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Thanks for the great explanation! Please review more high-quality movies related to this topic. The release date is less relevant, as long as the quality is good, whether they are recent or from earlier years.
Computer Engineer here, didn't see this answered elsewhere in the comments but yes your explanation of the term "bootstrap" is pretty much on point given it's use elsewhere in software engineering and statistics to mean "start from nothing" or "start from very little". Examples include the bootstrap loader in your operating system: a tiny chunk of code that loads up the rest of your operating system (this is where the term "booting up" your computer comes from); and bootstrap sampling in statistics: a clever way to get better estimates from a smaller amount of data by basically using it to self-generate more (excuse my very inaccurate explanation).
Fun Fact - It is impossible to pull yourself up by the bootstraps. They are on your feet. When you pull, you actually go lower, not higher. Further, it's a nonsense expression, and first came from a comic where a man wished to put himself back on his own horse with his moustache. Anyone who uses this expression clearly has no idea what they are talking about since they don't even understand the basics of the metaphor they are using, and such people can easily be written off as their opinions are clearly baseless and unfounded. In learned circles it's used as a way to easily separate the smart from the idiots, as anyone who took time and care in their opinions would never fall for such an obvious ruse. 😊
@@D64nz Propaganda twists negative proverbs into positive ones. The same happened to "a few bad apples spoil the barrel" (a few bad people can corrupt an entire organization), now it's shortened and reversed to "it's only a few bad apples" (the few bad people that were caught represent not the entire organization).
Not sure if this is relevant but after the nabisco company was sold off to Mondelez (after the movie events), they shut down the mr Christie plant in Toronto, losing 550 manufacturing jobs, including my mothers. There was some ensuing legal Kerfuffle, and somehow between their union, Mondelez and whatever lawyers were involved, my mothers pension payout was cut significantly. Thanks private equity! Now we have a beautiful new parking lot next to the QEW west lakeshore off-ramp.
Private equitys big things are cutting jobs, eliminating pension liabilities and finding tax loopholes. Though I don't blame them, it's the government's lax regulations that allow them to exist.
I don't understand "pension funds" as a concept. It seems so alien to let the company run the retirement savings of people and that the company can cut them, ect. And that people have one legal protection.
The book is pretty fun in a bleak way. All these craven and narcissistic executives who don’t provide anything valuable to society yet still make immense sums of money
Reading the book it becomes apparent quite early just how useless they are... essentially just embezzling funds for "hospitality" then somehow gaining promotion to do the same at a bigger company.
This is fantastic!! I may have watched this movie in passing when I was really young, but had NOOOOOO idea what was going on - just a bunch of familiar, good actors!! Ahhh, the days of syndication on cable - The (Nostalgic) Glory Days... Thanks So Much Richard!!
I think RJR Tobacco bought or merged with Nabisco out of concern for bad PR of tobacco companies and fears about its (RJR's) long term profits and legal liability.
Nice! James Garner was a legendary actor. To see him as the complete opposite of a multi millionaire, but frequently involved in their imbroglios, check out The Rockford Files. It's Garner at his best, and to see it today is like taking a neat trip through a mid-70s museum.
08:33 "Like shit?!" "Shit is the consensus, sir". Okay, I get that maybe the subject matter of this documentary is serious, but that clip is unironically funny.
I also love that the reason for the "shit" taste was well explained in the movie; when lighting one with a match, inhaling drew the sulphur off-gassed by the burning matchhead through it and into the mouth. Apparently they tasted fine if lit with a cigarette lighter, but a match would make the first puff too disgusting to get past.
Boostrap aquisition: "To pull yourself up by your boostraps or sort of making something out of nothing (or very little)" - The plain Bagel. Too late for the "dont quote me on that".
I think I heard somewhere that it was originally a sort of commentary on the ridiculously nature of this deals on a face value to a layperson kind of way. Similar to the original "pull yourself up" quote was.
Yes, and it was a Progressive slam at conservatives who advocated God helps those who help themselves, and opposed any social safety nets. It was from a cartoon in which a guy was told to pull himself over a fence by his bootstraps, which is impossible, instead of accepting a helping hand.
