Northwest Industries
Strategic Concepts & Mechanics
Primary Evidence
"Drexel clients—in addition to Triangle Industries—would make bids for companies, all backed by Milken’s junk bonds. Mesa Petroleum, with a net worth of $ 500 million, would go for Unocal. Lorimar, with a net worth of $ 105 million, would offer $ 1 billion for Multimedia. Sir James Goldsmith would make a bid for Crown Zellerbach Corporation for $ 1.1 billion. Golden Nugget, with a net worth of $ 230 million, would go for Hilton Hotels for about $ 1.8 billion. And Farley Industries, with earnings of $ 6 million, would go for Northwest Industries, for about $ 1.4 billion. Other bids would take longer to germinate—but they would turn out to be the most fruitful of all."
"Drexel clients—in addition to Triangle Industries—would make bids for companies, all backed by Milken’s junk bonds. Mesa Petroleum, with a net worth of $500 million, would go for Unocal. Lorimar, with a net worth of $105 million, would offer $1 billion for Multimedia. Sir James Goldsmith would make a bid for Crown Zellerbach Corporation for $1.1 billion. Golden Nugget, with a net worth of $230 million, would go for Hilton Hotels for about $1.8 billion. And Farley Industries, with earnings of $6 million, would go for Northwest Industries, for about $1.4 billion. Other bids would take longer to germinate—but they would turn out to be the most fruitful of all."
"Tisch’s winning investments had more to do with day-to-day man- agement of finances and operations than with economic foresight. In 1979, Tisch was asked what he would buy to hold for 20 years. Four' teen years later, many of his picks would look like dogs. For example, he liked savings-and-loan associations, which turned out to be one of the most prominent national economic disasters of the early 1990s, because of high-risk lending and investing. Federated Department Stores, another Tisch pick, would get gobbled up by a reckless Campeau Corp. in the late 1980s, only to be plunged into bankruptcy by too much debt. He liked Tosco, wrongly betting that its oil shale business would boom because of problems with the traditional sources of oil. Savin Business Machines would end up in bankruptcy court in 1992, Studebaker-Worthington Inc. would be bought out later that year by McGraw-Edison Co., and Northwest Industries was the sub- ject of a crippling, debt-laden buyout in the mid-1980s. But Tisch wasn’t one to make bets himself on the basis of a 20-year forecast. “We’re pragmatic,” he said. “Our philosophy could change from one day to the next.”"