The King of Cash: The Inside Story of Laurence Tisch (Hardcover)

by Christopher Winans (Author) "Laurence Alan Tisch came seemingly from nowhere to take control of CBS in the mid-1980s and was still very much in the public eye in..." (more)
Key Phrases: broadcast group president, news staffers, broadcast business, Larry Tisch, New York, Wall Street (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
A former editor with the Wall Street Journal and author of a biography of Malcolm Forbes, Winans traces the rise of investor Tisch from his first investment in hotels in 1946 (at the age of 23) through the failed merger of CBS and QVC in 1994. He portrays Tisch, whose cooperation on this book he enjoyed, as an extraordinary businessman whose main objectives in doing deals were to protect the rights of shareholders and to generate as much cash as possible for himself and his fellow shareholders. Tisch's investment strategy was to identify undervalued assets and then gain a controlling position in the company to improve its profits, a process that often involved asset sales and staff layoffs. While his business style won Tisch admirers on Wall Street, it attracted little public notice until he took control of CBS in 1986. Winans devotes about half his book to Tisch's restructuring efforts at CBS, and while this is a relatively familiar tale, Winans approaches it from a different point of view, namely, one sympathetic to Tisch. Indeed, Winans presents Tisch as CBS's savior, who confounded his many critics by leading the company back to the top of the network competition. Depicting Tisch as a businessman with a conscience, Winans gives readers a solid, if overly flattering, account of the career of one of America's most powerful men.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Tisch is likely to have remained an anonymous self-made millionaire were it not for his purchase of a controlling interest in CBS, which allowed him to replace William Paley as chairman. Tisch's cost-cutting finance background, clearly in conflict with the corporate culture at CBS, caused turmoil that continues to plague the company. Winans, formerly on the editorial staff of the Wall Street Journal and the author of Malcolm Forbes: The Man Who Had Everything (LJ 9/15/90), chronicles Tisch's life spent buying undervalued assets that have positive cash flow and waiting for the market to reward him with higher prices. This biography lacks balance, with Winans giving Tisch at least a moral victory on those rare occasions when his business decisions fail. Buy only for the most complete business collections.
Joseph Barth, U.S. Military Acad. Lib., West Point, N.Y.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (April 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471549231
• ISBN-13: 978-0471549239
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #412,152 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good book - if you like a history of how great a man was, October 17, 2005

By	Luke Moffett - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is a pretty good read. I am a big reader of business biographies (Starbucks, Walmart, McDonalds, Blockbuster, John Malone, Diller, etc). What I had hoped for in this book was more insight and background on Larry Tiches other deals. This one focussed mostly on CBS and was not written in any exciting fashion. Having said all that - I did enjoy it but would only give it three stars.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Author and the Subject, A Love Story, February 1, 1999

By A Customer

Although the information you get is quite nice, the way it is brought to you is not. Winans is so pro Tisch it becomes silly. Most of the world is bad and Tisch is fighting it. I, for instance, would love to learn more about the, so convenient, burning down of the two money losing and well insured hotels.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Values, Deal Structure and the importance of Cash Flow, January 3, 2006

By	Kevin Kingston (ny) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The King of Cash: The Inside Story of Laurence Tisch
By Christopher Winans

"His net worth is more than$1 billion. His corporate assets total more than $40 billion and generate almost $14 billion in annual revenue."

This book tells a fascinating story starting with how Larry's father had 30 cents when he was married to his mother and how through hard work Larry worked his way up to remarkable business heights. It covers his first accusation (at the age of 23 in 1946) of a 300 room hotel in Lakewood, New Jersey. What's particularly interesting is the explanations of the reasoning that went into this decision as well as others throughout his business career. Also covered is the deal structure and the financials, which are both very valuable information. With roughly $175,000 down on a purchase price of $375,000 Tisch had an expected pro-forma (or expected return) of $100,000 a year. That's an expected return of 57%. Now there was a bit of work to be done as far as repairs and improvements, but this would turn out to be Larry's forte; buying business that needed a bit of TLC and had tremendous cash flow potential, often unrecognized by others.

As I cover in my book, A 20,000% Gain in Real Estate, by Kevin Kingston cash flow is the dominating factor in the success or failure of a business, and Larry Tisch grasped this concept early and ran as fast as he could with it. This book gave me the push to get into the hospitality business by buying two hotels / inns in Hollywood Beach Florida. A key to Larry's success is his ability to vision how some changes and improvements will affect the cash flow of a business.

As the cash came in it did not sit around for long, it went right into another business thus allowing the compounding effect to work its wonders.

As Einstein says, "Compound interest is the 8th wonder of the world"

A longtime friend of Tisch says, "The game, that's what motivates him. He lives modestly, he has no use for the money himself...He's just fascinated with trying to solve the problem at hand."

You get a lot from this book, a good dose of values, the importance of cash flow, the thought process behind how Tisch grew his companies as well as the hard numbers and deal structures of several of his deals.

By Kevin Kingston, author of: A 20,000% Gain in Real Estate

My Blog:
http://www.bloglines.com/blog/KevinKingston