James Garner will always be my favorite actor of all time. Barbarians was like The Rockford Files, but with a lot of cursing. Loved it! 😂 RIP, Mr. Garner ❤
Nice review. I was hoping this movie would get the bagel treatment. This movie (or parts of it) were required viewing for a corporate strategy class. While the public focus and the movie's focus lay on the buyout and on Ross Johnson, i would've loved to hear the John Greeniaus view of the whole thing. Being repulsed by excessive spending is one thing but agreeing to a LBO is quite another - so how he arrived at what was best for him and Nabisco would be a fun read / watch .
This was a great analysis of the movie Barbarians at the Gate, and a GREAT segway for this channel. I enjoy your craft, PLEASE continue these deep analysis of business movies, excellent job.
I LOVE this movie, thanks for reminding me of it! My dad had us watch it when I was probably 13 or so, and the "s*** storm without an umbrella" line brought the house down 😂
Interesting review - reminded me when I was back at Scotia Bank when Campeau's leveraged finance world blew up along with the bank.. Awe those were the days when the traders went to the "Ballet" for Lunch.
So fun history fact about the brief moment where the video talks about Spanish coins being split into 8 pieces, it's where we get the term "pieces of eight" that we associate with pirates. It was an early form of currency exchange in a world without fast traveling news and comparitively rudimentary bookkeeping. Incidentally, a look at the economics of colonial America could be interesting to talk about, as long as you're comfortable talking about slavery.
I'm old enough to remember😢PBS used to have the Nightly Business Report and there were a couple of Wallstreet things on Fridays. I remember the whole cigarette flavor marketing thing, my friends that smoked started talking about their preferred nags, cigarettes (nicotine) nags you to have another smoke. It was an attempt to distract from the nicotine addiction. I thought it was clever at the time.
Watched it, it's awesome. Especially the part that Kravis had no clue about the company's assets until John Greeniaus showed him. That's how he could come up with the bid. The deal didn't make any sense until I learned from a documentary that most of the key figures involved made a lot of $ in the process, they called it service fees. Is hedge fund the latest evolution of Leverage Buy Outs?
I thought Barbarians at the Gate was a reference to a classic novel called Waiting for the Barbarians. It is chock full of references to an existential dread created by the existence of a powerful group of people about which much is assumed but little is known. That’s the TLDR.
Not only have I watched the film several times but have read the book as well. Currennlty I happen to be reading a book about Drexel Bruman called Predator's ball
Fun fact: the fact that Spanish coins were used is what led to other terms like ‘two bits’, and ‘quarters’. The Spanish peso de ocho - piece of eight - could be cut into 8 pieces like a pizza. Two pieces - or two eighths - equalled one quarter of the coin :).
Its worth noting that takeovers/leverage buyouts became a thing because stocks (at the time) were trading for very low price / earnings multiples. RJR Nabisco traded at around 10 times earnings before the takeover (take private) bid began. The average PE of the SP500 today is 26+.
Never like the movie, despite being a James Garner fan. As a supposed hit piece on corporate greed, it fell WAY short. I felt at the end the audience was forced to sympathize with James Garner's characters. Which was utterly ridiculous.
This is a dumb question, but does a "buyout" necessarily only refer to taking a public company private? If a public company buys up all the shares of a public company, would that just be called an "acquisition"?
It was a great movie. To busy raising children and building a career at that time. I didn't notice that I had a thing for investments. Today I own some KKR products. I remembered that movie, when I was assembling my retirement.
@8:22 - Company launches a new product = Tastes like shit was the consumer consensus! Hope our new age companies learn a lesson about new product launches :)
College Humor did a bit about “The CEO of Oreo”. “We made the perfect cookie guys, we work at a money factory, you can just go home we did it”. “Every single cookie aisle in America is our billboard, do you think there is one person in this country who doesn’t know what Oreos are? Do you think there is one person who has not had an Oreo?” They’re so right too, it’s crazy how companies can have the perfect product that will make them money forever and they still need to try to do this shit that is just a waste of time.
