Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating look at Milken, Junk Bonds & Drexel Burham
Review: A year or two ago I heard someone refer to "the infamous Michael Milken," and I had no idea what they were talking about. This book gave me the answer. The Predators' Ball tells about the rise of Drexel Burham Lambert, a second-rate bank that was completely transformed by the arrival of Michael Milken and his plans with junk bonds. Milken broke ground in changing the way banks thought of junk bonds, those bonds that are so poorly rated that they are a substantially greater risk to investors. The flip side to this is that if you take a risk on a junk bond you also have the possibility of making significantly more money, as the rates are much higher.
Previously, other banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley wouldn't touch junk bonds, as they felt that junk bonds were "below" them. When they saw how much money Drexel Burham Lambert was making, they began to salivate for junk bonds too. Michael Milken pioneered this new change at Drexel Burham and became somewhat of a god-like figure. He made Drexel Burham king of the junk bond market. Milken decided he wanted to move to Southern California, and so he opened a Drexel Burham office there, bringing the best and the brightest in the company along with him. He and his partners would get to work at 4:30am and stay til the wee hours of the night. They were richly compensated for their efforts, and many became multi-millionaires in a very short period of time.
This book gives you terrific insight into the world of Drexel Burham at its apex, when it was at the top of the business world. It tells you about Michael Milken, his intense personality and the loyal following he built. It also explains some of the inconsistencies, conflicts of interest and other problems that brought Drexel Burham to its knees and put Milken in jail.
Even though this book was written many years ago, I learned a lot and enjoyed the story. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: extremely interesting
Review: an interesting story very well written. i could not put the book down.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for all interested in the markets
Review: How can I trust these reviews if two of the featured reviewers here use almost the exact same sentences in their supposedly "independent" reviews?Fredlybrand from Chapel Hill, NC and Dan Ross from Allen, Tx are apparently the same person. What gives?
Rating: 
Summary: Cardboard caricature
Review: I recommend another book, like the one called "Payback", for a more sober view.
Rating: 
Summary: Engaging
Review: If you like fixed income/wall-streetesque mover-shaker tales, this one is for you.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting book about Michael Milken
Review: Intertesting book about the mega-acquisition wave triggered by the creation of the junk-bond market. It will give you some info about the social-working atmosphere at Drexel and those who along with Milken surfed the biggest financial wave in the 80's. It is an easy-reading novel. Don't expect a thorough analysis about the Junk-Bond Market and its creation.
Rating:
Summary: Great accounting of the infamous "King of the Universe"
Review: One of three must read books on the Michael Milken, Drexel Burnham Lambert 1970's & 80's era on Wall Street. Wonderful storytelling and accounting of the many deals financed with junk bonds by Milken & gang. The other two books, well written as well on Milken, are "Den of Thieves" by Pulitzer Prize winning WSJ writer James B. Stewart, written after Bruck's Ball, and "A License to Steal: The Untold Story of Micheal Milken and the Conspiracy to Bilk the Nation" by Benjamin J. Stein, written last of the three. Stay away from the fantasy work of Jesse Kornbluth's "Highly Confident -- The Crime and Punishment of Michael Milken". It's an authorized version of Milken's life, bought & paid for by Milken himself, who underwrote hatchet jobs on Bruck & Stein to discredit their stellar work. The Predators' Ball does a great job of getting inside the various deals Milken pulled off and how they happened, along with a good history of Michael Milken. Amazing stuff, considering the multi-billion dollar nature of those deals... financed with nothing but junk. The sad thing is, is that if Milken had been caught in this current era of NO public tolerance for Wall Street misdeeds in 2002, he would be serving a hell of a lot more time then the mere 24 months he actually ended up doing on his ten year sentence. 98 counts, he cut a deal to plead guilty to six of them. He walked out of jail after a brief time of reflection, with his Billion$ still stached away in his foriegn bank accounts at his disposal. Crime did pay and pay well for Michael Milken. Stein's License to Steal book estimated that Milken generated some $24 Billion in commissions & fees, from obscene margins & unearthly volume. King of the Universe indeed... and walked away with a mere $1 Billion slap on the wrist fine and a few nights in jail. These three books are better than fiction or novels. History, in Wall Street storybook fashion. The more things change, the more things stay the same.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling Stuff that Leaves You Shaking Your Head
