The Biggest Game of All

By Tom Taulli

One of the media and telecom dealmakers behind the headlines of the past ten years is Leo Hindery. In fact, he is the dealmaker that other dealmakers, such as John Malone , use as their point man. And we are talking about lots of deals ó more than 250!

This year, Hindery published a book about his dealmaking, called The Biggest Game of All. It's a great read and provides insightful advice on making the right deal.

The Disaster at AT&T

Perhaps one of his most interesting stories is the saga of AT&T CEO Mike Armstrong. He spent a whopping $100 billion buying cable systems. Four years later, he then unloaded these assets at a third less than what he purchased them for.

Common Sense

As with any book on business, much of what Hindery talks about is pure common sense. Yet, somehow dealmakers get caught up in the "deal fever" or fall victim to hubris.

Conclusion

Saying "no" is a good trait. If a deal does not make sense, walk from it. It's that simple. Hindery describes this with the saga of Rupert Murdoch, who spent several years trying to take over DirecTV. At certain points, he could have won the deal; but, the economics did not make sense. It was not only until recently that he was able to purchase the company ó on his terms.

No doubt, skilled dealmaking is about experience (Hindery mentions this in the book several times). Yet, reading books from top-dealmakers can be very helpful and Hindery's book certainly fits the bill.

MergerPlace is pleased to have the esteemed Mr. Tom Taulli as the managing editor of our MergerPlace M & A Advisor™ E-zine.

Tom Taulli is an expert in the M&A process. He is the author of the critically acclaimed The Complete M&A Handbook (Random House) as well as six other books written for publishers such as Bloomberg and McGraw-Hill. Tom also teaches M&A at the USC School of Business.

Tom has been quoted extensively in the press, including the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Barron's, and The Los Angeles Times, and has provided commentary on CNBC, CNN, and Bloomberg TV, as well as appeared on a variety of top radio stations across the country.

Tom's books are available for purchase in our bookstore.

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