It’s the kind of thing that makes me almost happy for leveraged buyouts. They get rid of all this extraneous crap. The only problem is that the people responsible for the wastefullness, the Executives, get bonuses and the employees get to look for another job.
Tbh ive learned more from these movies than id like to admit 😭 not that I take them as gospel but it is nice to at least have an image from a time i didnt live through
Taped this on VHS from HBO, loved it. The 'sh*t' scene follows on with Ross giving the line, "Tastes like shit and smells like a fart! There's a billboard campaign for ya!"
Premier wasn't *that* bad. You lit the end puck and it smoked like a hookah. It definitely didn't taste like a burning cigarette, so could see how people were caught off guard. It wasn't unpleasant though. Smoke free for 13 years. Don't ever start, it's awful.
I'm getting the impression you didn't read the book. I know it's a film review but it's one of the best "financial" books ever written and possibly the most epic corporate story of our generation. They were wild times. The film is badly cast. Garner is ok but Price is awful, as are the rest. Anyway thanks for reminding me of those days 👍
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Thanks for the great explanation! Please review more high-quality movies related to this topic. The release date is less relevant, as long as the quality is good, whether they are recent or from earlier years.
Barbarians at the gates is such a cool name, it's funny that it's about a corporate buyout
Leveraged*
Very important
Its from a famous greek poem, its complex but its basically about a city giving up and waiting for the barbarians that never come
"Debt can be an asset.Debt tightens a company" "Does wonders for the sphincter too" made me chuckle
Computer Engineer here, didn't see this answered elsewhere in the comments but yes your explanation of the term "bootstrap" is pretty much on point given it's use elsewhere in software engineering and statistics to mean "start from nothing" or "start from very little".
Examples include the bootstrap loader in your operating system: a tiny chunk of code that loads up the rest of your operating system (this is where the term "booting up" your computer comes from); and bootstrap sampling in statistics: a clever way to get better estimates from a smaller amount of data by basically using it to self-generate more (excuse my very inaccurate explanation).
Interesting, thanks for the added insight!
booting or bootstrapping is common sense at this point. No clue why this would even deserve discussion at all.
Fun Fact - It is impossible to pull yourself up by the bootstraps. They are on your feet. When you pull, you actually go lower, not higher.
Further, it's a nonsense expression, and first came from a comic where a man wished to put himself back on his own horse with his moustache. Anyone who uses this expression clearly has no idea what they are talking about since they don't even understand the basics of the metaphor they are using, and such people can easily be written off as their opinions are clearly baseless and unfounded. In learned circles it's used as a way to easily separate the smart from the idiots, as anyone who took time and care in their opinions would never fall for such an obvious ruse. 😊
@@D64nz Welcome to the English language. Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?
@@D64nz Propaganda twists negative proverbs into positive ones. The same happened to "a few bad apples spoil the barrel" (a few bad people can corrupt an entire organization), now it's shortened and reversed to "it's only a few bad apples" (the few bad people that were caught represent not the entire organization).
Loved the scene where Ross sends his jet to transport only his dog, "Mr. Shepherd", which was also apparently based on a real event.
Not sure if this is relevant but after the nabisco company was sold off to Mondelez (after the movie events), they shut down the mr Christie plant in Toronto, losing 550 manufacturing jobs, including my mothers. There was some ensuing legal Kerfuffle, and somehow between their union, Mondelez and whatever lawyers were involved, my mothers pension payout was cut significantly. Thanks private equity! Now we have a beautiful new parking lot next to the QEW west lakeshore off-ramp.
Private equitys big things are cutting jobs, eliminating pension liabilities and finding tax loopholes. Though I don't blame them, it's the government's lax regulations that allow them to exist.
I don't understand "pension funds" as a concept. It seems so alien to let the company run the retirement savings of people and that the company can cut them, ect. And that people have one legal protection.
