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Steve Coll
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The Taking of Getty Oil: Pennzoil, Texaco, and the Takeover Battle That Made History Kindle Edition

by Steve Coll (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 338 ratings
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A larger-than-life account of family, greed, and a courtroom showdown between Big Oil rivals from the New York Times–bestselling author of Private Empire.

Pulitzer Prize–winning 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 spectacular—and catastrophic—corporate 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 deal—until 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).
 
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  1. Print length
    671 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Open Road Media
  5. Publication date
    June 13, 2017
  6. File size
    2690 KB
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The financial disarray in which J. Paul Getty's death in 1976 left his family and the Getty Oil Company has led to sibling contention, corporate intrigue, courtroom high drama and, most recently, to an unprecedented $11-billion damage judgment over the Texaco-Pennzoil acquisition. Using "reconstructed dialogue" and suspenseful narrative, Washington Post financial writer Coll spins the story of family trustee Gordon Getty who sows confusion; a beset Getty Oil management; Texas oil-patch "good ole boy" Hugh Liedtke of Pennzoil fulfilling his dream to buyout Getty, only to be outmaneuvered by Texaco's Wall Street merger-brokersbut eventually winning in a down-home jury trial the biggest civil monetary damage award ever. Coll's behind-the-scenes account of investment banking and legal high jinks is at times startling and always intriguing. Major ad/promo; first serial to the Los Angeles Times Magazine.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The struggle between Pennzoil and Texaco to take over Getty Oil has become a popular subject. Like Thomas Petzinger's Oil & Honor ( LJ 6/15/87), this business history, with its large cast of players, reads like a novel. Relying primarily upon interviews, depositions, and oral testimony, Coll uses dialogue to enliven this account of how Pennzoil's attempt to resolve a Getty family feud resulted in Texaco, one of America's biggest corporations, filing for bankruptcy. This well-researched and superbly written book recounts events through early 1987. Highly recommended for public, academic, and business libraries. Leonard Grundt, Nassau Communty Coll. Lib., Garden City, N.Y.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B071RCRQY1
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Road Media; Reprint edition (June 13, 2017)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 13, 2017
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2690 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 671 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 338 ratings

About the author

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Steve Coll

Steve Coll

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Steve Coll is a writer for The New Yorker and author of the Pulitzer Prize- winning Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001. He is president of the New America Foundation, a public policy institute in Washington, D.C. Previously he served, for more than twenty years, as a reporter, foreign correspondent, and ultimately as managing editor of The Washington Post. He is also the author of On the Grand Trunk Road, The Deal of the Century, and The Taking of Getty Oil. Coll received a 1990 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism and the 2001 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for outstanding international print reporting and the 2000 Overseas Press Club Award for best magazine reporting from abroad. Ghost Wars, published in 2004, received the Pulitzer for general nonfiction and the Arthur Ross award for the best book on international affairs.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
338 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Keith
5.0 out of 5 stars Really good, well researched book
Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2023
Verified Purchase
This was a really good book. It was well researched and the author did a good job of bringing the characters involved to life where you understood decisions that without context might not make sense. Overall, it was well worth the time I put into reading it and would recommend it to others.
One person found this helpful
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Admiralu
4.0 out of 5 stars Destruction of Getty Oil
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2020
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I had read a bio of J Paul Getty and his complex life, which was quite interesting. I decided to read this to find out what happened to the company his father had built and he had carefully managed and grew over the years. I could see why Gordon was not his choice to handle the trust alone. Undoubtedly, J Paul would be angry and disappointed at how the company was destroyed. The management team had done an admirable job of running the company, but with the death of an influential company lawyer, things quickly grew out of control. Gordon's lack of business instinct led to situations that out the company in danger. He was unaware and didn't care. I felt sympathy for Sid Peterson, the exec in charge, trying to protect the company and manage Gordon's increasingly unusual requests wanting to "enhance shareholder value." His misguided efforts led to numerous lawyers ( for him, for the company, for the trust, then the merger and valuations). It finally reached the point where the company was forced to find a buyer and fend off takeover attempts. Predatory businessmen and lawyers came for the feeding frenzy. You need a scorecard to keep track of all the players. Gordon, the Getty Trust, Getty Museum, other family members, the board of directors of Getty Oil, Pennzoil, Texaco and an army of lawyers. This led to one of the largest mergers and largest lawsuit damages at the time. This was a long book even for me to get through. The first half flew, my favorite parts being the board vs Gordon. It bogged down for me during the trial. I read this book using immersion reading. Narration by Steven Cooper was straightforward and rote.
3 people found this helpful
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LennyP213
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read!
Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2020
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Great story telling! A very enjoyable read. As a corporate lawyer I throughly enjoyed it. Yes there are a lot of characters but they are vividly described. The way the negotiations, board meetings, meetings with counsel are described are realistic. Having grown up in Los Angeles I loved the references to local landmarks. It made me wonder what these places were like back then. Recommended for millenial and soon gen Z attorneys as a glimpse into a historic area in American finance. Law and finance needs will love it
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Chris
5.0 out of 5 stars ... and retirement yielding to the likes of corporate raiders like Boone Pickens who reshaped our industries in targets to ...
Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2017
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This 1980's Wall street greed destroyed core businesses who employed thousands taking advantage of a secure job and retirement yielding to the likes of corporate raiders like Boone Pickens who reshaped our industries in targets to be harvested to sell off like yard sales -many blame other things like foreign competition for the shape we are in but when Getty was pawned of for the value of it's stock and not it's profitability thousand of jobs and security was lost for the sake of Wall street greed
2 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Story
Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2021
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Reads like a suspense novel. Author Does a great job keeping the reader engaged and keeping track of all the characters in the story.
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Bob T.
4.0 out of 5 stars Oil, Turmoil and Takeovers: Great Insider Story
Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2018
Verified Purchase
Tons of insider detail and conversation describing the turmoil that racked and ultimately wrecked J. Paul Getty's huge oil legacy. Takeover artists, Wall Street hawks, and industry giants play key roles in the 1970s-80s environment that made Getty Oil a target. Steve Coll's narrative is most readable and compelling--only a few necessary side trips to explain important financial issues.
One person found this helpful
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John
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read for any corporate lawyer
Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2020
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FAbulous reflection on the intense worlds of corporate deal making which today must be even more intense with the instant response capabilities of the internet. WHEN do any of these attorneys in the trenches get time to sleep when a deal is in. The making?
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Anne Elliott
5.0 out of 5 stars For the Love of Money-
Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2018
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A record of greed, vanity, injured pride,entitlement, and wasted lives. Of all the people mentioned in this book, from principals to lawyers, to judges, not one of them achieved the real success of a fruitful, happy, orderly family life and a peaceful, productive life work. As the Bible says, The love of money is a root of all evil.
6 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

MARG
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book. After all these years of wondering what ...
Reviewed in Canada on December 23, 2017
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Great book. After all these years of wondering what happened to my job (after 18 years) with Texaco Canada I finally know they whole story. This was a sad case of injustice to Texaco being slapped with this amount of penalty. They were not even responsible ! If it wasn't for those hunger investment bankers ....... a deal was done with Penzoil and Getty and they knew it< but they had to involve Texaco !!! I guess in part it was their fault for being so naïve. Look was happened in the end in 1991 I along with 7,000 people in Canada lost their jobs because of this. The company could not survive a judgement like that and eventually went bankrupt. shame on that jury !!!!
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D. H. Burney
5.0 out of 5 stars captivating indictment of Wall Street at its worst.
Reviewed in Canada on September 13, 2018
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Superb, captivating indictment of Wall Street at its worst.
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