The Making of a Blockbuster: How Wayne Huizenga Built a Sports and Entertainment Empire from Trash, Grit and Videotape
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The Making of a Blockbuster: How Wayne Huizenga Built a Sports and Entertainment Empire from Trash, Grit and Videotape Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥
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6 Stars, $25k to $1 million in 7 years or 4,000%
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That's the return an investor in Blockbuster in Jan. 1987 would have had. And for Wayne's investment, $17.5 million, that grew to $600 million in 7 years.
This is a truly intriguing story of how Wayne (and team) built TWO multi billion dollar companies, Blockbuster Entertainment and Waste Management. The author, Gail does a great job of taking you through Wayne's early days when all of his garbage company's credit lines were exhausted and meeting the day to day expenses were a struggle, up to the point that he realized that the best bet was to go public so he could use the stock as currency for rapid expansion. And rapidly expand he did. In the 10 months between March and December 1972, Waste Management bought 133 different businesses.
During his forays in the water business Wayne and his right hand man Steve Berrard scooped up 16 water companies in eight months, going from zero to the thirteenth largest bottled water company in the nation, which was sold to Clorox for a profit of $16 million within 3 years.
Berrard's deal making skills:
-Don't paint yourself into a corner
-Never say anything that won't let you come back in the front door
-Don't say something is a deal breaker
-A deal is never dead if you don't let it die
-Always let the other side set the initial price
-Always leave room to back up
-Recognize what the other side really wants out of a deal
-Know when to walk
-Don't take no for an answer
Talking about Blockbuster Wayne would point out that the stores were paying for themselves in roughly 3 years from the cash flow. (mental not for business buyers)
As anyone who reads my other reviews or my blog knows, I zero in on the structure of the deals mentioned in the book. Interestingly you get a good idea of how the whole Blockbuster - Virgin deal was structured. Blockbuster was to be an even partner in Virgin's 15 stores in Europe and have 75% ownership of the US stores (other than the LA store which they had 1/3). Virgin would retain managing control along with its 25%. Blockbuster would fund the expansion.
Great Quotes:
"The biggest lesson I learned is that when you say you're going to do something, be darn sure you do it."
"Huizenga held fast to two rules: Don't loose a deal because you're not paying attention to it and never talk about it until its done and in writing."
"His father says, Wayne is still driven by the same force that's driven him since the purchase of that first garbage truck in 1962. (The Deal) The excitement of making the deal. I think that's what drives him"
By Kevin Kingston, author of: A 20,000% Gain in Real Estate: A True Story About the Ups and Downs From Wall Street to Real Estate Leading to Phenomenal Returns
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The Making of a Blockbuster: How Wayne Huizenga Built a Sports and Entertainment Empire from Trash, Grit and Videotape Books In Print, Audio Books.