The Fall of RJR Nabisco (CD-Audio) - Barbarians at the Gate

Knowing nothing about leveraged buy outs, I found this book to be very educational. It is extremely well written and rivals the best fiction books for suspense and intrigue. It's a non stop page turner that clearly shows the effects of greed and ego can reek havoc on companies and their employees as well as the country's economy.

Having bought this book in 2014, I was worried its content would be dated and irrelevant. I could not have been more wrong. While most of the companies (investment banks, RJR Nabisco) no longer exist or have merged into other entities, the types of deals and personalities at the core of this book are timeless.

Although the material is ancient history, it is relayed in such dramatic narrative that it creates a real story. Really couldn't put is down even though I knew how it was eventually going to work out.

The story of greed and excesses. Although the book details more in the drama and emotion of the the actors involved rather than the business calculation involved in the process, it's still provides a good insight of how most corporation are ran, and the chaotic conditions in which all-important deals are made.

Even though the book starts off somewhat slow (due to the fact that they take some time to introduce all mayor players), the second part of the book is filled with excitement in every page. I guarantee you won't be able to put this one down until you find out how the biggest LBO of all time went down.

The detail of this book is incredible. Burrough and Helyar have every angle of this extraordinary LBO accounted for, down to specific dialogue. It's an incredible account of high-powered executive greed, and how it is dictated by excessive pride, or hubris.

This book takes a potentially mundane subject (mergers and acquisitions) and brings it to life in a thrilling, fast paced book that would be entertaining even if it wasn't packed with great business anecdotes. I bought this book because I'm an investor who wanted to get to know more about activist investing and mergers. Barbarians at the Gate did not disappoint. The book is pretty long, but you have no idea because it's that entertaining. The real-life characters of this book are numerous and the authors do a great job of putting you in their heads as the action unfolds. The sequence of events is terrific and you can feel the highs and lows that the characters experienced.

The book also does a great job of teaching the subject of activist investing and mergers through the telling of the story. All in all, a terrific read that was not only entertaining but extremely informative.

I consider myself a novice reader of financial dealings. I've read several books about investment banking, the real estate bubble burst, Enron, private equity firms, etc. With that said, this book was a easy read. I got the terms and lingo the authors were throwing around. What I didn't get, and only understood after getting to the end of the book, was why the authors spent so much time detailing events that ultimately didn't matter, or could have been edited out entirely. At times, the volleying back and forth seemed like I was reading an embellished newspaper article, not a novel. What I will say is that yet again, this book is a shining example of big egos getting in the way of what's best for the shareholders and the business model. I was left smacking myself in the forehead several times when I felt like the parties had come to a compromise, but watched it fall apart because some investment banker or lawyer got his feelings hurt because the details of the compromise weren't prominent enough or profitable enough for him to capitalize from.

This review is specific to the audio book (CD). The history is fascinating. I have always enjoyed these "behind the scenes" looks at the inner workings of modern business. The challenge with listening to this type of book is there is so many names and details to keep straight. It is easy to do when reading at your own pace and being able to refer back. But it is much harder with an audio book. This challenge is exacerbated with this audio book because the two readers read the book at a much-to-intense pace. This is one that I wold have rather read then listened to on CD.