Word: drexel
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
When he gets out, Milken can go back to tending a world-class fortune that began with a $25,000 salary when he joined Drexel Burnham Lambert in 1970. While he was head of Drexel's junk-bond department, his compensation zoomed from $45.7 million in 1983 to more than $550 million in 1987, the highest annual paycheck in corporate history. All told, he earned $1.1 billion during those golden years...
Milken did not fritter money away on Gulfstreams and private islands as most tycoons do. He formed partnerships to invest in everything from furriers to California real estate. His family's holdings include the five-story building that housed Drexel's Beverly Hills offices, along with several adjacent structures. (Milken picked up extra cash by renting the buildings to Drexel for about $11.2 million from 1984 to 1988.) The complex at Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive now has an estimated value of roughly $85 million...
...penalty. When he was indicted on racketeering charges last year, Milken promised to post $700 million to keep prosecutors from seizing his assets. So far he has handed over $300 million in cash plus an IOU for another $300 million. The remaining $100 million was in the form of Drexel stock, which became worthless when the firm went bankrupt last February. Result: Milken has in effect put up half of his $600 million fine...
...limousine. But those days are behind him. Under terms of the settlement, the Government has permanently barred Milken from the securities business. Yet if Milken ever does run a little low, he could always call on his brother Lowell, who earned more than $102 million at Drexel from 1984 through 1987. As part of the plea agreement, all charges against Milken's sibling were dropped...
...Milken had proclaimed his innocence from the start, the long and demanding case clearly wore down his will to fight the charges. "He looked at the cards he was dealt, and must have figured that he couldn't have played them any other way," says Andrew Astrachan, a former Drexel employee. "No one should question his decision to settle." For prosecutors, meanwhile, the agreement ends the need for a major trial that could have dragged on for years at a substantial cost to taxpayers...