''The Predators' Ball: The Inside Story of Drexel Burnham and the Rise of the Junk Bond Raiders'', by ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' writer

Connie Bruck Connie Bruck is an American journalist and a reporter on subjects covering business and politics. She has been a staff writer at ''The New Yorker'' since 1989. Before joining ''The New Yorker'', she was a staff writer at ''The American Lawyer'' for ...

, largely recounts the rise of

Michael Milken Michael Robert Milken (born July 4, 1946) is an American financier. He is known for his role in the development of the market for high-yield bonds ("junk bonds"), and his conviction and sentence following a guilty plea on felony charges for vio ...

, his firm

Drexel Burnham Lambert Drexel Burnham Lambert was an American multinational investment bank that was forced into bankruptcy in 1990 due to its involvement in illegal activities in the junk bond market, driven by senior executive Michael Milken. At its height, it was a ...

, and the

leveraged buyout A leveraged buyout (LBO) is one company's acquisition of another company using a significant amount of borrowed money (leverage) to meet the cost of acquisition. The assets of the company being acquired are often used as collateral for the loan ...

boom they helped to fuel in the 1980s.

Overview

As the book was published at the apex of the leveraged buyout boom, it was subsequently updated to also address the impending collapse of Drexel Burnham and Michael Milken's conviction on various securities and reporting violations. The title of the book is a reference to an event that Drexel Burnham hosted annually.Junk Bond Conferences Put Accent on Quality
New York Times, April 18, 1988
TIME, Mar. 21, 1988 Among the participants in the Predator's Ball were an array of

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...

investors,

corporate raider A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and re ...

s such as

Ron Perelman Ronald Owen Perelman (; born January 1, 1943) is an American banker, businessman and investor. MacAndrews & Forbes, MacAndrews & Forbes Incorporated, his company, has invested in companies with interests in groceries, cigars, Liquorice (confect ...

and

Carl Icahn Carl Celian Icahn (; born February 16, 1936) is an American financier. He is the founder and controlling shareholder of Icahn Enterprises, a public company and diversified conglomerate holding company based in Sunny Isles Beach. Icahn takes l ...

as well as

institutional investor An institutional investor is an entity which pools money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial banks, central banks, credit unions, government-linked co ...

s in

high-yield bond In finance, a high-yield bond (non-investment-grade bond, speculative-grade bond, or junk bond) is a bond that is rated below investment grade by credit rating agencies. These bonds have a higher risk of default or other adverse credit events ...

s and management teams from companies that either had been or would be the targets of leveraged buyouts.

reportedly offered to pay the author for all of the copies of the book that would have been sold in exchange for stopping her work on ''Predators' Ball''.

Notable people featured

* Herb Allen, head of investment banking firm

Allen & Company Allen & Company LLC is an American privately held boutique investment bank based at 711 Fifth Avenue, New York. The firm specializes in real estate, technology, media and entertainment. History Founded in 1922 by Charles Robert Allen, Jr., he w ...

Samuel Belzberg Samuel Belzberg, (June 26, 1928 – March 30, 2018) was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist. Biography Samuel Belzberg was born to a Jewish family in Calgary, Alberta Leon Black Leon David Black (born July 31, 1951) is an American investor and the co-founder and former-CEO of the private equity firm Apollo Global Management. Black also served as the chairman of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City from Ju ...

, Drexel Burnham investment banker and founder of

Apollo Management Apollo Global Management, Inc. is an American global private-equity firm. It provides investment management and invests in credit, private equity, and real assets. As of March 31, 2022, the company had $512 billion of assets under management, i ...

Ivan Boesky Ivan Frederick Boesky (born March 6, 1937) is a former American stock trader who became infamous for his prominent role in an insider trading scandal that occurred in the United States during the mid-1980s. He was charged and pled guilty to insid ...

, arbitrageur implicated in the 1980s insider trading scandal * I.W. "Tubby" Burnham, founder of Burnham & Co., later Drexel Burnham Lambert *

Fred Carr Freddie Alton Carr (August 19, 1946 – February 19, 2018) was an American football player who played linebacker for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL) from 1968 to 1977. Carr attended Phoenix Union High School, where ...

, head of First Executive Insurance * James Dahl, Drexel Burnham bond salesman * Donald Engel, Managing Director of Drexel Burnham from 1979 to 1984 *

Theodore J. Forstmann Theodore Joseph Forstmann (February 13, 1940 – November 20, 2011) was one of the founding partners of Forstmann Little & Company, a private equity firm, and chairman and CEO of IMG, a global sports and media company. A billionaire, Forstmann ...

, co-founder of buyout firm Forstmann Little & Co. *

Howard Gittis Howard Gittis (February 16, 1934 – September 17, 2007) was an American attorney known for being a longtime adviser to Ronald Perelman and an adviser to the mayor of Philadelphia, Frank Rizzo. Biography Gittis was born in Philadelphia, Pennsy ...

, attorney and advisor to

Ronald Perelman Ronald Owen Perelman (; born January 1, 1943) is an American banker, businessman and investor. MacAndrews & Forbes Incorporated, his company, has invested in companies with interests in groceries, cigars, licorice, makeup, cars, photography, t ...

Sir James Goldsmith Sir James Michael Goldsmith (26 February 1933 – 18 July 1997) was a French-British financier, tycoon''Billionaire: The Life and Times of Sir James Goldsmith'' by Ivan Fallon and politician who was a member of the Goldsmith family. His contr ...

