Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco Reviews

• Huns on the Run

  
  By A1J0YNR1SSFCVS on 2003-07-21
  Burrough and Helyar are two former Wall Street Journal reporters who present a comprehensive telling of the battle for control of RJR Nabisco, ultimately won by KKR, led by Henry Kravis in 1988. The book was written in 1990 and provided the final chapter on the LBO excesses of the 1980's. By 1990, the stock market rally had made LBO's less attractive and some of the earlier deals were already starting to unravel and collapse under the weight of the debt payments, as predicted by long-time junk bond critic and rival RJR Nabisco bidder Ted Forstmann.

  There are some criticisms of this book. The authors, despite their finanical backgrounds, seem to prefer story-telling to financial details. Hence, they have written a tale of personalities, with an especial interest in Ross Johnson and Henry Kravis, to the detriment of really explaining the financial and business details. The reader can learn intricate details about Johnson and the Wall Streeters preferences in cars, apartments, drinks, wives, schoos, etc. The authors seem to think we need a biographic account of all minor players, starting with their grade-school years, and the end result is 528 pages and still minimal financial explanation.

  The other main criticism here, reading this now, is how dated the material has become. The authors would do well to provide some new material on how the deal has worked out. From other sources, I learned that KKR renegotiated the deal in the early 1990's (the resets were nearly toxic after all) and sold out their position entirely in 1995, more or less breaking even, depending on whose numbers you use.

  The story of the final bids and the final final bids is truly riveting and meticulously researched here. The Johnson group ultimately presents a bid that is slightly higher than the KKR bid, but the board discounts the Johnson bid since it does not guarantee the bond pricing, and calls the whole thing a tie, much like the 2000 election. At that point, the Board accepts the KKR bid, for non-economic reasons, mostly bad publicity related to Johnson's greed. Ironically, Johnson had already given up much of his payout in order to boost the total value of the bid to the shareholders.
  
  

• Big Money Insanity

  
  By ASR84M1GD9X89 on 2001-06-25
  The dot-com stock market insanity of 1999, followed by the dot-bomb fall in 2000, is eerily mirrored in this book from a decade earlier about big money, big egos, and raging insanity.

  Burroughs and Helyar tell the story of the leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco in gripping fashion, showing how greed and shortsightedness contributed to the biggest and worst-managed corporate takeover in history. The players: Salesman F. Ross Johnson of RJR vs. Henry Kravitz of KKR. Everything from a wild, rip-roaring potboiler novel is here: Secret deals, stock market manipulation, flouting of laws, surprise plot twists. All of it almost unbelievable, but all of it true.

  The next time you wonder about how people could have been taken in by internet companies with insane stock prices who blew through venture capital as if it were funny money, read this book. It's well worth your time, effort, and energy.
  
  

• Giant Egos Clash at the Top

  
  By A1K1JW1C5CUSUZ on 2000-04-25
  I am a management consultant who works with companies that are interested in improving stock price, and I know many of the more humble people portrayed in BARBARIANS AT THE GATE.

  I would like to put this book into perspective for you. 20 years ago our firm did a survey of CEOs and found that 99 percent felt that trying to improve stock price was unethical and immoral, and involved doing manipulative things.

  After the takeover wars of the 1980s, most CEOs believed that improving stock price was an important task and could be done in an ethical way. There is nothing more disruptive to a company than to go through a hostile takeover, whether the bid succeeds or not. Raw greed and lust for power hold sway at such times, and many people will pay the price for having attracted the sharks into their swimming pool.

  Prior to the RJR Nabisco purchase by KKR, many large companies felt safe because of their size. They were suffering from "stalled" thinking, because it was widely believed that a deal of this sort could not be financed with debt at the time the takeover occurred. That was wrong: For a price, the money is always there.

  For those who have not been in these bruising ego battles, what you will not realize is that these contests are a lot like those you will remember from grade school on the playground when the teachers were not around. Bullying, threats, and naked power carry the day in a lot of situations. But because this is about ego, a lot of mistakes are made. RJR Nabisco continued to strain under mountains of debt for years, even after lots of refinancings because of the LBO.

  KKR's track record looks a lot different now than it did before buying RJR Nabisco. A lot of the fever behind the LBO's is gone, for now. Bring back a bear market for a few years, and this whole phenomena will recur. Some smart lawyer will find a way around the defenses that so many rely on for now. The only ultimate defense against the circling sharks is to have a high-priced multiple stock. That is the only timeless lesson for companies.

