Ross Perot

"Ross Perot is given credit for inventing the computer services indus¬ try, but IBM was in the business in a modest way before he founded Elec¬ tronic Data Systems. Perot’s great insight was to recognize services as a sensational growth opportunity, rather than just an adjunct to the sale of computer mainframes. After failing to bring IBM management around to his point of view, he went into business for himself. Perot, in short, did not have to create an entirely new concept to become a billionaire. Know¬ ing how to turn an idea into dollars was sufficient."

"Financial theorizing held little interest for Ross Perot, however. Like other billionaires who grew up far from New York, such as John D. Rockefeller Sr. and Warren Buffett, he was skeptical of Wall Street. One of the few investment bankers who impressed Perot was Charles Allen of Allen & Company. Perot paid him the supreme compliment by saying that like his own father, Allen had “the style of the great cattle traders.”27 In the end, Perot awarded the underwriting mandate to the most opti¬ mistic firm of the lot. R. W. Pressprich and Co., which he had never heard of until then, assured him that EDS could be launched at 100 times earnings."

"En route to signing the papers that would seal the arrangement, Perot recalled warnings he had heard regarding investment bankers’ bait-and-switch tactics. “I suppose you’re now going to tell me that the deal can’t be done at 100 times earnings,” he grumbled to Pressprich’s Ken Langone. Winking at Perot’s wife, Margot, Langone replied, “Ross, you’re absolutely right. It shouldn’t be at 100 times earnings.” Furious, Perot snapped, “You’re just like everybody else.” Margot in¬ terjected, “Dear, maybe you should let him finish.” Perot obliged by asking Langone what the earnings multiple ought to be. “Oh, maybe 116,” he answered. “There’s so much demand, I think we should raise the price.”28"

"In July, EDS had taken over du Pont’s data-processing operations. It was a contract that paid EDS an estimated $8 million annually, and du Pont had become the company’s largest customer. No less significant, its business with du Pont accounted for as much as $500 million of EDS’s highly leveraged market value and, therefore, a large chunk of Ross Perot’s personal fortune to boot. It was quickly apparent to me that EDS’s fortunes—and Perot’s—were intricately tied to the much shakier fortunes of F. I. du Pont. Now all I had to do was convince Ross Perot of this."

"There's the IBM person in a white shirt or a Ross Perot person who came from the military. We want people who are not absolutely conventional. Who cause trouble because they are willing to break some of the boundaries and challenge us or someone else, or chal- lenge an idea. You need a certain amount of brewing in the pot. [Otherwise,] the tendency for people is, well, let's all just get along. I don't want the organization to settle in to lattes and talking about what we did over the weekend."