ITT

"Pantry Pride, meanwhile, cognizant of the deal that was in the works, was desperately trying to entice Bergerac. Don Engel enlisted Harold Geneen, Bergerac’s old boss at ITT, to pay Bergerac a visit. Geneen, on behalf of Pantry Pride, offered to give Bergerac his parachute, as Perelman had offered before; to give him a second one, which he would be able to cash in in two years; and then to sell him a division, one of the health divisions of his choice, at a favorable price, and finance it for him. “He didn’t spell out favorable price, but these things are understood,” said Bergerac. “So the package they were offering came to close to a hundred million dollars.”"

"Stiritz focused on sourcing acquisitions through direct contact with sellers, avoiding competitive auctions whenever possible. The Continental Baking acquisition was sourced from a letter he sent directly to ITT chairman Rand Araskog, thus circumventing an auction."

"Pantry Pride, meanwhile, cognizant of the deal that was in the works, was desperately trying to entice Bergerac. Don Engel enlisted Harold Geneen, Bergerac’s old boss at ITT, to pay Bergerac a visit. Geneen, on behalf of Pantry Pride, offered to give Bergerac his parachute, as Perelman had offered before; to give him a second one, which he would be able to cash in in two years; and then to sell him a division, one of the health divisions of his choice, at a favorable price, and finance it for him. “He didn’t spell out favorable price, but these things are understood,” said Bergerac. “So the package they were offering came to close to a hundred million dollars.”"

"Anschutz’s triumphs in railroads, real estate, and telecommunica¬ tions do not exhaust the range of his activities. His other ventures have in¬ cluded uranium and coal mining in Colorado and tungsten and antimony mining in South America. In addition, Anschutz has acquired profes¬ sional franchises in hockey and soccer. The stock market has been an¬ other productive field of activity for Anschutz, who cleared close to $100 million on sallies into ITT and Pennwalt. At one point he invested $60 million in cement producer Ideal Basic, clearing a $30 million profit on a deal that looked extremely iffy.60 All in all, it is easy to forget that Phil An¬ schutz made his first billion in oil."

"ments. Such strategy placed ITT in an ideal situation to parlay World War II into an economic triumph. Behn was one of the few who could make meaningful long-range plans — no matter which side won. He waited, watching the fortunes of war, until a discernible pattern of victory emerged. Then, shazam — although ITT had been accused of Axis collaboration at the beginning of the war, Behn emerged as a conquering Allied hero, of sorts. He was the man with strong political influence and business interests all over Europe. As the Allied armies mopped up, Behn was personally on the scene to restore the ITT empire before the military governors could piece things together. And even more remarkably, ITT managed to carry off the role of victim of World War II and file a $30 million claim for damages which recently the United States government has seen fit to pay. So, with discreetly applied pressures and much chutzpah, Behn managed to have it both ways. If the Germans had won, who could tell what rewards would have befallen the faithful industrial empires of Krupp, Siemens, Mercedes, and the several German equivalents of ITT."

"When Geneen began picking up the pieces at ITT in 1959, he used a lifelong study of General Motors as his model. GM’s organizer, Alfred Sloan, was his personal hero; and the job of remaking ITT became a casting job in the General Motors’ mold. Finance was made a direct reporting function throughout ITT, engineering respon- sibility was centralized, and a large technical staff began to grow into dominance. ITT managers made in-depth studies of the policies under which General Motors op- erated. “If it’s good enough for General Motors, it’s good enough for ITT,” was the new anthem; and the Geneen- directed juggernaut began to roll on that high-octane formula."

"As Geneen’s pet project we received a disproportionate amount of attention from important lobbyists, and legisla- tors, especially Congressman Bob Wilson from San Diego, who had parlayed his association with Geneen into hotels and other local investments. He was determined to bring a major manufacturing complex into his back yard. ITT needed a close political associate who would insure Ad- ministration support in the company’s antitrust battles; in Wilson they had the Republican party’s chief fund raiser and a close friend of the President. Nixon was a Southern"

"managed by their presidents. The organization consisted of a loose confederation of fifty-three companies and divi- sions, most of them involved in telecommunications and electronics businesses. Each company guarded its technical secrets and markets against incursion by the others as jealously as they did by competitors. The ITT system was plagued by financial mismanagement, excessively high production costs and duplication of effort. Geneen himself could not have written a better scenario in anticipation of his arrival on the scene."

"On organization: “Around here, we run a colonial em- pire with 400,000 employees in sixty-seven countries; and we're writing our own management book in the process.” On managers: “Personnel surgery is the only thing this company needs on a continuing basis. You build discipline in a company and the company will perpetuate itself."

"ITT, Litton, and Ling-Temco-Vought"

"help him. I advised him as ITT swooped in and, one after another, bought Canteen, Grinnell, Avis, Rayonnier, Levitt and Sons, Continental Baking, Scotts Seed, Pennsylvania Glass, and Airport Parking."

"When the Nixon Watergate tapes were released, I was at last able to fill in some of the missing pieces of the story. On a Saturday in July 1977, in the back pages of the New York Times, a story appeared that quoted several of the newly released tapes. In one of them, Nixon tells Erlichman that he had never met Harold Geneen and had no interest in ITT. But nevertheless he was incensed over McLaren’s antitrust policies. He couldn’t tolerate his anti–big business bent."

"I urged Hal to purchase Hartford Fire Insurance. It was one of America’s oldest companies and, more significant, it had a strong, conservative, cash-heavy balance sheet. It would, I explained confidently, anchor the corporate strategy Geneen had been hoping to realize: its acquisition would make ITT an international conglomerate with a comfortable, financially sound balance between its U.S. assets and its foreign holdings."

"Harold Geneen, the chairman of ITT."