  If you are wondering how accurate this book is, it is more right than wrong. The authors did, however, miss some of the most intriguing ironies of the situation. Perhaps someday, someone with inside knowledge will write the sequel or unveil the whole, delicious irony. That should be a great story that will outsell GONE WITH THE WIND.

  With the benefit of this context, I do recommend you read the book. You'll find it stranger than fiction in many ways, and very exciting to watch. The authors have captured the emotion of the moment very well. It's a whale of a story.
  
  

• Entertaining Book about Business! Remarkable

  
  By AYLHQYF7OCSU5 on 2000-05-22
  I read this book several years ago after watching the movie based on the book. At that time, it was a hard book to find (This was before Amazon)but well worth the search. This book is rather complicated and at times the numerous characters are hard to keep separate. Actually, if you read it twice it is much easlier to follow.
  
  The book presents a detailed narrative of the takeover fight between Ross Johnson, CEO of RJR Nabisco, and KKR, the firm that perfected LBO's. The reasons, stupid mistakes and misconceptions made by the combatants make the story interesting.
  
  A casual reader might watch the movie before reading this book to acquaint themselves with the storyline and characters. However, you should be forewarned that James Garner portayal of Ross Johnson paints a picture of a likeable person fighting the demons of Wall Street. The real Ross Johnson is more closely aligned with the demons.
  
  The book does leave the reader wanting to know what happened to Ross Johnson. It appears that Johnson basically retired from the business world. There is little information about him except one small reference to a business venture that failed. He did divorce Lauri sometime in the 1990s. Kravis also was divorced from his wife in the book.
  
  Burrough and Helyar wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal that attempted to tie up loose ends about the major characters and the eventual sale of RJ Reynolds by KKR. The surprising item in the article was the deal was the top of the mountain for KKR. After the completion of the deal, KKR started a slow downard slide because of infighting among partners, Kravis and his cousin had many partners, and other factors including the financial weight of the RJ Reynolds deal.
  
  

• One of the Best of the Subject

  
  By A222LQEPE7O7BV on 2002-04-14
  This book is a description of the largest leveraged-buy out of the 80's. The book covers the management buy out of RJR and all the financial moves that took place to get it done. It covers the winners and losers and the tactics they used. The authors are investigative reports so they have the ability to provide the reader with a very well constructed and easy to understand story. They really bring the reader into the negotiations and all the high pressure and tension is coved to the reader. The most fun was when the authors took to describing all the financial players involved, their egos and ways of life and doing business. The excesses of some of the companies detailed are really something.
  If you are interested in this topic then I would suggest you also read "Den of Thieves" and "Predator's Ball", both of which cover the 80's M&A and Junk Bond world. To get a better understanding of KKR, I would suggest "Masters of Debit" and if you are looking for more info on this particular deal I would suggest "True Greed".
  
  
• Barbarians Brings Wall St. To Life
  By on 1997-02-12
  Why read fiction when all that you have to do is open the Wall St. Journal? Barbarians at the Gate gives the reader insight into the behind the scenes details that go into a major corporate transaction. Laymen, don't be swayed!!! This work of non-fiction reads like a Grisham or Turow novel. Deals are cut, backs are stabbed, and a lot a money changes hands. Just another day at the office for players in this arena. Having become a mergers & acquisitions advisor subsequent to reading this book, I have come to realize how true to life it actually is. Heylar and Burroughs do an excellent job of explaining the complexities of a buyout without inundating the reader with boring (trust me...boring) details. This book is a must read for people interested in a good story, as well as people interested in life on the Street.
  
  
• A Classic Tale of Wall Street and Greed
  By A24D0DENA8N7GH on 2004-01-14
  This book became the basis for a paper I wrote in school and by the time I finished the book and the paper, I was actually surprised by my conclusions.

  Leveraged Buy Outs (LBO) and Management Buy Outs (MBO) were all the rage in the eighties, and this book chronicles what is good about them as well as what is bad. In the general public's opinion, the bad far outweighs the good, but from a maangement standpoint, they can be a good idea.

  The leveraged buyout of the RJR Nabisco Corporation for $25 billion, recounted in this book, is a landmark in American business history. Ross Johnson, CEO of RJR Nabisco, is is just one of the colorful cast of characters involved in the midst of this book, as he sets in motion whagt would become the basis for the events chronicled in "Barbarians."

