It also explains some of the incon- sistencies, conflicts of interest and other problems that brought Drexel Burham to its knees and put Milken in jail.
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Ken Morris (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
Greatest Wall Street Book Ever Written. Took guts and smarts to write. Sucked into Drexel Burnham only weeks before the scandals hit, I originally read this book with heightened interest. As an insider who never participated in the thousands of crimes going on at this firm - yet on several management committees - I was in a position to understand/evaluate the allegations in this book. Not one word of this book rings false. I'm buying the book tonight, all these years after the fact, to remind me of why I've been a critic of Wall Street for over two decades. In my top ten people I wish to meet in this lifetime, is Connie Bruck. When I first met Mike Milken, he said to me: 'Ken, your only value as a human-being is how much money you make for me, for this firm, and for yourself.' Those words - coming before the scandals - confused me tremendously. Later, after Drexel went bankrupt and Mike went to prison, I under- stood. He and the firm were, as Predator's Ball depicted, as out of control as we have recently seen Enron/Tyco/etc. This is a tale for all time. Brilliant.
(MSL remarks: Ken Morris was a former Wall Street executive) |
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J. Robinson (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
The book is great but it leaves you shaking your head in disbelief. One must conclude that there is no effective control by the SEC over companies on the NYSE and NADAQ.
I found this to be just a riveting book to read. It reminded me of the movie Wall Street although from what I gather Michael Milken at Drexel Burnham was not as good looking as Michael Douglas and he wore a hair piece and drove an older Oldsmobile, not a Ferrari.
Milken while reading the Wall Street Journal and similar material on the bus going to business school in Philadelphia came up with this idea of selling the junk bonds. Once he graduated and was employed he pushed that idea, similar to the way Fred Smith pushed FedEx. - another college idea. It comes clear in the book, just shouting out at you, that he had lots of help. Banks helped him, brokers helped him, other companies helped him, he opened a new office for Drexel in LA and in general just took over that company - all because people knew and appreciated that he was going to make buckets of money. His whole scheme was in fact similar to a pyramid scheme with everyone getting fat fees that were supposed to be re-paid down stream by the successful company. The Predator's Ball did exist as real annual social get together where the bankers, brokers, and the borrowing companies got together for a night of partying. The victims - the shareholders - were not invited.
Like every Ponzi scheme at some point reality had to set in and it failed. That is what this book is about. Sure we can learn but apparently we are immune or unable to learn from history because the market over inflated itself and the NASDAQ went to 5000+ a decade later, and we had World Com and Enron. It is also remarkable that after taking so much money he got off with a light jail sentence and a big fine ($500. million) that Millken could pay. |
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Rajneesh Jhawar (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
This is the story of a genius. The story of an unflinching determination. Unfortunately, this is also the story of Hubris. For a man who single handedly created half a dozen billionaires, who brought back the owner managers to corporate America, who never expected anybody in his organization to ever work harder than himself, for a man banished for greed, he had little use of money. Money was of no utility to Michael Milken except as a score. This is a brazen and brilliant narrative, and unlike any you'd come across in the investment world. You'll either hate him or love him. You won't be indifferent. |
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Molly Maranda (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
A year or two ago I heard someone refer to "the infamous Michael Milken," and I had no idea what they were talking about. This book gave me the answer. The Predators' Ball tells about the rise of Drexel Burham Lambert, a second-rate bank that was completely transformed by the arrival of Michael Milken and his plans with junk bonds. Milken broke ground in changing the way banks thought of junk bonds, those bonds that are so poorly rated that they are a substantially greater risk to investors. The flip side to this is that if you take a risk on a junk bond you also have the possibility of making significantly more money, as the rates are much higher.
Previously, other banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley wouldn't touch junk bonds, as they felt that junk bonds were "below" them. When they saw how much money Drexel Burham Lambert was making, they began to salivate for junk bonds too. Michael Milken pioneered this new change at Drexel Burham and became somewhat of a god-like figure. He made Drexel Burham king of the junk bond market. Milken decided he wanted to move to Southern California, and so he opened a Drexel Burham office there, bringing the best and the brightest in the company along with him. He and his partners would get to work at 4:30am and stay til the wee hours of the night. They were richly compensated for their efforts, and many became multi-millionaires in a very short period of time.
This book gives you terrific insight into the world of Drexel Burham at its apex, when it was at the top of the business world. It tells you about Michael Milken, his intense personality and the loyal following he built. It also explains some of the inconsistencies, conflicts of interest and other problems that brought Drexel Burham to its knees and put Milken in jail.
Even though this book was written many years ago, I learned a lot and enjoyed the story. I highly recommend it. |
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Ken Waters (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-25 00:00>
One of three must read books on the Michael Milken, Drexel Burnham Lambert 1970's & 80's era on Wall Street. Wonderful storytelling and accounting of the many deals financed with junk bonds by Milken & gang. The other two books, well written as well on Milken, are "Den of Thieves" by Pulitzer Prize winning WSJ writer James B. Stewart, written after Bruck's Ball, and "A License to Steal: The Untold Story of Micheal Milken and the Conspiracy to Bilk the Nation" by Benjamin J. Stein, written last of the three. Stay away from the fantasy work of Jesse Kornbluth's "Highly Confident -- The Crime and Punishment of Michael Milken". It's an authorized version of Milken's life, bought & paid for by Milken himself, who underwrote hatchet jobs on Bruck & Stein to discredit their stellar work.
The Predators' Ball does a great job of getting inside the various deals Milken pulled off and how they happened, along with a good history of Michael Milken. Amazing stuff, considering the multi-billion dollar nature of those deals... financed with nothing but junk. The sad thing is, is that if Milken had been caught in this current era of NO public tolerance for Wall Street misdeeds in 2002, he would be serving a hell of a lot more time then the mere 24 months he actually ended up doing on his ten year sentence. 98 counts, he cut a deal to plead guilty to six of them. He walked out of jail after a brief time of reflection, with his Billion$ still stached away in his foriegn bank accounts at his disposal. Crime did pay and pay well for Michael Milken. Stein's License to Steal book estimated that Milken generated some $24 Billion in commissions & fees, from obscene margins & unearthly volume. King of the Universe indeed... and walked away with a mere $1 Billion slap on the wrist fine and a few nights in jail. These three books are better than fiction or novels. History, in Wall Street storybook fashion. The more things change, the more things stay the same.
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1 Total 1 pages 9 items |
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