The Icarus Factor [antikvár]

The two chief executive officers were perched on stools at the Internet Café in Paris. Edgar Bronfman Jr. looked formal, even European, in his Armani suit. In a classic case of role reversal, Vivendi chairman and CEO Jean-Marie Messier had taken off his suit jacket as if he were trying to emulate an American businessman ready to roll up his sleeves. As the third-generation CEO of the family-controlled Seagram Co., Edgar Jr. had his heritage very much in mind that morning. Before the two men announced the $34-billion merger of their two companies, Edgar Jr. took Messier aside and told him, "You know what they say in the U.S. about entrepreneurial families? The first generation creates, the second makes the fortune, and the third destroys it. I represent that third generation. But with this, I'm assuring the future of the generations to follow." Even the date was auspicious. June 20, 2000, was the seventy-first birthday of Edgar Bronfman Sr. "I can think of no better present to give my father, his children, his grandchildren, and his great-grandchildren than this world-beating company