  Should be required reading for all business students and busienss leaders.
  
  

• Reads Like a Novel, Lots of Detail
  By A30XMMHA7PB3G5 on 2001-09-06
  "Barbarians at the Gate" is a very easy, fun read. It is purposefully written alot like a novel. For one thing, the book shifts frequently between different times and places. For instance, the prologue details the board meeting where CEO Ross Johnson proposes a Leveraged Buy Out (LBO) for the first time. The start of chapter 7, page 184, then picks up from there chronologically, "Johnson rose early the next morning, the memory of Wednesday night's board meeting still fresh in his mind" (pg 184). Also like a novel, the authors give a tremendous amount of background and personal history on the people and companies involved in the deal. There is history about Ross Johnson's personal history, about his time at Standard Brands and Nabisco before the merger with RJR, and then about RJR the company, dating back to the 1800s. There is also a chapter that goes into some detail about KKR and Henry Kravis. All of the information was interesting and well written, though I felt at times like I just wanted to get back to the main plot and away from some of these tangenital details. It was a choice the authors made between making the book more journalistic and conise or more like a novel, and I guess I ended up liking their choice.
  The heart of the book is the bidding battle for RJR between KKR and the Shearson Lehman Group (which had Johnson on their side); First Boston also makes a bid but I don't think their bid was ever seriously, seriously considered. The authors describe an LBO as follows, "A firm such as Kohlberg Kravis, working with a company's management, buys the company using money raised from BANKS and the PUBLIC SALE OF SECURITIES; the DEBT IS PAID DOWN WITH CASH FROM THE COMPANY'S OPERATIONS and, often, by SELLING PIECES OF THE BUSINESS" (pg 101). So that is how KKR and the LBOs work. The book takes you through the day by day strategy sessions of the different groups, their attempts to raise financing (equity from private investors, junk bonds issued by the investment banks, and commercial bank loans), their responses to moves from the other side, the meetings of the Special Comittee which would decide which bid to accept, etc.... There are alot of late nights, alot of re-crunching the numbers, alot of personality clashes, lawyers, investment bankers, and more. The writing was so good that it made me feel like I was there, following the deal step by step, and gaining an understanding of what the various parties do and what goes on in an LBO. It was like reading a story and learning about LBOs and how big deals get made at the same time. Very rewarding. I usually don't like books to be this long (515 pgs) but in this case I think almost every pages was worth it.
  Greg Feirman
  
  
• porn for aspirational middle managers
  By A1HHSCH9YA57GL on 2005-11-20
  I bought this for two reasons: because I wanted to learn about LBOs, and because I had heard that the journalism was good, and was hoping for something like 'The Right Stuff'. The cover of my copy blurbed 'unflawed' writing, and 'all the suspense of a first-rate thriller'.
  
  The last is true only if your expectations of a first-rate thriller reach no higher than Michael Crichton. The writing is a plodding 'you are there' journalism-school pastiche of the New Yorker: Gulfstreams are sleak, CEOs are silver maned, side-kicks are bantams, lawyers look like they model for GQ, etc. Investment bankers bark, curse, are struck by inspiration, work off grudges and wave their lingams around at the sort of comic book level Stan Lee would scorn. I finally realised, after slogging through the first 200 pages or so, that 'Barbarians at the Gate' is, in large part, essentially porn for aspirational middle managers.
  
  There is no-one in this book whom I would want to know, unless I were a sociologist. But I don't even trust the sociology, because the psychology is so superficial.
  
  I did learn something about the process of LBOs, and for that a star is in order. I didn't particularly enjoy learning it.
  
  
  
• A Real Life Soap Opera
  By on 2000-01-05
  An excellent, well written book which you'll find difficult to put down. Certainly a must read for business students who may not remember the events when they happened. My only caution: this is not a light read. There are a great number of characters in the book and more sub-plots than I could casually track. Definitely recommended reading for that next long plane trip.
  
  
• Unbeatable Reporting of the RJR Leveraged Buy Out
  By AUVX4758GOLUX on 2000-12-06
  If you want to understand Wall Street of the 1980's read this book, "Den of Thieves" by Stewart and "Predator's Ball" by Bruck. This book is an all encompassing depiction of the events that led to the first leveraged-buy out (meaning they used debt, in the form of massive loans, and not just equity or stock), the debut of KKR as a major financial power, and the emergence of "shareholder value" as a buzzword that no CEO will fail to keep in mind.

