As recently as 1968, computer scientists were uncertain how best to interconnect even two computers. The notion that within a few decades the challenge would be how to interconnect millions of computers around the globe was too far-fetched to contemplate. Yet, by 1988, that is precisely what was happening. The products and devices developed in the intervening years—such as modems, multiplexers, local area networks, and routers—became the linchpins of the global digital society. How did such revolutionary innovation occur? This book tells the story of the entrepreneurs who were able to harness and join two factors: the energy of computer science researchers supported by governments and universities, and the tremendous commercial demand for Internetworking computers. The centerpiece of this history comes from unpublished interviews from the late 1980s with over 80 computing industry pioneers, including Paul Baran, J.C.R. Licklider, Vint Cerf, Robert Kahn, Larry Roberts, and Robert Metcalfe. These individuals give us unique insights into the creation of multi-billion dollar markets for computer-communications equipment, and they reveal how entrepreneurs struggled with failure, uncertainty, and the limits of knowledge.

Whether your transaction is completed by LBO, merger, sale or reverse stock split, Going Private provides the practical and thorough analysis you need to help it survive scrutiny under governing legal standards. Going Private offers pointers on structuring the transaction, preparing the proxy statement and Schedule 13E-3, and defining the roles of the board of directors and committees, independent directors, attorneys, and financial advisors. In addition, it analyzes the entire fairness rule and shifting the burden of proof, state anti-takeover legislation, leveraged buyouts, fairness opinions, squeeze-outs, restructurings, going dark, and the applicability of the business judgment rule to hostile bids for control. The book also provides charts of the principal terms of recent merger and acquisition transactions, and discusses the impact of recent court decisions relating to material adverse change clauses and acquisitions. Book Ⱦ looseleaf, one volume, 1106 pages; published in 1982, updated as needed; no additional charge for updates during your subscription. Looseleaf print subscribers receive supplements. The online edition is updated automatically. ISBN: 978-1-58852-015-9.

An insider's view of the investment banking world from someone who is actually shaping it Powerful, controversial and determined, Thomas Weisel is known for his unwavering focus on winning the race, whether he is competing in a national cycling championship, sponsoring Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong or negotiating with business competitors. For twenty-seven years he ran one of the major investment banks on the West Coast, bringing public companies such as Applied Materials, Siebel Systems and Yahoo! and was instrumental in establishing San Francisco as an alternative financial center to Wall Street. In 1997 he sold his company to NationsBank, which later merged with Bank of America. Unhappy with his treatment after the merger, Weisel trumped Bank of America by negotiating a separation package that included $500 million in stock options and the ability to hire away crucial Bank of America management. Within two years, the investment bank he started, Thomas Weisel Partners, reached half a billion dollars in revenues and negotiated high-profile deals such as Yahoo!'s merger with Geocities. Power Investor weaves Weisel's approach to success, his competitive nature and love of cycling into a fascinating inside account of the cutthroat world of investment banking. Thomas Weisel (San Francisco, CA) is the founder, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee of Thomas Weisel Partners, a research-driven merchant bank exclusively focused on the growth sectors of the U.S. economy. He is founder and president of Tailwind Sports, which manages the U.S. Postal Service cycling team, and was an Olympic-class speed skater and the former chairman of the U.S. Ski Foundation. Richard Brandt (San Francisco, CA) has twenty years' experience as a leading business journalist. He was a senior reporter for BusinessWeek for fourteen years and editor in chief of the technology business magazine Upside for four years.

This edited volume offers thorough coverage of the business of investment banking, including much inside information based on the extensive professional experience of the contributors. Comprising 32 chapters, covering every facet of investment banking, from its historical origins in the U.S. to the current high-dollar activity in mergers and acquisitions. Contributors are noted businessmen and academics from the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Japan. Chapters fall into eight sections: investment banking today, raising capital, transactional activities, specialized financial instruments, tax-exempt financing, broker activities, commercial banks and investment banking, and investment banking outside the United States. Raising capital is traditionally what investment banking is all about, and the Handbook explains who does it and how it's done.

Over fifty million people suffer from some form of autoimmune disease-multiple sclerosis, arthritis, lupus, and other afflictions in which the body attacks itself-none of them with a lasting cure. Susan Quinn has investigated the worlds where new autoimmune drugs are being developed: the research labs, the drug-company boardrooms, and the clinics where patients become "subjects" in the search for new medicines and treatments. Her exciting story is one of real people: fiercely competing scientists, ambitious venture capitalists, and, above all, anxious, sick human beings. She takes the reader inside these otherwise closed worlds, into the lead investigator's diaries, the tense closed-door meetings with investors, and the hopeful or heart-rending encounters in doctor's offices. Hers is the archetypal story of all medical research: the roller-coaster trip from the lab bench to the medicine cabinet, in which only a very few new drugs and treatments survive. Susan Quinn, author of the acclaimed biography Marie Curie, catches the hopes, triumphs, and crushing failures, the greed and the idealism in these dramatic human trials.

A revealing expose by one of today's most successful andcontroversial speculators Short-selling, or betting on a drop in the price of a stock, hasbeen described by its many opponents as everything from shady todownright evil. And no one today personifies the practice betterthan short-seller extraordinaire Manuel Asensio. Though he has beenbranded in the press as a market saboteur, Asensio staunchlydefends his practices, claiming that, above all, he is out toexpose rampant fraud being perpetrated by unscrupulous stockpromoters. Is Asensio a "Minion of Satan" as they say in the onlinechat rooms, or is he really a misunderstood guardian angel of freemarket capitalism? In this tell-all account, Asensio offers readersa lively narrative, peppered with unforgettable anecdotes such asthe story of why he shorted Diana, General Nutrition, Solv-Ex,Turbodyne, and many other high-profile stocks. And he armsinvestors with proven techniques for reducing the inherent risks ofshort-selling while maximizing returns. Clearly, Asensio invitesboth praise and criticism, but his methodology works, and SoldShort is a compelling and fascinating read about this oftenmysterious side of the market--and one of the most controversialindividuals behind it. Manuel Asensio (New York, NY) is founder and Chairman of Asensio& Co., Inc. He has over twenty years of corporate finance andresearch experience. He has been featured in Business Week, theWall Street Journal, Barron's, Fortune, Forbes, Worth, the New YorkTimes, New York magazine, and the New Republic, among other leadingnational and international publications.