Review: The book is great but it leaves you shaking your head in disbelief. One must conclude that there is no effective control by the SEC over companies on the NYSE and NADAQ. I found this to be just a riveting book to read. It reminded me of the movie Wall Street although from what I gather Michael Milken at Drexel Burnham was not as good looking as Michael Douglas and he wore a hair piece and drove an older Oldsmobile, not a Ferrari. Milken while reading the Wall Street Journal and similar material on the bus going to business school in Philadelphia came up with this idea of selling the junk bonds. Once he graduated and was employed he pushed that idea, similar to the way Fred Smith pushed Fed.Ex. - another college idea. It comes clear in the book, just shouting out at you, that he had lots of help. Banks helped him, brokers helped him, other companies helped him, he opened a new office for Drexel in LA and in general just took over that company - all because people knew and appreciated that he was going to make buckets of money. His whole scheme was in fact similar to a pyramid scheme with everyone getting fat fees that were supposed to be re-paid down stream by the successful company. The Predator's Ball did exist as real annual social get together where the bankers, brokers, and the borrowing companies got together for a night of partying. The victims - the shareholders - were not invited. Like every Ponzi scheme at some point reality had to set in and it failed. That is what this book is about. Sure we can learn but apparently we are immune or unable to learn from history because the market over inflated itself and the Nasdaq went to 5000+ a decade later, and we had World Com and Enron. It is also remarkable that after taking so much money he got off with a light jail sentence and a big fine ($500. million) that Millken could pay. Entertaining read. 4 stars. Jack in Toronto
Rating:
Summary: A groundbreaking book in its day. One that is still great
Review: This book was the first real insight into the world of junk bonds, Drexel Burham Lambert and what an important role they played in the business world. Written at a time when Drexel was at its peak, it was a groundbreaking, highly acclaimed book. Connie Bruck ranks along with Joe Nocera as one of the world's best business writers. This book is tremendously readable and gives a balanced but insightful look at Michael Milken. I came away from the book with the idea that Milken was a genius who earned his great fortune with 18 hour work days. and I still believe he had a tremendous and positive contribution to the world. the Some of my friends came away from the book with the idea that Milken was a horrible human being who was ruining the country. The beauty of the book is that it you can read it and draw your own conclusions rather than a writer's preconceived ideas. Buy it and read it again. It is worth always owning. Don McNay...
Rating:
Summary: Good, entertaining reading about finance issues in the 80's
Review: This book, Liars Poker, Den of Thieves and Barbarians at the Gate are the books that define Wall Street in the 1980's. This book was an outstanding coverage of the age of the junk bond raiders. Junk bonds were the favorite financial tool of corporate raiders everywhere. The junk bond was also used to finance many new businesses (Donald Trump,Atlantic City and MCI are the most memorable to me). This book also covers Michael the driving force behind Drexel Burnham and the King of the junk bond. The book is focused on the rise and fall of Drexel and the associated personalities of the firm. The author does a very good job of illustrating the power Milken had within Drexel, how his office on the West Coast went from being a backwater to accounting for the bulk of the firms revenue, and how Milken's subsequent removal left Drexel crippled past the point of healing. I felt that the book does a good job of explaining the brilliance of Milken and the high-yield bond market that he created and nurtured, and the catch-22 that led to his criminalization. At the end of the day I find these kind of books to be financial humor more than anything because 1) these guys worked their butts off (2) made tons of money and then (3) a lot of them lost their shirts, ran into difficulties or (3) ended up in jail. Yes, they are rich by the boat load but it isn't the way I want to make a living.
| 