  The authors were both Wall Street Journal reporters who wrote the book in much the same way as they would report- direct to the point, clearly explained, and with little detectable bias as to the fate of the major characters. I very much enjoy this style of writing, if every WSJ reporter were to write a book, I would be there to support them.

  The book does a great job of explaining in detail the egregious excess of Nabisco during CEO Johnson's stint at the helm. In this day of clipped expense accounts and flying coach for business, the presence of a "Nabisco Air-Force" of jets and professional athletes and celebrities on the pay-roll is difficult to imagine. The authors do a good job of transitioning from these descriptions into the dirty details of how the deal was put together. The scenes where the transaction is coming together at the final hour, through all of the negotiations and threats, are well-told, I could actually feel the tension and angst in the room.

  Read this book. When you're done with it go pick up "Den of Thieves" and "Predator's Ball."
  
  

• Tedious
  By A31VN2RT9KPH4T on 2005-12-13
  This has to be the most boring book I have ever read. Well, I haven't quite finished it yet as it's taking forever to push my way through it. And I'm sure that more boring books exist, I just haven't read them.
  
  
  
  I wanted to learn about KKR and LBOs - particularly as a division of KKR recently bought one of the vendors supplying my own employer. I was hoping for the big picture of what took place as well as some entertaining anecdotes. But this book consists largely of page after page of uninteresting minutiae of conversations between the various parties involved. There really is no need for such detail and a little bit of editing could have halved the size of the book without losing any essential information. And a bit of theoretical discussion would have been far more valuable than some of the biographical material. It felt a bit like watching someone else's home video. It probably means a lot to the people involved, especially as they'll get the in jokes and quirks of the participants, but it's painfully boring for strangers forced to watch it out of politeness.
  
  I'm sure that much of the conversation is fiction anyway. People don't reliably remember this level of detail of converstaions over a period of years. What are remembered are broad brushstrokes - and this is what the author should have written.
  
  There are occasional moments of entertainment - like Ted Forstmann obsessing about the evils of junk bonds. But most of the characters seem quite flat and uninteresting.
  
  
  The fact is: I wanted some of this information in this book. As it provided some of this, albeit with a lot of suffering on my part, I'll give it two stars.
  
  Update: Well I did finish this book eventually. My final opinion is much the same.
  
  
• Will the real Man in Full please stand up?
  By A2WZ1B92F81LJJ on 2000-04-28
  OK, first - this is a truly ripping yarn. There's enough corporate intrigue, maniacal boardroom posturing, gulfstream abuse and small men with big egos in these riveting 600 pages to knock even the Ewing family of Dallas into a cocked hat. From the beginning Burrough draws you into the preposterousness of what is happening, setting out well drawn characterisations of each of the main players, flipping between them in that totally enchanting "meanwhile, in Gotham city" fashion. Before long the threads are pulling together into a whirling tarantella of greed assaulting you from every side. It's difficult to work out who's meant to be the villain, mostly because I think everyone was. Full grown men startle for their utter failure in self-reflexion as much as for the appalling lengths to which they will go in the name of self-interest.

  The climax is as good as any thriller (I completely missed my stop on the tube, finally snapping out of a daze thinking, "hey I haven't been this excited since Jodi Foster went head to head with Buffalo Bill in Silence Of The Lambs!").

  Secondly, and maybe not intentionally, Barbarians at the Gate is a piercing social/historical commentary - just by "telling it like it was" the narrative skewers the eighties, Wall street and the Reagan years so brutally it might as well be a spit roast.

  On this level it is leagues ahead of the celebrated fictional works which purport to do the same thing. In particular, Brett Ellis' "American Psycho", and Tom Wolfe's "A Man in Full", fare badly against Burrough's genuine article. I would be amazed of either Ellis or Wolfe hadn't read this book, but the novels of both are anemic and implausible in comparison. Barbarians at the Gate is more deadly accurate, it doesn't exagerrate or caricature the wall street banker like American Psycho does (and what value is there in caricaturing something which is so patently ridiculous in itself?), and the plot - needless to say - has a ring of credibility which is singularly lacking from A Man In Full.

  Oddly, the one area where the book falls down a little bit is in its aspiration (if it has one) to present a sensible, clear, commercial analysis of what was going on. But that's a trade off - had the Burroughs taken that route, then surely some of the dramatic impact would have been lost.

  As it is, he's produced a cracker.
  
