| Takeovers,
mergers, and other kinds of business 'deals' became popular
in the late 1800s, when corporations including Nabisco, US
Steel, and International Harvester were born. Merger
fever was especially intense during the 1920s, as railroads, banks,
utilities, and automakers were restructured. Decades of sluggishness
followed the 1929 market crash. Bank mergers picked up during
the 1950s, followed the conglomerates of the 'go-go years' during
the 1960s. The 1980s was the decade of the leveraged buy-out (LBO)
as American corporations once again adjusted to new business realities.
In this presentation we focus on the stories of US Steel, Getty
Oil and RJR Nabisco, where human nature plays itself
out in high-stakes contests involving executives, investment bankers,
lawyers, and other financial advisors.
The
development of America's banking and brokerage industries is
a story of great and colorful figures such as Alexander Hamilton,
Robert Morris, Nicholas Biddle, Jay Cooke, J.P. Morgan, Walter
Wriston, Stanford Weill, and Charles Schwab. Pioneers
such as A.P. Giannini and Charles E. Merrill spearheaded
the 'democratization" of their industries, making banking and
brokerage services available to ordinary people. The scandals
following the stock market crash of 1929 led to
the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, which erected a legal
barrier between the banking and securities businesses- but innovation
and technology in the late 20th century have eroded
this barrier, so that new opportunities and products abound.
|
Crashes,
Booms, Panics and Government Regulation (from