Barbarians at the Gate

After watching Barbarians at the Gate it opened my eyes to larger picture of corporate America. In watching the short film it became clear to me how corporate America handles large takeovers. Corporate takeovers are when acquiring companies make a bid for a specific company of interest. When the bidding resides and the takeover is official, the new owner of the company being taken over is now responsible for all of the company’s operations, holdings and debt. Also like in the movie Nabisco is being taken over and is a publicly traded firm, so the company taking over makes a bid for the outstanding shares the company has. Before this all made little sense to me, but after watching the movie it helped answer why companies take over other business.

Another lesson this movie taught me is simply how business are run then and how it relates to business operations now. The accusation of new business in 1988 is still very similar to how it happens now. Deals and communication was key to the buyout in this situation. Just like in situations in today’s business world deals are made through high levels of communication. The way mergers and take overs are discussed in the movie really gave me a glimpse into the minds of corporate decision making.

The best thing I was able to take from this was the introduction to many things we might be learning about in corporate finance. Several of the discussions during the movie lead me to think deeper into certain situations that might be relevant in today’s economy. Like when Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, (KKR) emerges as an alternative buyer. This situation probably occurs often in the market, and gave me good insight on how to handle this in a corporate buy out situation. Even though the market is different today many of the things still relate. Like how Nabisco original stock was at $50, but when being taken over they were offered $75 per share. This is also something you might see in today’s corporate America.

Overall the movie was...