  

• A MUST READ
  By on 1999-08-27
  The best book I've ever read. Barbarians at the Gate leaves you at the edge of your chair/extremely difficult to put down. The authors have done an amazing job describing clearly the entire situation. If you're in finance you must read this book. You'll never regret it.
  
  
• A Case Study of Greed in the 1980's
  By AP6DHMSGG10RR on 2003-03-23
  For starters I would like to say that I saw the movie of the same title (several times - but I like James Garner) before I read the book. The movie is a comedy which successfully captures the spirit of this book, but this book is not a comedy.

  The authors do an excellent job of developing the characters by telling how they rose to their respective positions at this focal point, and telling the story as it unfolds.

  It is like all of the worst traits of humanity - greed, ego, pride, vanity, a hunger for power and conquest and victory - are played out in this true story of the LBO (Leveraged BuyOut) of RJR Nabisco. Companies being tossed around like commodities, while the little guy who works hard to make a living suffers.

  This is the only book I have read on this subject to date. Some of the other reviewers have suggested other titles, and many of them are probably worth reading as well.

  Five stars.
  
  

• Excellent Book!
  By A3CNP5NKE8O2Z on 2003-08-02
  Inside the high stakes world of high finance, this book superbly portrays the happenings the events that led to the rise and eventual fall of two great American companies, RJR and Nabisco. Along the way, these companies inturn merger with other companies resulting in the cash spinning behemoth that became the prey of many corp finance predators of Wall St.

  Both the authors excel at investgative journalism, wherein lies the beauty of this book. What you get from this book is a lucidly writen cases on a multitude of things. The making of the brand RJR Nabisco, from the turn of 20th to 21st century. The rise of the unstoppable buyout machine, KKR, the rise and fall of the leverage buyout (LBO) industry and the rise and fall of one man who spearheaded most of the fall of RJR Nabisco, Ross F Johnson. You end up learning more about many things that you thought were possible and the best part is, the narration style. Its like watching a good Hollywood movie, a fast paced thriller. So once you start the book you never want to put it down. And when you finish reading, you are left with a feeling of wanting more.
  
  

• What a great book!
  By AAE9V1SAE5VFD on 2005-01-24
  This book is one of the best business books out there and you wont waste a penny on it.
  The story shows how greed and money can destroy even the wildest of dreams and ambition in the world that we live in.The go go 80's was the time of the big swinging you-know-what believing themselves as the masters of the universe thus inevitably above everything else.
  
  The story of how a great american company RJR Nabisco loses battle for control of the company by a group a financiers of KKR led by Henry Kravis.The story unfolds from the time Ross Johson,the CEO of RJR Nabisco, decides to take the company private.In doing so he puts the company in play and then the action begins to take place as other huge financial firms with ego as huge as Ross Johnson try to get a piece of the action.In the end there is only one winner and doznes of losers.
  
  Barbarians at the gate also gives you an insight on the LBO fad and how it works.Those who follow wallstreet in the 80's know that non of this could have happened werent it for the service of Michael Milken and his junk bonds.in any case,it is interesting how the authors who obviously went to great lengths researching and interviewing the players involved and displays the facts in such an entertaining manner you wish you wanted to finish the book in one sitting!!
  
  The only con i found was the story of how RJR and Nabisco came into existent (the authors stretch this bit too far when they could have done it in 15 pages). nonetheless, it was a great read.
  
  10 stars for this book!!
  
  
  
• Thorough - maybe too much so
  By A15XAR7QV05V3D on 2002-10-08
  This is an amazingly thorough account of the RJR/Nabisco LBO story of the late 80s. It does a good job of noting the influence of junk bonds, the pervasive greed in the culture of wall street, and the complex wranglings associated with a buyout. The book is exceptionally readable.

  My main criticisms are (1) it is too thorough: it is easy to tire of the endless discussions-of-only-minor-substance between some of the parties; many of these conversations sound the same and it quickly becomes something one would rather skim over and (2) the book, while providing some basic education on LBOs, doesn't address some of the details as well as it could. For example, there is no detailed explanation of how junk bonds work or what rules goven the ownership of public or private companies. I had to turn elsewhere for such info and I think that the authors could easily complement what they already have with such material.

  Nonetheless, if there is one book about Wall St in the mid/late 80s you should read, it should be this one.
  
