Takeover: The New Wall Street Warriors: The Men, the Money, the Impact

Investigative journalist Johnston, whose reportage has appeared in Esquire, National Geographic, etc., tells in dramatic terms the great financial story of the 1980s: mergers and hostile takeoverbattles involving the country's largest corporationsTexaco, Revlon, CBS, Union Carbide et al.with financiers like T. Boone Pickens, Carl Icahn and Sir James Goldsmith maneuvering to buy up shares or woo stockholders for control and to profit from undervalued assets or ensuing share-price movements. A whole new lexicon of tacticsgreenmail, poison pills, golden parachuteshas become familiar. Meanwhile, price gyrations unbalance the stock market and the net worth of insurance, pension and other institutional funds. On paper, the raiders make millions; for the target company, a takeover may mean finished careers and closed factories. Though a bit short on explaining the mechanics of it all for laypeople, Johnston's saga is full of revelations, excitement and cause for concern. First serial to the New York Times Magazine. (September 30)