Mike Milken

Strategic Concepts & Mechanics

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 Cornerstone MoveEquity Stakes for Distribution Leverage Competitive AdvantageCableLabs Royalty-Free Standards Play Cornerstone MoveStock Architecture to Lock Control Competitive AdvantageBlackout as Franchise Leverage Capital StrategyTax-Sheltered Growing Annuity Capital StrategyInsurance Company Capital Over Banks Signature MoveNever Bet the Whole Farm Strategic PatternWarrants as Industry Coordination Currency Decision FrameworkEmpathy as Negotiation Architecture Signature MoveThrow the Keys on the Table Signature MoveOwn a Small Piece of a Winner You Can't Run Operating PrincipleDecentralized Cowboys with Centralized Benchmarks Risk DoctrineWhat If Not as Decision Filter Strategic PatternScale Economics as Survival Doctrine Signature MoveAsk One Sharp Question to Crack Open Intel Signature MoveCash Flow Not Earnings as Currency Cornerstone MoveBuy the System, Pay With Its Own Cash Flow Identity & CultureIntrovert's Edge Through Listening

Primary Evidence

"Milken kept his group cloistered. He demanded that his people shun publicity, as he did. He was convinced there was no upside—“Mike would always say, ‘You can’t make a dime off publicity,’ ” Steve Wynn recalled—and there was considerable downside. If his people started seeing themselves in print, he once commented to this reporter, they would get their heads turned, they would think they were famous. “They won’t work as well. I want them there at four or four-thirty, ready to work, until eight o’clock at night. That’s what we do, that’s our responsibility. I don’t want them to think of what’s outside.”"

Source:Predator's Ball

"His issues with Uncle Sam notwithstanding, what I know is that Mike Milken proved his thesis that non-investment-grade bonds were undervalued relative to investment-grade bonds. And he helped TCI raise a lot of money perfectly legally, just as he had done with Ted Turner and many other U.S. companies. After we started dealing with Milken, we didn’t have to do as many road shows anymore."

Source:Born to Be Wired

"He had exhausted even the financially elastic mind of Mike Milken to find another acquisition for TBS. With the takeover threats from Kirk Kerkorian and others still fresh in his mind, and consolidation and vertical integration going on around him, Ted felt it was time to think seriously about joining forces with somebody."

Source:Born to Be Wired

Appears In Volumes

Predator's Ball Born to Be Wired