Storming The Magic Kingdom - Wall Street, The Raiders, and the Battle for Disney PDF
Preview Storming The Magic Kingdom - Wall Street, The Raiders, and the Battle for Disney
TOF1M5NG ^'iCJ -yf STORMING THE MAGIC KINGDOM Storming THE Magic Kingdom Wall Street, the Raiders, and the Battlefor Disney by John Taylor ^^^ ALFRED A. KNOPF NEW YORK 1987 For My Mother and Father and for Maureen and Jessica THISISA BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF, INC. © Copyright igSy by John Taylor All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States byAlfredA. Knopf, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House ofCanada Limited, Toronto. Distributed by Random House, Inc., New York. Portions ofthis book were originallypublished in the article "Project Fantasy'' in Manhattan,inc. magazine; the Los Angeles Sunday Times; and Us magazine. Grateful acknowledgment is made to Robert H. Knightforpermission to reprint H excerptsfrom "Steinberg's Was No Mickey Mouse Caper" by Robert Knight in the Los AngelesTimes. Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Taylor, John. Storming the magic kingdom. Includes index. — I. Walt Disney Productions Reorganization—. 2. Consolidati—on and merger ofcorporations United States—Case studies. —5. Tender offers (Securities) United States— Case studies.— 4. Corporate reorganizations UnitedStates Case studies. I. Title. PNiggg.wijT^g igSj 3^4'-^S 86-4614j ISBN 0-394-54640-7 Manufactured in the United States ofAmerica First Edition AUTHOR'S NOTE This book is based primarily on interviews with partici- pants in the drama that surrounded what is now the Walt Disney Company in 1984. Minutes ofboard meetings, personal diaries, corre- spondence, and appointment calendars were also made available by some participants. Documents filed as exhibits in lawsuits and deposi- tionstakenduring thoseproceedings providedadditional information. The dialogue quoted in conversations reflects the recollection ofpar- ticipants as to what was said. It is taken from interviews and on occasion from depositions, and in most instances was confirmed by other participants. Many of the individuals who cooperated in this book wish to remain anonymous. To all ofthem I am grateful. I would like to offer specialthankstoStanley Goldand RaymondWatson, whogenerously agreed to interviews extending over several days. I would also hke to thank Nancy Sweid for her research assistance. I am indebted to Corona Machemer for her exceptional editing. Finally, I would like to thankJaneAmsterdam, the editoroiManhattan,inc. magazine, for enabling me to undertake this project, and for many other things as well.
The list of books you might like