The book is pretty fun in a bleak way. All these craven and narcissistic executives who don’t provide anything valuable to society yet still make immense sums of money
Reading the book it becomes apparent quite early just how useless they are... essentially just embezzling funds for "hospitality" then somehow gaining promotion to do the same at a bigger company.
Sounds unrealistic. That woukd NEVER happen in real life! Executives are always worth their weight in gold!
@@hillfortherstudios2757always is a strong word 😅
Sounds like Elon Musk
This is fantastic!! I may have watched this movie in passing when I was really young, but had NOOOOOO idea what was going on - just a bunch of familiar, good actors!! Ahhh, the days of syndication on cable - The (Nostalgic) Glory Days...
Thanks So Much Richard!!
I know it is childish, but Mr. Antonio "Big Onion" Cipollone name and spelling made my day before the weekend! 3:30 🤣 Greetings from Italy by the way!
I always find it wild that tobacco companies at one point owned food companies.
I think RJR Tobacco bought or merged with Nabisco out of concern for bad PR of tobacco companies and fears about its (RJR's) long term profits and legal liability.
Tf you mean "at one point?"😂
And if you grew up in 1990s New Mexico, you might remember when they put a cigarette section in the middle of the candy aisle!
Phillip Morris (now Altria) owns Kraft.
Nice! James Garner was a legendary actor. To see him as the complete opposite of a multi millionaire, but frequently involved in their imbroglios, check out The Rockford Files. It's Garner at his best, and to see it today is like taking a neat trip through a mid-70s museum.
08:33 "Like shit?!" "Shit is the consensus, sir".
Okay, I get that maybe the subject matter of this documentary is serious, but that clip is unironically funny.
I also love that the reason for the "shit" taste was well explained in the movie; when lighting one with a match, inhaling drew the sulphur off-gassed by the burning matchhead through it and into the mouth. Apparently they tasted fine if lit with a cigarette lighter, but a match would make the first puff too disgusting to get past.
"Tastes like shit and smells like a fart: that's one g-ddamn unique marketing campaign."
Boostrap aquisition: "To pull yourself up by your boostraps or sort of making something out of nothing (or very little)"
- The plain Bagel.
Too late for the "dont quote me on that".
I think I heard somewhere that it was originally a sort of commentary on the ridiculously nature of this deals on a face value to a layperson kind of way. Similar to the original "pull yourself up" quote was.
Something you forgot to mention was that F. Ross Johnson was Canadian.
You always come out with the best thumbnails ahah
Fun Fact - It is impossible to pull yourself up by the bootstraps. They are on your feet. When you pull, you actually go lower, not higher.
Yes, and it was a Progressive slam at conservatives who advocated God helps those who help themselves, and opposed any social safety nets. It was from a cartoon in which a guy was told to pull himself over a fence by his bootstraps, which is impossible, instead of accepting a helping hand.
James Garner will always be my favorite actor of all time. Barbarians was like The Rockford Files, but with a lot of cursing. Loved it! 😂
RIP, Mr. Garner ❤
Nice review. I was hoping this movie would get the bagel treatment.
This movie (or parts of it) were required viewing for a corporate strategy class. While the public focus and the movie's focus lay on the buyout and on Ross Johnson, i would've loved to hear the John Greeniaus view of the whole thing. Being repulsed by excessive spending is one thing but agreeing to a LBO is quite another - so how he arrived at what was best for him and Nabisco would be a fun read / watch .
Been a fan of this series since the start
This was a great analysis of the movie Barbarians at the Gate, and a GREAT segway for this channel. I enjoy your craft, PLEASE continue these deep analysis of business movies, excellent job.
I LOVE this movie, thanks for reminding me of it! My dad had us watch it when I was probably 13 or so, and the "s*** storm without an umbrella" line brought the house down 😂
Always a pleasure when you post! I don't have anything clever to add, just happy.
Thanks for this. This is one of my favorite books and movies, both.
Interesting review - reminded me when I was back at Scotia Bank when Campeau's leveraged finance world blew up along with the bank.. Awe those were the days when the traders went to the "Ballet" for Lunch.
