Editorial Review:
A penetrating look at the world of mergers and acquisitions, this text has one of Wall Street's top deal makers revealing the inside story of the billion dollar deals that shape America's economy. Bruce Wasserstein was involved in such negotiations as Time Inc's merger with Warner Communications.
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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 
Big Deal is a Bit Dated  2008-11-09
PROS:
* An outstanding overview of 19-20th century business deals.
* An excellent summary of the various issues and ways of doing deals, both from the buyer and seller's perspective. Covers all the bases.
CON: Written in 2001, it misses the entire dot com bubble. Doesn't mention 9/11. He also thinks that WorldCom (Eggers) and a few other mega mergers are great, but they ultimately flopped. It's unfair to think that he could have known how many of those big deals went south, but it would be nice if the book was updated and covered those deals.
CONCLUSION: If you don't mind that 21st century deals are ignored, then this book is a perfect overview. You'd give it 5 stars. I gave it 3 because it misses the dot com bust and the 2008 credit crisis. I would look for a book that covers those too.
okay book 2007-02-05
I'm a banker. This book is about banking deals, no stories, no filler, just cases. Good read of you want to learn about older mega deals. I think if you are a non-banker you will be bored out of your mind reading this book.
The Veritable Bible for Bankers  2005-12-16
You will see this book and wonder how'll you finish an 800 pager like it in a reasonable ammount of time.
No worry -- this Bible of M&A is an engaging, informative read that will go by faster than you ever imagined.
I find myself recommending this book at least 3 or 4 X a year for people who want an overview of M&A in the late 20th century.
Instead of just spilling a bunch of historical data on the reader, Wasserstein dissects deals and tells us why things happened as they did.
My favorite part: the disastrous Quaker/Snapple merger!
Trust me, you'll love this book.
Wow! An incredible amount of great info in a single volume! 2002-11-29
What an incredible resource! I bought this book because it was on the suggested reading list for a course on Corporate Control I took in the MBA program at the University of Michigan b-school. Yes, it is almost 900 pages long. Yes, some of the stories could use a bit of updating because of the recent events at places like Tyco and Worldcom. But so what? It is nice to have on record how people used to think and talk about these businesses and their CEOs.That little tiny caveat aside it is important to focus on everything you get in this really neat book. You get a history of the different waves of the M&A process throughout history, how it has evolved, the way it has developed in different industries and market sectors, and a rather nice analysis (in the broadest strokes) of what goes in planning and executing these deals. Throughout the book there are wonderful spotlights on the principle people in the history of M&A and little synopses of the more famous and important precedent setting deals. This aspect of the book is incredibly valuable. In order to make sense of what we read about in the paper about mergers and acquisitions we need to know how we got here. This book provides an incredible amount of wonderful background material. Some complain that the book is long. I think it is amazing that he has put so much in only 900 pages. Amazingly compact! Mr. Wassertein, one of the industries movers and shakers (currently running Lazard), has organized this book in twenty-three chapters that are grouped in three large sections: (1) Past as Prelude, (2) The Strategic Challenge, and (3) Doing the Deal. Plus there is a nice bibliography (also grouped in according to these three sections) that can lead to further reading on the topics of interest to you. The index is also quite useful because this book can be used for reference in looking up or reviewing specific topics. Yes, reading this book front to back is a great read, but you cannot remember it all the first time through. It is useful to be able to dive into specific deals, people, and topics. The author has put this book together in a thoughtful and helpful way. If you want scandal and gossip, well, this book really isn't for you. However, if you are interested in the BUSINESS of M&A this is a six star book. It really is terrific.
Extremely dry book 2002-07-19
This book makes the Mojave look positively flush with water. Mr. Wasserstein addresses a fascinating topic--mergers and acquistions--with all the passion of a mortician. Why the five stars? Mr. Wasserstein also happens to be a brilliant attorney, and have a remarkably substantive body of knowledge about innumerable large acquistions that have occurred over the past thirty years. Indeed, in his bibliography, he writes: "Much of the contemporary factual material in this book is drawn from memory." That is an especially impressive statement, given that the book weighs in at over 900 pages. Read the book if only to be impressed at the mind of such a man. Interesting side note: Mr. Wasserstein's sister is a Pulitzer-prize-winning playwright, Wendy Wasserstein. Her plays evince a passion utterly lacking in _Big Deal_.
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