After 16 years at the helm of Houdaille Industries, CEO Jerry Saltarelli wanted out. Since 1941, he'd poured his heart and soul into the company, starting out as a young lawyer and moving up the executive ranks. As CEO, he'd helped the company transform from a manufacturer of bumpers and shock absorbers into a nationwide construction and machine tools conglomerate.
With the company on solid footing, he was ready to retire, but there was a problem. Houdaille-cash-rich and with minimal debt was the kind of company in vogue with the corporate raiders of 1970s Wall Street, and the New York Times declared that a takeover might prove irresistible. This would likely lead to restructuring and layoffs-bleeding the company of its value and tossing aside its way of doing business. Saltarelli wanted none of that. All he wanted was a way to sell his stake while keeping Houdaille independent, doing right by his colleagues, and protecting his legacy.
As he pondered his predicament, Saltarelli got a phone call from an unfamiliar trio of bankers. Jerome Kohlberg Jr., Henry Kravis, and George Roberts, friends from their time engineering deals at Bear Stearns, had started investment bank KKR just two years prior. They presented Saltarelli with a plan that they said could check all the CEO's boxes: a leveraged buyout, or LBO. Saltarelli had to admit he'd never heard the term.
20 YEARS AGO, PRIVATE EQUITY HAD A 75% CHANCE OF BEATING THE MARKET. SINCE 2006, THOSE ODDS HAVE DROPPED TO WORSE THAN A COIN FLIP.
Denne historien er fra May/June 2022-utgaven av Mother Jones.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra May/June 2022-utgaven av Mother Jones.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Data Blockers- Overturning Roe didn't just bludgeon abortion access. It sabotaged science, too.
Overturning Roe didn't just bludgeon abortion access. It sabotaged science, too. In early May 2022, reproductive health researcher Liz Mosley was at a dinner celebrating her first day as an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine when the news broke: A leaked draft of the Dobbs decision revealed the Supreme Court’s plan to gut abortion rights in the United States—the “worst-case scenario,” as one dinner guest put it.
Growing Pains - Why are governors rejecting funds for kids' summer meals?
The Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer Program for Children (EBT), the first new federal food aid initiative in decades, is a permanent extension of Congress’ Covid-era relief that sought to provide extra meals for more than 30 million school kids who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. But more than 10 million children will miss out this summer, according to the USDA. Thirteen other states—Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming—also chose not to enroll. And they all have something else in common: Republican governors.
Mission from God. Church And Statehood– A new Puerto Rican political party puts faith before status.
A new Puerto Rican political party puts faith before status. Puerto Rico’s churches, which in recent decades were mostly confined to private life, are now reshaping political dynamics. Proyecto Dignidad is a reflection of a broader populist global trend, and it draws inspiration from the Trump playbook and other domestic right-wing currents that helped him win over significant numbers of Latino voters in 2020.
40 Acres and a Lie
We compiled Reconstruction-era documents to identify 1,250 formerly enslaved Black Americans given land-only to have it returned to their enslavers.
The Conversion Therapist Will See You Now
The counselors once discredited for their "ex-gay" theories have rebranded. And now they're coming after trans kids.
"I Hope My Hindsight Will Be Others' Foresight"
A decade after Elliot Rodger's horrific massacre, his mother is on a quest to help threat assessment experts-and other parents-prevent the next tragedy.
RAGING BULL DONALD TRUMP'S PUGILISTIC SPOKESMAN HAS TAKEN CAMPAIGNING TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL OF LOW.
IN late February, after Donald Trump had nearly vanquished the entirety of the Republican primary field, his spokesman, Steven Cheung, took aim at the one opponent still standing. \"Birdbrain, are you a liar or just plain stupid?\" he posted on X.
SAVED
Finding self-love after Christian conversion therapy
WHAT WE ARE OWED
Technology and genealogy have made the case for reparations specific-and undeniable.
PARADISE STOLEN
Black families were cheated out of their land on Skidaway Island. Now it's a wealthy white enclave