So fun history fact about the brief moment where the video talks about Spanish coins being split into 8 pieces, it's where we get the term "pieces of eight" that we associate with pirates. It was an early form of currency exchange in a world without fast traveling news and comparitively rudimentary bookkeeping.
Incidentally, a look at the economics of colonial America could be interesting to talk about, as long as you're comfortable talking about slavery.
it's a classic! was recommended in my business finance class in law school
Is everyone else not seeing Richard’s videos being recommend or on their feed? I have to always look up the account to see new videos
Loved that movie. James Garner was a great actor.
RIP James Garner
The Nabisco Movie! I've seen it more than once here on UA-cam.
Hope you make more finance movie reviews, this is great
I'm old enough to remember😢PBS used to have the Nightly Business Report and there were a couple of Wallstreet things on Fridays. I remember the whole cigarette flavor marketing thing, my friends that smoked started talking about their preferred nags, cigarettes (nicotine) nags you to have another smoke. It was an attempt to distract from the nicotine addiction. I thought it was clever at the time.
I used to watch it with my dad. Pretending to be a grown up and trying to understand.
Watched it, it's awesome.
Especially the part that Kravis had no clue about the company's assets until John Greeniaus showed him. That's how he could come up with the bid.
The deal didn't make any sense until I learned from a documentary that most of the key figures involved made a lot of $ in the process, they called it service fees.
Is hedge fund the latest evolution of Leverage Buy Outs?
I once met Mr.Kravis in the john at the Waldorf Astoria.
Loved the book. Really ominous with all the venture capital money in start ups over the last decade
My favorite finance UA-camr 🐐
Mad this isn't getting more views, PB might not make more of em... I'm not gonna watch this movie but it's super interesting
Another movie to cross off my to-do list!
I never thought the Vanke CEO was making a reference during that hostile takeover drama
I’ve read the book and have not seen the movie. Motivated now to fix that.
If you ever have extra time to review a finance movie, I’d love to see you review ‘Too Big To Fail’.
I thought Barbarians at the Gate was a reference to a classic novel called Waiting for the Barbarians. It is chock full of references to an existential dread created by the existence of a powerful group of people about which much is assumed but little is known. That’s the TLDR.
Man, I haven't watched this since I was in high school. Gotta give it another look now that I too am a real businessman!
Wow I’m old enough to remember switching from fractional to decimal stock quotes
The last time I worked in investment banking, stocks and bonds were in fractions. Now I feel old.
This was a really good movie. Thank you for doing a review of it.
Did you already cover (the movie) “Margin Call”?
Yes he has :)
Is it strange that I have listened to the audio book but haven't seen the movie?
Could do a review of rogue trader from the 90s. Its a good one 👍
Jordan Belfort?
He's already covered The Wolf of Wall Street.
@chukuemekaoje1015 No, this was a british trader. Evan mcgregor stars
Not only have I watched the film several times but have read the book as well. Currennlty I happen to be reading a book about Drexel Bruman called Predator's ball
Also noticed in the last scene, Ross is at the house in Palm Beach without the girl or the dog. Interpret tha how you will.
Fun fact: the fact that Spanish coins were used is what led to other terms like ‘two bits’, and ‘quarters’. The Spanish peso de ocho - piece of eight - could be cut into 8 pieces like a pizza. Two pieces - or two eighths - equalled one quarter of the coin :).
Did the first 80s working montage have a saxophone, and the second 80s working montage have a synth? That is very 80s.
I think what is amazing is that Wikipedia has very little written about Ross Johnson.
If only this had come out last spring when I had to write my final paper on this movie (didn’t watch it)
I’m in.., gonna watch this movie too
Make a review of Pursuit of Happyness Movie. Its brilliant
Fantastic movie, even better book
Its worth noting that takeovers/leverage buyouts became a thing because stocks (at the time) were trading for very low price / earnings multiples. RJR Nabisco traded at around 10 times earnings before the takeover (take private) bid began. The average PE of the SP500 today is 26+.
