Exxon

"Weinroth was drawn to Drexel because he saw a “happy constellation” in place. The medium-sized companies Drexel was targeting were indeed an underserved market, the high-yield bond was its perfect product, and Milken was already dominant in trading those bonds. Moreover, Weinroth—avuncular, rotund, hardly an investment banker in the white-shoe mold—felt temperamentally suited to these clients and the role he would play. “With medium-sized companies, you can really get to know the managements, and you can really help them. I figured I could make a difference. I wasn’t dealing with an Exxon.”"

"With Occasional Bold Action Interestingly, as we’ve seen, this penchant for empiricism and analysis did not result in timidity. Just the opposite, actually: on the rare occasions when they found projects with compelling returns, they could act with boldness and blinding speed. Each made at least one acquisition or investment that equaled 25 percent or more of their firm’s enterprise value. Tom Murphy made one (ABC) that was greater than his entire company’s value. In 1999 (at a time when oil prices were at historic lows), Exxon bought rival Mobil Corporation in a blockbuster transaction that totaled more than 50 percent of its enterprise value."

"Weinroth was drawn to Drexel because he saw a “happy constellation” in place. The medium-sized companies Drexel was targeting were indeed an underserved market, the high-yield bond was its perfect product, and Milken was already dominant in trading those bonds. Moreover, Weinroth—avuncular, rotund, hardly an investment banker in the white-shoe mold—felt temperamentally suited to these clients and the role he would play. “With medium-sized companies, you can really get to know the managements, and you can really help them. I figured I could make a difference. I wasn’t dealing with an Exxon.”"

"On Smith's advice, Munk put in a bid. When it turned out to be close to but lower than Exxon’s, who came in at about $60 million, Munk withdrew. But then Exxon backed off and departed. Munk lowballed with a bid of US$31 million with a sweetener: Texaco would get half of any proceeds should gold go over US$385 an ounce, topping out at US$9 million. Texaco took Munk’s offer. The next step was to finance the deal. Munk’s recent feat of paying off the Royal’s $100-million Camflo debt gave him new credibility. The Continental Bank Company gave Munk an equity loan of US$31 million. With the funds already in hand, Barrick closed the Mercur deal in June 1985."

"For example, if one discovered that Exxon was able to persistently gain the rights to desirable hydrocarbon properties, then understanding their path to access would be the more crux issue. Perhaps their relative scale allows them to develop better discovery processes? If so, their discovery processes are the Cornered Resource, the true source of Power, and it would be misleading to simply cite only the acquired leases."

"What should they name the new company? Charles and Sterling had successfully fused the many companies Fred Koch ran into one firm, but now they needed to name it. Why not call the company Koch Industries? The name would honor Charles’s late father, and it was an easy enough catchall title for a group of businesses that were already very diverse. Charles Koch wasn’t wild about the idea. He seemed embarrassed by the thought of having his last name stamped on the entire company. His name would be embossed on the letterhead, emblazoned on the sign outside the company headquarters, spoken on the lips of everyone who worked for him. There was a vanity about this that seemed at odds with Charles Koch’s nature. But Williams argued in favor of naming the company Koch. In his mind, the benefit of the name was that it was neutral, in the way Exxon was neutral. For many industries, neutrality was the enemy. Companies like Coca-Cola spent millions to ensure that their names weren’t neutral and forgettable. But the oil industry was different because Big Oil was cast as the villain in so many economic stories. For this reason, “Koch” was the perfect moniker for the firm. It was slippery, hard to grasp. Everybody mispronounced it when they read the name, and when they heard the name, they confused it with the much better known soft-drink maker. Koch was the perfect flag to fly for a firm that sought to grow, and grow exponentially, while simultaneously remaining invisible."

"What should they name the new company? Charles and Sterling had successfully fused the many companies Fred Koch ran into one firm, but now they needed to name it. Why not call the company Koch Industries? The name would honor Charles’s late father, and it was an easy enough catchall title for a group of businesses that were already very diverse. Charles Koch wasn’t wild about the idea. He seemed embarrassed by the thought of having his last name stamped on the entire company. His name would be embossed on the letterhead, emblazoned on the sign outside the company headquarters, spoken on the lips of everyone who worked for him. There was a vanity about this that seemed at odds with Charles Koch’s nature. But Williams argued in favor of naming the company Koch. In his mind, the benefit of the name was that it was neutral, in the way Exxon was neutral. For many industries, neutrality was the enemy. Companies like Coca-Cola spent millions to ensure that their names weren’t neutral and forgettable. But the oil industry was different because Big Oil was cast as the villain in so many economic stories. For this reason, “Koch” was the perfect moniker for the firm. It was slippery, hard to grasp. Everybody mispronounced it when they read the name, and when they heard the name, they confused it with the much better known soft-drink maker. Koch was the perfect flag to fly for a firm that sought to grow, and grow exponentially, while simultaneously remaining invisible."