Munk,N. Fools Rush In. 2004
Munk, Nina. Fools Rush In: Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Unmaking of
AOL Time Warner. New York: HarperCollins, 2004. 352 pages.
Nina Munk, a writer for Fortune and Vanity Fair, not only spent
hundreds of hours in interviews for this book, but she also put it together
so that it's a pleasure to read. The research behind the book is impressive,
while only a novelist could spin a better yarn. You can hardly wait to move
from the chapter titled "Enter the Internet Cowboys" and through "The Big
Deal" (when AOL bought Time Warner) and then to the endgame as it all began
to fall apart one year later. By late 2003, their stock was down 70 percent
from January 2001 when the deal closed. It is still at that low level as of
early 2006.
This is a book about two very different companies that merged during
the Internet bubble. AOL puffed up with the bubble, and in 1999 its market
cap was twice Time Warner's, even though it had only one-fifth of that
old-media company's revenues. That's when Steve Case talked Jerry Levin,
who was feeling rather obsolete, into a merger. The AOL gunslingers
waltzed into Time Warner and alienated everyone, and at the same time
the bubble popped. By the end of the book the AOL people had been purged,
lawyers hired by stockholders were salivating, and Time Warner was in
turmoil. A sad ending: Most of the insiders cashed out in the first half
of 2001, while the stock was still doing okay, and retired comfortably.
ISBN 0-06-054034-6
- ACAMPORA RALPH (188)
- ADELSON MERVYN LEE (138, 171)
- ADLER EDWARD (159, 191, 269, 274)
- AGNEW SPIRO T (10)
- ALLEN WILLIAM (DELAWARE JUDGE) (39-40)
- AMERICA ONLINE INC
- AMES ROGER (135)
- ANDREESSEN MARC (50)
- APPELMAN BARRY (117)
- ARNETT PETER (58)
- ASHLEY TED (32-3)
- ASTOR BROOKE (295)
- BACOT JOHN CARTER (172)
- BAKER PAUL (AOL) (115-6, 203)
- BALLMER STEVEN ANTHONY (150)
- BARAD JILL E (231)
- BARKSDALE JAMES L (229)
- BECKER HOLLY B (189)
- BERENSON ALEX (107)
- BERLOW MYER (98-100, 106, 109-11, 113, 200, 207-8, 228, 232, 237-41, 273, 280)
- BEWKES JEFFREY (135, 199, 273, 280-1)
- BLODGET HENRY (119, 181-2, 189)
- BOGART CHRISTOPHER (135, 140, 156-7, 160-1, 191, 281-2)
- BOGGS TIMOTHY A (159, 191, 283)
- BOLLENBACH STEPHEN F (172)
- BOND JON (KIRSHENBAUM BOND PARTNERS) (105-6)
- BORISLOW DANIEL (101-3, 107, 283-4)
- BRESSLER RICHARD (131-2, 135, 140, 145, 152, 191, 284-5)
- BRITT GLENN A (290)
- BROKAW TOM (216)
- BRONFMAN EDGAR JR (46, 178)
- BROWN KATE (162)
- BRUCK CONNIE (34)
- BUCKLEY JOHN (AOL) (266, 269)
- BUFFETT WARREN EDWARD (230)
- BUSHKIN KATHY (117)
- CAPPUCCIO PAUL (191, 281, 285-6)
- CASE STEPHEN MCCONNELL
- CAULFIELD FRANK (76)
- CHIANG KAI-SHEK (6)
- CHRISTENSON MICHAEL (162)
- CLURMAN RICHARD M (34)
- COHEN JESSICA REIF (296)
- COLBURN DAVID (102, 108-9, 111-4, 207-8, 229, 266-7, 271-2, 288-9)
- COLL STEVE (270-1)
- COLLINS JOSEPH J (49, 135, 198-9, 282, 289-90)
- CRAWFORD GORDON (148, 274-6)
- DAGGITT JACK (71)
- DALY ROBERT A (46, 96, 290-1)
- DANFORTH JOHN C (R-MO) (171)
- DAVIES JACK (AOL) (71)
- DAVIS MARTIN S (37-8)
- DAVIS NEIL (AOL) (219-20, 231-2)
- DEAN RANDY (79, 81, 110)
- DELL MICHAEL S (137-8)
- DEWITT GENE (233)
- DOLAN CHARLES FRANCIS (11-4, 291-2)
- DOLAN JAMES (JIMMY) (291-2)
- DONOVAN HEDLEY W (10)
- DOWNIE LEONARD JR (270-1)
- DUNNE JOHN GREGORY (8)
- DUTT JILL (270-1)
- ELLIS PETER (110)
- ENRICO ROGER A (137-8)
- FITZGERALD MARGARET BOLES (300)
- FUCHS MICHAEL (HBO) (31, 41, 46, 61-2, 292-4)
- FUERBRINGER OTTO (8)
- GILBURNE MILES (126, 145, 229, 252, 286)
- GLASSMAN JAMES K (188)
- GOODMAN GEORGE J.W. (8)
- GOODMAN LARRY (CNN) (239)
