The Taking of Getty Oil
Pennzoil, Texaco, and the Takeover Battle That Made History
Steve Coll
- 532 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
The Taking of Getty Oil
Pennzoil, Texaco, and the Takeover Battle That Made History
Steve Coll
About This Book
A larger-than-life account of family, greed, and a courtroom showdown between Big Oil rivals from the New York Times âbestselling author of Private Empire. Pulitzer Prizeâwinning author Steve Coll is renowned for "his ability to take complicated, significant business stories and turn them into quick-reading engaging narratives" ( Chicago Tribune ). Coll is at the height of his talents in this "riveting" tale of one of the most spectacularâand catastrophicâcorporate takeovers of all time ( Newsday ). As the head of a sprawling oil empire, J. Paul Getty was once the world's richest man. But by 1984, eight years after his death, Getty's legacy was in tatters: His children were locked in a bitter feud over the family trust and the company he founded was riven by boardroom turmoil. Then Pennzoil made an agreement with Getty's son, Gordon, to purchase Getty Oil. It was a done dealâuntil Texaco swooped in to claim the $10 billion prize. What followed was an epic legal battle that pit "good ole boy" J. Hugh Liedtke of Pennzoil against the Wall Street brokers behind Texaco's offer. The scandalous details of the case would shock the business world and change the landscape of the oil industry forever. With a large cast of colorful characters and the dramatic pacing of a novel, The Taking of Getty Oil is a "suspenseful" and "always intriguing" chronicle of one of the most fascinating chapters in American corporate history ( Publishers Weekly ).