The 50 Best (and Worst) Business Deals of All Time [Hardcover]

Michael Craig (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2000

The 50 Best (and Worst) Business Deals of All Time analyzes how and why these deals became bargains or busts (or both). From the purchase of Manhattan in 1624, to the merger of AOL and Time Warner in 2000, author Michael Craig presents examples illustrating how the outcome of mega-deals can depend on clear thinking and the adherence to simple guidelines.

Here's just a sample of what you'll learn:
- The U.S. government tried to buy the city of New Orleans from France and ended up with the entire 800,000-square-mile Louisiana Territory.
- Ray Kroc entered into a ruinous franchise agreement to give birth to McDonald's and how a brilliant real-estate deal saved the business.
- Warren Buffett bet $1 billion on the strength of Coke's brand name and made $10 billion.
- Michael Robertson paid $1,000 for the Internet domain name MP3.com and turned it into a nine-figure fortune.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This book is where history and business informatively and entertainingly intersect. Craig, a former securities attorney, takes a broad sweep through history to find the "big business deals--the money, the strategy, the risks, the personalities." During his research he saw patterns emerge, and from those patterns he established 10 rules "that should provide the basics of a deal maker's handbook." The rules include focusing on one's strengths, taking advantage of the weaknesses of one's adversary, innovation, and taking care of the little people. The real meat of his book is his discussions of 50 actual business deals from various times in history that illustrate the successful or unsuccessful application of these rules. These deals include the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, the "greatest real-estate deal in history"; Priscilla Presley's 1982 assumption of control of Elvis Presley's estate, by which Priscilla realized the value of Elvis as a brand name; and Sony's 1989 acquisition of Columbia Pictures, which Sony has not thought out correctly. You don't have to be a businessperson to appreciate this book. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 203 pages
• Publisher: Career Press (January 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564144771
• ISBN-13: 978-1564144775
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,791,034 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Craig was a securities attorney in Chicago for 15 years, until he retired in 1999. He moved to Scottsdale, Arizona to spend time with his wife, Jo Anne, and watch his kids (Barry, Ellie, and Valerie) grow up. He is the author of four books.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific book -- readable, smart, even fun, November 21, 2000

By 

K. Kurson (South Orange, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The 50 Best (and Worst) Business Deals of All Time (Hardcover)

This is when business is at its most exciting -- when the façade of carefully laid plans and beautifully executed plays fades into a reality of last-minute decisions, Hail Mary passes and ego-driven competitiveness. This book looks at 50 such moments, dividing them into ten categories, such as "Do Your Homework" (The disastrous formation of Cendant from the merger of HFS and CUC Int'l) and "Take Advantage of Your Adversary's Weakness" (John Kluge buys and breaks up Metromedia). From small but critical decisions (Michael Robertson purchases the domain name MP3.com) to gigantic transactions (Quaker Oats acquires Snapple), from those that worked out beautifully (Berkshire Hathaway purchases Coca-Cola stock) to those that failed miserably (Novell acquires WordPerfect), deals are dissected. What emerges is a compelling case that dealmaking, at least as much as running a company or creating products, is what separates good companies from bad.

Mike Craig is one of my very favorite business writers. As he's demonstrated time and again on the website that I edit, he's in possession of one of the rarest traits in business writing: hands-on knowledge of how deals are put together. Having defended, sued, represented and antagonized dozens of public companies over his decade and a half as a corporate attorney, Craig knows how these deals are put together. Better, he knows how to explain them with flair.

This book is at its best when Craig is taking a company to task for a bad decision. Sony's ruinous acquisition of Columbia Pictures is gleefully detailed, from the initial overpayment to the hiring of Peter Guber and Jon Peters at inflated rates to the way Sony laid down when Warner sued them for hiring that duo. You can almost hear Craig giggling as he chronicles the missteps.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best business books you can find, October 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The 50 Best (and Worst) Business Deals of All Time (Hardcover)

Who would have thought the world of big business deals could be so lively? Sure, there have been a few books focused on particular big deals - like the RJR Nabisco deal - but very little in the way of interesting writing on other business deals. I was sold on the quality of the book from a story in the Introduction, where the author explains how, as a young attorney, he witnessed a hostile takeover - emphasize hostile - settled when the parties were locked in a room with spoiled lunch meats.

I think the book will appeal both to business junkies with a high degree of expertise - maybe they'll find themselves lauded or skewered - and relative newcomers to the genre. Craig seems to be able to take some complex, far-ranging deals and boil them down to the essentials (why the deal was done, who the personalities were, what the terms where, who the winners and losers were, what the great/bad decisions were), while still keeping a "flavor" to the explanation.

Some of the most interesting chapters are about deals you usually do NOT think about as big business deals. He has a chapter on Priscilla Presley and the founding of Graceland. He explains how Microsoft owes virtually all its success to a really slick deal in 1981. He describes the sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920 as a business deal. Same with the Louisiana Purchase. And he doesn't just describe these deals, he tells you about the people involved, their motivations, and the results.

Because it's got the 50 deals (and another "nifty 50"), it's light reading. It would make a great holiday gift for anyone interested in business.

A.H.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly strong book., January 25, 2005

By 

M. Strong (Milwaukee, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The 50 Best (and Worst) Business Deals of All Time (Hardcover)

I didn't expect too much from this one (which begs the question of why I was reading it) but I was pleasantly surprised. The book goes through 50 prominent business deals and evaluates how they turned out and why they turned out that way.

The book breaks down into ten rules to follow and uses about five deals to illustrate each rule. The rules themselves are reasonably well written, but more than anything else, you just learn about how to improve your deal-making abilities by just reading about one deal after another in such close succession. Eventually, you get a foundation of deal-making knowledge through osmosis.

I would recommend this book as a tool for anyone who wants more of a foundation of knowledge to improve their deal-making skills.