Never like the movie, despite being a James Garner fan. As a supposed hit piece on corporate greed, it fell WAY short. I felt at the end the audience was forced to sympathize with James Garner's characters. Which was utterly ridiculous.
I love a good movie review. Over explaining makes it feel like I'm watching it again
Ive never seen this movie i loved the book
That line about the new cigarettes smelling like a fart and tasting like sh-t always cracks me up 🤣
This is a dumb question, but does a "buyout" necessarily only refer to taking a public company private? If a public company buys up all the shares of a public company, would that just be called an "acquisition"?
This was a great movie and hard to find. I think this, margin call, and boiler room are all underrated or not talked about enough.
I'll come back to this video after watching the film. Hold caller.
Good job.
It was a great movie.
To busy raising children and building a career at that time. I didn't notice that I had a thing for investments.
Today I own some KKR products.
I remembered that movie, when I was assembling my retirement.
Great video.
Dang great book and didn’t know there was a movie
@8:22 - Company launches a new product = Tastes like shit was the consumer consensus! Hope our new age companies learn a lesson about new product launches :)
Do the funny Dicaprio one too
felt like this could have used more analysis, maybe more comparison or or contrasting with other major financial events.
Hey Bagel I was wondering if you'd make a video about Trumps tariff plans and its effect on the US economy and stock market. Thank you!
man I love you
I watch all these kinds of financial movies. Last couple I watched was the Big Short and Wolf of Wall Street.
the thumbnail really killed
College Humor did a bit about “The CEO of Oreo”. “We made the perfect cookie guys, we work at a money factory, you can just go home we did it”. “Every single cookie aisle in America is our billboard, do you think there is one person in this country who doesn’t know what Oreos are? Do you think there is one person who has not had an Oreo?”
They’re so right too, it’s crazy how companies can have the perfect product that will make them money forever and they still need to try to do this shit that is just a waste of time.
It’s the kind of thing that makes me almost happy for leveraged buyouts. They get rid of all this extraneous crap. The only problem is that the people responsible for the wastefullness, the Executives, get bonuses and the employees get to look for another job.
Hi Richard,
Can you please review the new ETF by Global X called MART, that tracks the groceries and staples?
Thanks
I’ve read that Oreos were a dupe of Hydrox cookies
Do you have a gluten free version of this channel?
Oreo cookies is a copy of similar cookie, Hydrox.
Cmon book is famous
Tbh ive learned more from these movies than id like to admit 😭 not that I take them as gospel but it is nice to at least have an image from a time i didnt live through
Good episode. (enjoyable movie, in my opinion)
Wow James Garner and the actor from Billions.
I feel like this video was hidden from the algorithm for some reason. I never got the recommendation :(
I like these
I think the movie is still free on Youtude
Taped this on VHS from HBO, loved it. The 'sh*t' scene follows on with Ross giving the line, "Tastes like shit and smells like a fart! There's a billboard campaign for ya!"
Premier wasn't *that* bad. You lit the end puck and it smoked like a hookah. It definitely didn't taste like a burning cigarette, so could see how people were caught off guard. It wasn't unpleasant though.
Smoke free for 13 years. Don't ever start, it's awful.
The book is so much better. I think this would have fit better as a miniseries because so much is left out of the movie.
My favorite line from the film: “Tastes like shit and smells like a fart.” 😂
I literally cannot find this movie anywhere, not on netflix, prime or even on most pirating sites. wtf
What? I read the book. Didn’t know this was a movie.
I'm getting the impression you didn't read the book. I know it's a film review but it's one of the best "financial" books ever written and possibly the most epic corporate story of our generation. They were wild times. The film is badly cast. Garner is ok but Price is awful, as are the rest. Anyway thanks for reminding me of those days 👍
I’ve seen this movie at least a dozen times, including when it came out originally.
Good book of the same name
This buyout paid for my college education. Thanks grandpa!
Watched it a few times, free on yt. Neat
How does one invest with you?
Through his employer I assume.
The 80s were the sh!t!!!