The Balcony: Storming the Magic Kingdom

The Balcony on Storming the Magic Kingdom, by John Taylor. Vera: hour by hour, Saul Steinberg's 1984 raid on Disney. Augie: a studio that never heard of Ivan Boesky. Vera: chapter eight, two companies bought in three weeks, over five hundred million. Augie: chapter ten, the raider is paid three hundred twenty-five million. Vera: greenmail, the worst option except for all the others. Augie: the stock fell under forty-six that week. Verdict: keep chapter ten, who got paid; keep the phone calls, that's how it happens.

Storming the Magic Kingdom, by John Taylor, is an hour-by-hour account of Saul Steinberg's 1984 raid on Walt Disney Productions, a company whose chairman had never heard of the raiders circling it: in under three weeks Disney bought two companies with new stock, committing more than $500 million to dilute Steinberg, then paid him $325.5 million to go away, greenmail the book calls the worst option except for all the others, and the stock fell below $46 a share within the week; it is for anyone who wants the arithmetic of who got paid, told through the phone calls.

On the book: Storming The Magic Kingdom - Wall Street, The Raiders, and the Battle for Disney by John Taylor

Starring

DotVera LindqvistAugie Castellano