Word: milken
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...senior officer at Drexel, Milken was the chief architect of the firm's rise from a lackluster, second-tier brokerage into a feared and envied powerhouse. By developing the use of junk bonds to stake such corporate raiders as Saul Steinberg and T. Boone Pickens, Milken presided over the radical reshaping of American industry in the past ten years. Along the way, dozens of Drexel executives became multimillionaires...
...Drexel's very success led to its comeuppance. As in a Greek tragedy, the company seemed to suffer from an overabundance of hubris that concealed a fatal flaw. In Drexel's case, it was Milken's growing appetite for power and control. The turning point came in November 1986 when Ivan Boesky, a notorious Wall Street speculator, pleaded guilty to a single count of securities fraud and agreed to pay $100 million to settle SEC charges that he had used insider information to buy and sell stock. Boesky, who is serving a three-year term in a minimum-security prison...
...blows kept furiously raining down, and Joseph's smile began to fade. When the board voted that Monday, Giuliani had already turned three close Milken associates into Government witnesses by granting them immunity from prosecution. The knockout power of an indictment under the 1970 Racketeer ! Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act was also greatly feared. Charges under RICO, developed to prosecute the Mafia and other organized criminals, would allow Giuliani to tie up much of Drexel's $2.3 billion of capital -- including the fortunes of the firm's 1,700 employee stockholders -- throughout a lengthy trial...
Meanwhile, a fierce struggle raged inside the firm. On one side stood Milken's supporters, many of them younger executives who worked in the Beverly Hills office where Milken has been based since 1978. The leading loyalists included Leon Black, Drexel's mergers-and-acquisitions chief who works in New York, and Peter Ackerman, Milken's top assistant. Arguing that the California group was responsible for 90% of Drexel's profits over the past decade, both threatened to leave the company if it reached a settlement that might harm Milken's defense. They were opposed by older executives, mostly...
...former Senator and White House chief of staff, as a possible new chairman or CEO. Joseph may step aside after the settlement is complete. Without a forceful new leader of unquestioned integrity, the company is in danger of losing morale and momentum -- and something else as well. Mike Milken engendered an innovative spirit at Drexel. If the company is to thrive once again, it must somehow preserve that spirit while at the same time escaping the darker side of his legacy...