  

• A Big Deal
  By AX7M3AR9PV30F on 2004-08-10
  This book deserves all the superlatives it has received. The layperson gets an idea of how an LBO is structured and the interactions of investment bankers, banks, and lawyers. As well, the book is a riveting and entertaining read. The key to the book are the telling details. At one point for example, the authors note that one of the men at a key phase in the deal wears a ring with a peace symbol. Without describing the individual any further, the authors imbue him with personality and character. Even someone uninvolved with business deals will appreciate the intrigue and excitement.
  
  
• Excellent
  By A2GOOGU4ILSQ6Y on 2006-01-28
  Excellent. This book is to Private Equity what Monkey Business is to Investment Banking and Liars Poker is to Bond Traders. A must read for any one who deals with Wall Street.
  
  
• Classic Wall Street Tale
  By ARB1PV0YJZ6WS on 2006-05-10
  Nearly two decades after the leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco, Wall Street is back where it started. The people have changed, but greed and scheming to get to the top is constant.
  
  I found the book extremely well written and incredibly researched. Though I'm a frequent reader of the WSJ and a veteran of M&A and venture capital, I learned more about what happens on the inside in these mega-mergers and leveraged buyouts than anywhere else.
  
  The only fault of the book is the flipside of its strength. There is so much in-depth detail on so many characters that I found it difficult to keep track of the players and their roles.
  
  If I had to recommend one book on how Wall Street runs, this would be the book.
  
  
• Great history lesson, too much "truthiness"
  By A1SIEBBVQY2YUK on 2007-03-01
  This is a great history lesson about what for nearly twenty years was been largest private equity transaction in terms of a nominal value(from an equity perspective). It describes many of the events & facts, background on key players & the industry, and let's a reader understand the motivating factors that allow such a transaction to take place.
  
  That said, the WSJ writers do not do justice to their profession with this work and it became from a documentary of events to a story. Much of the information of the on-goings of the transaction was provided by Dick Beattie, a Sullivan & Cromwell attorney (which represented Lehman) who had a strong personal relationship with Kravis and Roberts. The writers took his word as fact and the book became an avenue for Kravis to publicly insult and humiliate his archnemesis Ted Forstmann, former mentor Jerome Kohlberg, Lehman rival Peter Cohen, among others.
  
  Add to this the avoidance of facts, such as how KKR quietly removed covenants from its LP agreements limiting the percentage of fund capital that can be deployed for any single transactions and the near zero return on investment that RJR Nabisco provided over one the largest equity market increases and a reader must begin to question why there isn't an addendum quantifying this tremendous mistake on KKR's part.
  
  This book would have been rated a five had the authors focused on the facts.
  
  
• Inquisitive narrative on the epic LBO of RJR Nabisco
  By A2JYLKCOUMP2PS on 2007-07-09
  This book, written in 1990, tells the detailed story of one of the largest Wall Street deals of all time - the leveraged buyout of the RJR Nabisco Corporation. The authors, Bryan Burrough and John Helyar, are former Wall Street Journal reporters. They spent many hours interviewing the players involved, and, in so, have come up with a very thorough (and presumably accurate) description of the events that took place.
  
  Ross Johnson, CEO of RJR Nabisco, decided to take the company private. Officially, his reason was to improve shareholder value, since the RJR Nabisco stock was undervalued (and Johnson's attempts to boost it have failed). His other reasons may have included money and the constant urge to change things up. He teamed up with Shearson Lehman Hutton to make a bid to the board. In their shortsightedness, this "management group" did not expect anyone else to compete - due to the sheer size of the deal. However, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. made a tender offer, which started off a bidding war between the two groups (and a few third party bidders). This book describes everything in detail - starting with how Johnson got to Nabisco - and finishing off with a gripping climax of Shearson and KKR's final bid war.
  
  It is a long narrative, over 500 pages long. The authors take a lot of side tangents to describe many personal biographies. I found those of major players (like Ross Johnson and Henry Kravis) very interesting, and those of lesser-involved people somewhat excessive. Nevertheless, I was never tempted to skip over paragraphs or pages, as I sometimes am in lengthy books with lots of characters.
  
  The authors clearly have done a lot of research. I liked that they included footnotes when stories from different people didn't match up. I also like the photographs included in the book - they put faces on the people described so thoroughly. The "Players" section in the beginning of the book is also very helpful - it lists the names of almost everyone involved in the deal.
  
