From Library Journal
DeGeorge, the Miami bureau manager for BusinessWeek, has written an entertaining, sometimes sympathetic account of the rise of H. Wayne Huizenga. Covering his entire life and background from the arrival of his grandfather from the Netherlands to Chicago in 1893 to the present, the author documents a strong entrepreneurial streak that led the family to the refuse collecting business. Huizenga took two businesses public?first Waste Management and then Blockbuster?and emerged hugely successful. His merger with Viacom was designed with shareholders' best interests in mind. His art of dealmaking is legendary, his formula simple: Choose the business carefully, get to know it thoroughly, then expand, expand, expand. DeGeorge has provided a readable portrait of one of the foremost entrepreneurs of our time, comparing Huizenga's rise to the rise of the United States over the same period. Although the absence of an index is a drawback, DeGeorge's book is recommended for public and academic collections.?Littleton M. Maxwell, Business Information Ctr., Univ. of Richmond, Va.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Booklist
The many media accounts profiling Huizenga have dubbed him "Midas." Everything he touches seems to turn to gold, and he has made (and never lost) three separate fortunes. He cofounded what is now WMX Technologies, the world's largest waste-management service company. After leaving there, he took control of Blockbuster Entertainment, overseeing its phenomenal growth. Last year he sold the video retailing giant to Viacom. In the meantime, he purchased three Florida professional sports teams and built a 2,500-acre theme park on the edge of the Everglades. Since stepping down last year as Blockbuster's CEO, he had been out of the news, but he resurfaced late this summer with the purchase of Republic Waste, another waste-management firm. That company's stock soared 766 percent on the news that Huizenga had taken over. DeGeorge,
Business Week's Miami bureau manager, has covered Blockbuster and Huizenga for nearly 10 years, and recounts all this with prodigious detail. Her book will certainly appeal to those who are fascinated by entrepreneurial success stories.
David Rouse
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
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