The Predator's Ball

The subtitle is The Inside Story of Drexel Burnham and the Rise of the Junk Bond Raiders and the author is Connie Bruck (1989).

If Wall Street in the ‘80s holds a special place in your heart and seems like a mythical time, then reading about the story of Michael Milken and Drexel should be on your list of things to do.  There are several well-regarded books out there on the topic – this version by Bruck, who was a journalist at the NY Times, is one of the better ones.

Milken was arguably the innovator of junk bond financing that was used to fund LBOs and hostile takeovers, or simply could be raised by non-investment grade issuers as a blind pool for future acquisitions.  And through its development as a product, and with support from Milken even more so, guys like Nelson Peltz, Ron Perelman and Carl Icahn became household names.

Ultimately, we know that the story does not end well.  Milken, in his quest to win every piece of business and control the market, was guilty of insider trading and a multitude of other securities law violations.  Even worse, he used his position of power to bully and gouge his own clients.  Simply a fascinating time and episode.