  The narrative is great. The story is gripping, with many twists and surprises. We learn about the multiple final bids submitted by KKR and the management group, the backstabbing plots, and the emotions and broken spirits behind the closed doors. It's as if we are there amidst the board meetings - kudos to the authors for their great writing. However, as some reviewers before me mentioned, it would have been nice to see more financial details - and more on what actually transpired after the takeover (the epilogue provides some details, but not nearly enough). Check out John Helyar's article in Fortune (October 13, 2003) - it describes what happened to RJR after the LBO. KKR took 60% of the company public in 1991 and then finally got rid of it in 1995. In the end, KKR had very disappointing returns on its LBO and drove RJR into the ground with poor leadership.
  
  In conclusion, it's a great read for anyone interested in business or history. It works as both a fun thriller and a good historical account of the events that took place. However, I am a bit skeptical of why this book is a recommended read for many MBA curriculums. Other than describing the corporate culture and Wall Street in the late '80s, it doesn't really provide the financial details from which the readers could learn something practical.
  
  Pros:
  + great narrative - gripping story with twists
  + many details on personal lives of the people involved
  + fantastic insight into the corporate world of the '80s
  
  Cons:
  - not enough financial details to learn from
  - for some readers, can feel lengthy with lots of tangents
  
  
• Barbarians at the gate? Hell, they're already inside!
  By on 1997-07-01
  A good read for a complete novice on the world of Wall Street and corporate America. We benefit from the indepth research of the authors, clearly close to their subject, and, from their good journalism, as they know how to tell a story without losing the layman. My subtitle for the book would be 'all I ever needed to know about LBOs' -- the RJR Nabisco buyout is an excellent case study. There's little too much extraneous detail on the characters -- it's distracting -- but perhaps that's an effort to give them some depth. Indeed, it's a pity that many of the main protagonists are so reprehensible -- I found it hard to empathise with any of the characters. And the story does leave the reader with a sense of disillusion on two points: the sheer waste of money and resources squandered for the sake of egos; and clearly, contacts (especially amongst the 'jocks') are as, if not more, important than diligence, competance or intelligence
  
  
• Excellent!
  By A3FJOQ23K5PQB8 on 2002-10-12
  BARBARIANS AT THE GATE reads like a work of fiction. To compare this book to fiction is quite a compliment to its authors. Just as easily, they could have been reported this story as a dry and dreary episode in the chronicle of this nation's business conglomerates.

  Instead, they focus on the very real players in these dealings, a group of people who were living large at the end of the 1980's. This was a decade of ostentatious successes and conspicuous consumption, so these people and their lifestyles make wonderful copy. Along the way, the authors use their stories to flesh out the cut-and-dried business machinations which made them rich and famous.

  BARBARIANS AT THE GATE is a lively account of a very specific moment in the financial history of our nation.
  
  

• A clasic story and a vital book for students of business
  By AUHG8KSHI529U on 2003-01-20
  This is one of the great books of business. Not only is it a great story in its own right, the authors were able to put together the facts of the story in an incredibly lively and detailed way. They paint this story on a big enough canvas to let a large cast of incredible characters act out their part in this amazing saga.

  The easy larger than life characters are Ross Johnson, Henry Kravis, George Roberts, Peter Cohen, and maybe even Ted Forstmann, but there are so many more. There were so many times a deal could have been put together and most likely should have been, but in each instance it slipped away because one ego or another wanted to carve its initials in the bark of what was then the largest deal in history.

  For those of us who are interested in how business really works, this is one of the epics in business history. It begins with the founding of the companies involved and the rather amazing story of how Ross Johnson ended up at the helm of RJR Nabisco. The book also gives plenty of evidence of Wall Streeters seeking out their own interest over their clients' needs and desires and contrary to their own promises and assurances. You will become convinced of the aptness of Ross Johnson's adage about the rules of behavior on Wall Street: "Never play by the rules, never tell the truth, and never pay in cash".

  Another of the many things I enjoyed about this book is that the personalities of the major and secondary characters are given enough room to become more than just stick figures. There are times you will want to support them, when you will root for them, when you will be appalled by their behavior and ego, and other times you will laugh until your sides hurt. This isn't a simple story drawn with stick figures. If you want to understand American business, this is one of the stories you simply have to know.

