“They weren't pillaging – they were financing.” Those are the words of longtime Hollywood eminence Michael Ovitz in his unputdownable new memoir, Who Is Michael Ovitz? Having morphed into an M&A specialist towards the end of his time at the talent agency (CAA), Ovitz was describing all the overdone hysteria about Japanese investment in the United States in the 1980s.
Crucial here is that Ovitz co-founded CAA, and so knew intimately the money worries that generally define life for most business founders. It's a daily struggle for operating funds. More specifically, there's no such thing as the “easy money” that economic pundits of all stripes so casually throw around. Most of the time access to cash is incredibly challenging. Looking back on Japanese investment, the faux patriots who lamented the investment without there are no companies and no jobs were plainly insulated from the realities of running a business. Ovitz wasn't.
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