- GREENBERG MAURICE RAYMOND (HANK) (137-8)
- GREENWALD GERALD (CHRYSLER) (172)
- GRUNWALD HENRY ANATOLE (9-10, 29)
- GUMBEL PETER (175-6)
- HADDEN BRITON (3-5)
- HAIRE JACK (177-8, 233-4, 239-40)
- HAJE PETER (62-3, 159-60, 294)
- HALLETT BRUCE (135)
- HANLON RICHARD (101-2, 191, 294-5)
- HASSENFELD ALAN G (231-2)
- HASSETT KEVIN A (188)
- HEISKELL ANDREW (14-6, 26-7, 29-30, 295)
- HEYER STEPHEN (231-2)
- HILLS CARLA ANDERSON (172-3)
- HUBER PETER (182)
- HUEY JOHN W JR (135, 219, 223)
- ISAACSON WALTER S (135)
- IVESTER M DOUGLAS (137-8)
- JIANG ZEMIN (138)
- KAWAJA TERRY (162, 165-6)
- KELLER ERIC (235, 267-8)
- KELLY MICHAEL (AOL) (126-8, 152, 165-6, 190-1, 229, 235-6, 273, 296)
- KERKORIAN KIRK (59)
- KIMSEY JAMES V (76-8)
- KINDLER ROBERT (157)
- KLEIN ALEC (266-71)
- LACK JOHN (93)
- LAY KENNETH LEE (137-8)
- LEIBOVICH MARK (82)
- LEONSIS THEODORE J (117, 262)
- LERER KENNETH (85-6, 191, 229, 244, 269, 274, 296-7)
- LEVIN GERALD MANUEL
- LIFE MAGAZINE (5)
- LILIENTHAL DAVID E (13)
- LOGAN DON (AOL TIME WARNER) (135, 194, 197-8, 273, 280-1)
- LOOMIS CAROL (180-1)
- LUCE HENRY III (HANK) (35, 40-1, 178, 300)
- LUCE HENRY ROBINSON (3-7, 9-10, 230)
- MALONE JOHN C (48)
- MARCUS ROB (158)
- MARK REUBEN (171)
- MATTHEWS T.S. (TIME MAGAZINE) (6)
- MCCOURT FRANK (291)
- MCGUIRK TERRENCE (135, 198)
- MCNAMEE ROGER (150, 180)
- MEEKER MARY (173, 214, 260)
- MESTRE EDUARDO G (127-8, 149, 152, 161-2, 174)
- MILES MICHAEL A (172)
- MILLER JONATHAN F (AOL) (296)
- MONKS ROBERT A.G. (39)
- MOORE ANN (PEOPLE MAGAZINE) (281)
- MUNGER CHARLES THOMAS (230)
- MUNRO J RICHARD (16, 25-9, 35, 42-3, 45, 300-2)
- NASSER JACQUES A (137-8)
- NEGROPONTE NICHOLAS (137-8)
- NICHOLAS NICK J JR (27-31, 34-5, 41-3, 180, 302-3)
- NISENHOLTZ MARTIN A (111)
- NOVACK KENNETH (140, 145, 148, 151-2, 169, 229)
- OLSTEIN ROBERT (237)
- PACE WAYNE (296)
- PARSONS RICHARD DEAN (52, 61, 96, 135, 140, 152, 191-2, 229, 255-60, 263-5, 272-4, 303-4)
- PEARLSTINE NORMAN (135, 197, 221-3)
- PEERS MARTIN (175-6)
- PEOPLE MAGAZINE (11)
- PERLMAN LAURIE (xiv, xv, 297-8)
- PITTMAN ROBERT WARREN (84-7, 89-97, 107, 117-9, 191-2, 194-7, 215-25, 229, 234-7, 263, 272, 304-5)
- PITTMAN SANDY HILL (93-4, 97)
- POWELL COLIN LUTHER (140)
- RADUCHEL WILLIAM (169)
- RAINES FRANKLIN DELANO (174)
- REDSTONE SUMNER MURRAY (137-8)
- RICE ANDREA WILLIAMS (189)
- RILEY BARBARA (293, 298)
- RIPP JOSEPH A (135, 159, 191, 306)
- ROSS STEVEN J (31-7, 40-4, 95)
- RUBIN ROBERT EDWARD (138)
- SAEED FAIZA (157)
- SCARDINO MARJORIE (140)
- SCHULER BARRY (AOL) (71, 83, 117, 125, 228, 273, 306-7)
- SEMEL TERRY S (46, 96, 130, 290-1)
- SERIFF MARC (75-7)
- SILLS BEVERLY (171)
- SPAEDER ROGER (289)
- SPORTS ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE (5)
- STREISAND BARBRA (149-50)
- STUNTZ MAYO S JR (COMPUSERVE/AOL) (117, 221-2, 229, 273-4)
- SULZBERGER MARIAN (26)
- SUMNER JOAN NICOLAIS (159, 191, 294)
- SWISHER KARA (175)
- TAUBMAN PAUL (152, 173)
- TIME MAGAZINE (4, 7-11)
- TIME WARNER INC
- TOFFLER ALVIN (78-9)
- TURNER TED (55-60, 135, 145-6, 171-2, 179, 192-3, 229, 249-50, 274-5, 308-9)
- VENTURE PHILANTHROPY PARTNERS (295)
- VILLANUEVA JEAN (81, 85)
- VINCENT FRANCIS T (FAY) (170-1)
- VON MEISTER WILLIAM (75-6)
- VRADENBURG GEORGE III (169, 191, 229, 236, 273, 309-10)
- WAKEFORD KENT (235)
- WALSH MARK (80, 98-9)
- WALTON SAM MOORE (230)
- WARNER JACK L (32-3)
- WASHINGTON POST (270-1)
- WELCH JOHN FRANCIS JR (137-8)
- WHITE THEODORE H (6)
- WILKINSON JULIA (79-80)
- WOLZIEN TOM (119)
- YANG JERRY (137-8)
- YANNUCCI THOMAS (269-71)
- ZAHN PAULA A (277)
- ZAZZERA PAUL (221)
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