M&A Titans: The Pioneers Who Shaped Wall Street's Mergers and Acquisitions Industry

This book focuses on the 11 men, lawyers and bankers, who areresponsible for the creation of Wall Street's merger industry. Itspecifically concentrates on the events and personalities whodominated Wall Street during the takeover battles of the 1970s and1980s. Lawyers Joe Flom and Marty Lipton, the godfathers of modernM&A, educated bankers on takeover laws and regulations as wellas tactics. Flom and Lipton were also superlative businessmen whobuilt their own firms to become Wall Street powerhouses. The twomen drew into their orbit a circle of bankers. Felix Rohatyn, IraHarris, Steve Friedman, Geoff Boisi, Eric Gleacher and BruceWasserstein were close to Lipton. Robert Greenhill and Joe Perellawere close to Flom.

M&A Titans provides insight into the culture of thedifferent investment banks and how each of the bankers influencedthe firms they worked in as they became more powerful. Some such asGleacher, Harris, Wasserstein, Perella and Greenhill clashed withthe men running their firms and left. Others such as Friedman andBoisi stayed and profoundly influenced how the firm did business.The career of Michael Milken, perhaps the notorious name on WallStreet in the 1980s, is also examined as well as the actions andtactics of his firm, Drexel Burnham Lambert. Milken and Drexelpaved the way for the growth of private equity and helpedpopularize attacks on management by investors such as Boone Pickensand Carl Icahn.