Leon Black

Strategic Concepts & Mechanics

Strategic PatternProcess of Bites, Not Grand Plans Decision FrameworkCash Flow Over Earnings as Debt Survival Test Relationship LeverageHighly Confident as Substitute for Actual Capital Capital StrategyInterest Deductibility as Leveraged Assault Fuel Competitive AdvantageNOL as Bidding War Nuclear Option Signature MoveSpeed-of-Sale as Debt Survival Doctrine Signature MoveLawyer as Deal Principal, Not Hired Gun Signature MoveParis Apartment Discipline Signature MoveAll Debt Disguised as Equity Cornerstone MoveBuy the Whole, Sell Everything But the Crown Jewel Cornerstone MoveBlind Pool Before the Target Exists Cornerstone MoveBribe the Gatekeeper, Storm the Castle Cornerstone MoveBankruptcy's Tax Corpse as Acquisition Weapon Competitive AdvantageTax Arbitrage as Structural Weapon Operating PrincipleProfessional Manager Decay Across Generations Risk DoctrineNever Cut Back a Committed Deal Signature MoveMilken: Four-Thirty AM Cathedral-Builder With No Office Capital StrategyVenture Capital Masquerading as Debt Signature MovePeltz: Spittle-on-the-Check Persistence from Near-Broke Signature MovePerelman: Borrowed $1.9M to a Boeing 727 in Seven Years Cornerstone MoveManufactured Credibility from Thin Air Decision FrameworkContra-Thinking as Default Mental Operating System Identity & CultureForced Savings as Loyalty Handcuffs Cornerstone MoveCash Flow Over Earnings as the Only Truth Cornerstone MoveBuy the Core, Sell the Pieces, Erase the Debt Signature MoveKingsley: Mount Everest Desk, Twenty-Year Sounding Board Signature MoveIcahn: Wrestling-a-Ghost Negotiation Until the Last Penny Cornerstone MoveOwner's Equity as the Non-Negotiable Discipline

Primary Evidence

"In theory, the Underwriting Assistance Committee (UAC), formed in 1982, had to approve every underwriting the firm did. On the committee were about eight or ten (it varied slightly over the years) corporate-finance professionals. The investment banker for every proposed underwriting wrote a memo to the UAC, outlining its substance and the pluses and minuses of Drexel’s doing the deal. Also, in 1984 or so, Leon Black introduced into his memos (which then became the form) a first-page paragraph stating what Drexel’s compensation would be. “That marked a subtle shift here,” claimed one investment banker. “The fees don’t belong there. The deal should be judged on its merits, not the fee. It was going public with our venality.”"

Source:The Predators' Ball

Source:Predator's Ball

Appears In Volumes

The Predators' Ball Predator's Ball