, investor and corporate raider * Samuel J. Heyman, investor and corporate raider *

, investor and corporate raider *

Fred Joseph Frederick H. "Fred" Joseph (1937—2009) was the former president and chief executive officer of the investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert during the 1980s. Biography ''The Wall Street Journal'' noted that he was, "The son of an orthodox Jewish ...

, CEO of

Henry Kravis Henry R. Kravis (born January 6, 1944) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist.Kohlberg Kravis Roberts KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strate ...

* Dennis Levine, former Drexel Burnham investment banker *

Cy Lewis Salim L. "Cy" Lewis (October 5, 1908 – April 28, 1978) was the Managing Partner of Bear, Stearns & Company, running the company from 1949 until shortly before his death in 1978. Early life Salim or "Cy" was born Salim Lissner Lewis on October ...

, managing partner of

Bear Stearns The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. was a New York-based global investment bank, securities trading and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 as part of the global financial crisis and recession, and was subsequently sold to JPMorgan Chase. The compa ...

Carl Lindner, Jr. Carl Henry Lindner Jr. (April 22, 1919 – October 17, 2011) was an American businessman from Norwood, Ohio, a member of the Lindner family, and one of the world's richest people. According to the 2006 issue of ''Forbes''s 400 list, Lindner was r ...

, investor and businessman *

Lowell Milken Lowell Jay Milken (born November 29, 1948) is an American businessman, philanthropist, and the co-founder and chairman of the Milken Family Foundation. He is also the founder of the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching, TAP System for T ...

, Michael Milken's brother and former Drexel Burnham employee *

Nelson Peltz Nelson Peltz (born June 24, 1942) is an American billionaire businessman and investor. He is a founding partner, together with Peter W. May and Edward P. Garden, of Trian Fund Management, an alternative investment management fund based in New Yo ...

, investor and corporate raider *

T. Boone Pickens Thomas Boone Pickens Jr. (May 22, 1928 – September 11, 2019) was an American business magnate and financier. Pickens chaired the hedge fund BP Capital Management. He was a well-known takeover operator and corporate raider during the 1980 ...

, investor and corporate raider *

Victor Posner Victor Posner (September 18, 1918 – February 11, 2002) was an American businessman. He was one of the highest-paid business executives of his generation. He was a pioneer of the leveraged buyout and became notorious for asset strippin ...

, investor and corporate raider *

Felix Rohatyn Felix George Rohatyn ( ; May 29, 1928 – December 14, 2019) was an American investment banker and diplomat. He spent most of his career with Lazard, where he brokered numerous large corporate mergers and acquisitions from the 1960s through ...

, investment banker *

Meshulam Riklis Meshulam Riklis ( he, משולם ריקליס; 2 December 1923 – 25 January 2019) was an Israeli financier and businessman. Early years Born in Istanbul to a Russian-Jewish family, Riklis grew up in Tel Aviv, and attended the Herzliya Hebrew ...

, investor and corporate raider * Martin Siegel, former

Kidder Peabody Kidder, Peabody & Co. was an American securities firm, established in Massachusetts in 1865. The firm's operations included investment banking, brokerage, and trading. The firm was sold to General Electric in 1986. Following heavy losses, it was ...

and Drexel Burnham investment banker *

Saul Steinberg Saul Steinberg (June 15, 1914 – May 12, 1999) was a Romanian-American artist, best known for his work for ''The New Yorker'', most notably ''View of the World from 9th Avenue''. He described himself as "a writer who draws". Biography Ste ...

, investor and corporate raider *

Jeffrey Steiner Jeffrey Steiner (April 3, 1937, Vienna – November 1, 2008) was the chief executive officer of the Fairchild Corporation, the successor corporation of Fairchild Industries, Inc. Steiner was born in Vienna, Austria. His family fled to Turkey during ...

, investor in high yield bonds, responsible for introducing Drexel to European investors *

Lawrence Tisch Laurence Alan Tisch (March 5, 1923 – November 15, 2003) was an American businessman, investor and billionaire. He was the CEO of CBS television network from 1986 to 1995. With his brother Bob Tisch, he was part owner of Loews Corporation. ...

, investor and head of

Loews Corporation Loews Corporation is an American conglomerate headquartered in New York City. The company's majority-stake holdings include CNA Financial Corporation, Diamond Offshore Drilling, Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, Loews Hotels and Altium Packaging. Th ...

Gerald Tsai Gerald Tsai Jr. (; March 10, 1929 – July 9, 2008) was a billionaire investor and philanthropist who helped build Fidelity Investments into a mutual fund powerhouse. After starting Fidelity Investments' first publicly sold aggressive growth fund ...

, investor, responsible for building

Primerica Primerica, Inc. (NYSE: PRI) is a company that provides insurance, investment and financial services to middle income families in the United States and Canada. Primerica is the parent company of National Benefit Life Insurance Company, Prime ...

* Stephen Wynn, casino and real estate developer

References

General sources

"No Target Seemed to Big: ''The Predators' Ball''
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', July 10, 1988
"Throwing the Book at Drexel"
''

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'', June 24, 2001 {{DEFAULTSORT:Predators' Ball Books about traders 1989 non-fiction books Business books Insider trading Drexel Burnham Lambert Books about companies Finance books Penguin Books books Michael Milken