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

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.

Michael Craig, a securities attorney, describes the basis for success or failure in 50 big money business deals. He examines the strategy, risks and personality dynamics involved. Craig highlights 10 rules for success he gleaned by observing patterns in these deals, rules you can apply to your own business transactions. This well-crafted book groups several deals to illustrate each rule, although many of the deals reflect several principles. At the end of each story, the author recaps the lesson at hand and explains what went right or wrong. While executives, company owners, and those who do deals for them will find this book especially valuable, we at getAbstract also recommend it to general readers, who will enjoy reading these inside accounts of well-publicized deals.

After having read many business and political articles by Michael Craig, I'm glad to see his talent has finally been noticed by publishing houses. This book is not only entertaining but a must read for anyone in business or anyone considering starting a business. Oh, to have this book 100 years ago!!!

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.

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.