3/7/2000
"Success in the merger business comes from spotting the underlying value," writes Wasserstein, HBS MBA '71 and a major player in big deals in the 1980s and again more recently. In this informative tome, almost 1,000 pages in length, he describes how that's done today in the digital age, as well as how modern tactics relate to the past, back to Cornelius Vanderbilt's mounting of one of the first hostile takeover bids in 1868. Wasserstein also reveals pointers, gleaned from over a thousand deals he's conducted in his career, for uncovering hidden assets and liabilities, avoiding potential pitfalls, and assessing the players' strengths and weaknesses. This new book is an update of Wasserstein's earlier guide, Big Deal: The Battle for Control of America's Leading Corporations.