  While the movie made from this book is quite good and very funny, it doesn't offer you the full range of characters involved nor the detail of the actual negotiations and how the deal finally came to its strange end. The movie captures the mood and the essentials of the story and that might be enough for most. I recommend the movie for those who want the story in broad strokes. However, if you want to really gain an understanding of how this deal in particular and how business deals in general really come together and fall apart, the book is the way to go. The people involved become more three dimensional in the book and where some events and characters are left out or compressed in the movie the book has the room to let the story be told more fully. It isn't that the book is the ultimate truth (I am sure every person involved could point to things they find inadequate in the book), it is that the authors dug hard, got as much of the truth as they could get to and shared it with us in an intelligent, enlightening and often humorous way.

  This is a great book I would recommend to anyone, but it is a must read for students of business.
  
  

• Outstanding recount of corporate ego fight
  By APQXOOQ1J8TR2 on 2003-02-11
  Even as times change, the way business is conducted does not. Business dealings at the highest levels are still usually about fame and egos rather than what is good business sense. It is within this context that the outstanding Barbarian at the Gates, by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar, has been written. This fascinating and detailed account, by the Wall Street Journal reporters who initially reported the case, gives insight into corporate power struggles to buy RJR Nabisco back in the late 1980's.

  More specifically, the story involves Rob Johnson, the then CEO of RJR Nabisco and how some investment bankers corral him into a highly risky, yet immensely lucrative MBO. The story unfolds with great suspense (and wit) as the process of the MBO occurs. The writers have taken arcane financial terms and made them easy for any reader to understand so an MBO (management buy-out) is not understood only by an MBA.

  But much more powerfully, the writers have given the characters great depth as the reader really can envision who these players are. When Kravis is sitting at the table, the writers clearly describe who has the power and who doesn't. You get the sense that you are right in the middle of the action. Barbarians at the Gate is an entertaining and informative tale about Corporate America.

  You will not be disappointed with this read.
  
  

• A Big Deal
  By A3K9T3HLSN5WFD on 2008-02-09
  Barbarians at the Gate is a classic of the business book genre, and with the private equity boom we have seen in the last couple of years, it is still as relevant as it was when it came twenty years ago. It is the story or some extremely unlikable rich people brought low by equally unsavory, but much smarter rich people, and it gives you an inside feel for the major wall street deal like no other book can.
  
  Barbarians at the Gate is the story of an attempt to take RJR Nabisco private, and then the series of take over attempts that were instigated by the original privatization plan. Johnson, the CEO of RJR, comes off as pompous, full of himself, and not very smart. He's like a frat boy who makes it by glad handing people and buying rounds of drinks. Kravis, of legendary private equity firm KKR, comes off like a financier god. Brilliant, pushy, and beyond your puny human morals. Guess who gets the company in the end.
  
  A must read for anyone interested in modern Wall Street.
  
  
• Who'd Have Thought a Business Book Could Be So Good?
  By A2HVFBVT0X1IP1 on 2000-04-29
  Picture characters with the massive egos and ruthlessness of a James Ellroy novel. (OK, take away most of the violence and add lots more money.) Add in the daffiness of Dave Barry. Then make it about a business deal.
  That's what you've got here. I would never have believed a book about real-life financial maneuvers could be so fascinating. The whole wall streeters as twisted megalomaniacs thing --- that's just a cartoonish stereotype, right? Maybe not. I once worked as a court reporter, and during a break at an SEC deposition a lawyer from Skadden-Aarps noticed I was reading this book. "I did some work on the RJR case," he said.
  "Is F. Ross Johnson as crazy as this book makes him sound?" I asked.
  "Ross? Oh, yeah. He's a loon," the lawyer replied.
  Instead of a snooze-inducing retelling of the business pages, you get a funny, shocking and intriguing book. 600 pages go by in a flash. It's a great read.
  
  
• Length Kills
  By A1OOPGNRJYE4XD on 2000-04-20
  This book pertains to the bidding maneuvers by the junk bond brokers that led to the fall of the RJR-Nabisco conglomerate. The book builds up on the histories of both RJR and Nabisco from their beginnings, their union and later the stock buy out. I enjoyed the first part about the stories of both companies and how they got built. I did not enjoy towards the end the increasing profusion of names of junk bond traders and other companies that made everything suddenly hard to keep track of. In the end, about half of the time the book focuses on the bids and counter bids and building up on 'suspense' on who is going to get the final bidding. This might have been more interesting in the 80's but nowadays, it may be too long.
  
  

• Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street
• When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management
• Den of Thieves
• The Predators' Ball: The Inside Story of Drexel Burnham and the Rise of the Junk Bond Raiders
• Monkey Business: Swinging Through the Wall Street Jungle