The Making of a Blockbuster: How Wayne Huizenga Built a Sports and Entertainment Empire from Trash, Grit and Videotape - Hardcover

Degeorge, Gail

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471122696 ISBN 13: 9780471122692

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc, 1995

Synopsis

Traces the career of the onetime garbageman, now head of the enormously successful Blockbuster Video chain and a major player in the merger of Viacom and Paramount, detailing his management style and strategies. 50,000 first printing. $50,000 ad/promo.

About this title

About the Author

About the Author GAIL DeGEORGE has been the Miami bureau manager for Business Week for five years. She joined Business Week as a correspondent in the Miami office in 1987, after working as a business reporter for The Miami Herald and the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. She teaches business and economics journalism in the graduate school of the University of Miami. She has covered a broad range of business topics and has written about H. Wayne Huizenga and Blockbuster Entertainment Corp. since 1990.

From the Back Cover

Named "The #1 Entrepreneur in America" by Success Magazine, March 1995 "The Making of a Blockbuster is an engrossing depiction of an out of nowhere, self-made American industrialist, Wayne Huizenga. It captures with intensity the true grit and dynamic, unwavering character of a blockbuster personality and his rise to this country?s preeminent entrepreneur." ?Sumner Redstone Chairman of the Board, Viacom Inc. "This is more than a book. It?s a fantasy about a man with great vision. A must read for anyone with dreams for their future." ?Aaron Spelling Spelling Television Inc. "Wayne Huizenga has been a major league player in every project and enterprise to which he has applied his considerable talents and wisdom. The corporate boardroom, the VCR in every family?s living room, and the fields of athletic endeavor, all have become a part of Wayne?s World. The name Huizenga is synonymous with heavy-hitter, winner, and most valuable player in everything he does. The Making of a Blockbuster is a modern Horatio Alger story that is sure to inspire and make everyone a fan of Wayne?s hard-work ethic." ?Lawton Chiles Governor of Florida "I have known and respected Gail DeGeorge?s work as a business journalist for some time. Her considerable reporting skills provide an insightful look at the management style of one of America?s most energetic entrepreneurs. In this age of mega-mergers, The Making of a Blockbuster takes the reader on a fascinating journey profiling a consummate deal-maker?from hauling trash to renting videos." ?Linda O?Bryon Senior Vice President & Executive Editor, Nightly Business Report "I have always admired anyone who makes it on their own and Wayne has done that in a big time way while never forgetting where it all began. The whole story is between the covers of this fascinating book, The Making of a Blockbuster." ?Frank Gifford ABC Sports

Reviews

The many media accounts profiling Huizenga have dubbed him "Midas." Everything he touches seems to turn to gold, and he has made (and never lost) three separate fortunes. He cofounded what is now WMX Technologies, the world's largest waste-management service company. After leaving there, he took control of Blockbuster Entertainment, overseeing its phenomenal growth. Last year he sold the video retailing giant to Viacom. In the meantime, he purchased three Florida professional sports teams and built a 2,500-acre theme park on the edge of the Everglades. Since stepping down last year as Blockbuster's CEO, he had been out of the news, but he resurfaced late this summer with the purchase of Republic Waste, another waste-management firm. That company's stock soared 766 percent on the news that Huizenga had taken over. DeGeorge, Business Week's Miami bureau manager, has covered Blockbuster and Huizenga for nearly 10 years, and recounts all this with prodigious detail. Her book will certainly appeal to those who are fascinated by entrepreneurial success stories. David Rouse

DeGeorge, the Miami bureau manager for BusinessWeek, has written an entertaining, sometimes sympathetic account of the rise of H. Wayne Huizenga. Covering his entire life and background from the arrival of his grandfather from the Netherlands to Chicago in 1893 to the present, the author documents a strong entrepreneurial streak that led the family to the refuse collecting business. Huizenga took two businesses public?first Waste Management and then Blockbuster?and emerged hugely successful. His merger with Viacom was designed with shareholders' best interests in mind. His art of dealmaking is legendary, his formula simple: Choose the business carefully, get to know it thoroughly, then expand, expand, expand. DeGeorge has provided a readable portrait of one of the foremost entrepreneurs of our time, comparing Huizenga's rise to the rise of the United States over the same period. Although the absence of an index is a drawback, DeGeorge's book is recommended for public and academic collections.?Littleton M. Maxwell, Business Information Ctr., Univ. of Richmond, Va.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0471122696
• ISBN 13: 9780471122692
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 354