From Publishers Weekly
A symbol of crony capitalism thanks to his friendly phone call to the 92nd Street Y pre-school on behalf of analyst Jack Grubman, Sanford Weill helped lay the groundwork for today's vertically integrated (and scandal-ridden) financial industry. Starting with a small brokerage, Weill built several business empires that culminated in the $83 billion 1998 merger that put him atop the global financial services leviathan Citigroup, an unprecedented agglomeration of investment and retail banks, insurance companies, consumer loan corporations and stock brokerages. More than a mere deal-maker, he also brought "lean and mean" management to Wall Street by laying off workers, slashing benefits, raiding pension funds and substituting stock options for salaries. Wall Street Journal reporter Langley's colorful biography tells this story well. She paints a vivid portrait of Weill, whose messy appetites, towering tantrums and voracious desire for corporate jets and other status symbols make him seem occasionally pre-schoolish himself, and provides a blow-by-blow account of Wall Street's sometimes explosive restructuring grounded in pettiness, nepotism and backstabbing. It's hard, though, to see the drama in executive turf battles when even the losers walk away with $30 million golden parachutes, and larger issues can get lost in the soap opera of office politics. The economic ramifications of the financial industry's reorganization are hardly touched on, and the effects of Weill's draconian cost-cutting on the rank-and-file who bore the brunt of it are treated as an untroubling prerequisite to rising productivity and share-holder value. Langley's book is informative and highly readable, but there's a much bigger story to be told. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

ANNOTATION

Staff Favorite of 2003

Based on nearly 500 firsthand interviews, this exemplary biography traces the rise to wealth and power of Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill. The son of an immigrant dressmaker, Weill became a consummate Wall Street deal maker whose appetite for success and willingness to engage in brutal turf battles permanently altered the financial industry. No wonder James B. Stewart, author of Den of Thieves, calls this revealing portrait, "the defining business book of the decade."

FROM THE PUBLISHER

He is one of the world's most accomplished figures of modern finance. As chairman and chief executive officer of Citigroup, Sanford "Sandy" Weill has become an American legend, a banking visionary whose innovativeness, opportunism, and even fear drove him from the lowliest jobs on Wall Street to its most commanding heights. In this unprecedented biography, acclaimed Wall Street Journal reporter Monica Langley provides a compelling account of Weill's rise to power. What emerges is a portrait of a man who is as vital and as volatile as the market itself. Tearing Down the Walls tells the riveting inside story of how a Jewish boy from Brooklyn's back alleys overcame incredible odds and deep-seated prejudices to transform the financial-services industry as we know it today. Using nearly five hundred firsthand interviews with key players in Weill's life and career -- including Weill himself -- Langley brilliantly chronicles not only his success and scandals but also the shadows of his hidden self; his father's abandonment and his loving marriage; his tyrannical rages as well as his tearful regrets; his fierce sense of loyalty and his ruthless elimination of potential rivals. By highlighting in new and startling detail one man's life in a narrative as richly textured and compelling as a novel, Tearing Down the Walls provides the historical context of the dramatic changes not only in business but also in American society in the last half century.

SYNOPSIS

TEARING DOWN THE WALLS reveals: ￯﾿ﾽThe behind-the-scenes workings in the executive suites of Wall Street companies that have suffered a drastic decline in investor/consumer confidence ￯﾿ﾽThe real story behind Weill and star analyst Jack Grubman's effort to get his toddlers into the posh 92nd Street Y pre-school ￯﾿ﾽWhy Citigroup received the stiffest fines for biased research (they just settled for $320 million on 12/20) but Weill did not (as was originally speculated) face personal charges ￯﾿ﾽHow future control of Citigroup was determined by a ballroom brawl ￯﾿ﾽHow Sandy Weill almost lost the top spot of the merged Travelers/Citibank to Citi's CEO John Reed. And how former Secretary of the Treasury, Robert Rubin played a deciding role ￯﾿ﾽHow Sandy Weill's management style is supremely effective and rivals that of Jack Welch

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

A symbol of crony capitalism thanks to his friendly phone call to the 92nd Street Y pre-school on behalf of analyst Jack Grubman, Sanford Weill helped lay the groundwork for today's vertically integrated (and scandal-ridden) financial industry. Starting with a small brokerage, Weill built several business empires that culminated in the $83 billion 1998 merger that put him atop the global financial services leviathan Citigroup, an unprecedented agglomeration of investment and retail banks, insurance companies, consumer loan corporations and stock brokerages. More than a mere deal-maker, he also brought "lean and mean" management to Wall Street by laying off workers, slashing benefits, raiding pension funds and substituting stock options for salaries. Wall Street Journal reporter Langley's colorful biography tells this story well. She paints a vivid portrait of Weill, whose messy appetites, towering tantrums and voracious desire for corporate jets and other status symbols make him seem occasionally pre-schoolish himself, and provides a blow-by-blow account of Wall Street's sometimes explosive restructuring grounded in pettiness, nepotism and backstabbing. It's hard, though, to see the drama in executive turf battles when even the losers walk away with $30 million golden parachutes, and larger issues can get lost in the soap opera of office politics. The economic ramifications of the financial industry's reorganization are hardly touched on, and the effects of Weill's draconian cost-cutting on the rank-and-file who bore the brunt of it are treated as an untroubling prerequisite to rising productivity and share-holder value. Langley's book is informative and highly readable, but there's a much bigger story to be told. (Feb.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

James B. Stewart

At last, the defining business book of the decade is here. Sandy Weill emerges as not just the most compelling character on Wall Street today, but a King Lear￯﾿ﾽlike figure of towering ego, voracious appetite and ruthless ambition who embodies the transformative power of American capitalism. The behind-the-scenes reporting is unparalleled, placing the reader in top-secret board meetings, lunches at the Four Seasons, and on board the corporate jets where real financial power is wielded. As fresh as today￯﾿ﾽs scandal-filled headlines, Tearing Down the Walls is also a meticulously detailed history and a powerful narrative that grips the reader right up to the revelations of its final pages.  — author of Den of Thieves

Ken Auletta

Monica Langley has written what will surely be a contender for the best business book of 2003. Tearing Down The Walls is like a Chinese menu in which the reader is offered everything from column A and B￯﾿ﾽa vivid biography of Wall Street titan Sandy Weill, an illuminating history of Wall Street, an inside-the-executive-suite look at how decisions are made, an explanation of why corporate America is sometimes ethically obtuse, a book that is anchored in fact yet reads like a novel. And, unlike a Chinese meal, readers will feel full hours later.  — author of Greed and Glory on Wall Street

Burroughs, Bryan