Investigative reporter Om Malik offers an inside look into the telecom bubble and shows how upstarts and veterans alike became victims of what one chief executive aptly described as "high-yield heroin." Here's the story the media never told: of mavericks who turned simple light and glass fibers into veins of gold, financiers who got greedy and fleeced millions of unsuspecting people, clueless venture capitalists who thought they'd tapped into the mother lode, and self-proclaimed pundits who were cheering it all on from the sidelines.
Praise for Broadbandits "Broadbandits weaves together a story of greed, money, power, and crime to reveal to the millions of people who lost their investments in telecom stock where, and to whom, their hard-earned dollars went."
? Charles Dubow, Executive Editor, Forbes. com
"Om Malik has the courage to write that instead of reporting EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization), the CEOs he calls broadbandits reported their own style of EBITDA (Earnings Before Irregularities, Tampering, and Dubious Accounting). His pen is as wicked as Mark Twain's."
? Blaise Zerega, Managing Editor, Wired magazine
"Rare for a book in its field, Broadbandits is an attractive, stodge-free read. Accessible, even mischievous, it should prove instructive not merely to geeks, (disgruntled) venture capitalists, and bankrupt telecom tycoons, but also to that species most neglected of all? the lay reader."
? Tunku Varadarajan, Editorial Features Editor, The Wall Street Journal
"Broadbandits is a fast-paced tale of the key players responsible for inflating the telecom bubble. Many were fools, many others rogues, some managed to escape with riches, some were ruined. With an unforgettable cast, Broadbandits is a sobering account of monumental financial waste and the derailment of hundreds of thousands of lives."
? Andrew Odlyzko, Director, Digital Technology Center and Assistant Vice President for Research, University of Minnesota
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Broadbandits: The Most Wanted List. Prologue.
PART I: THE FIBER BARONS.
1. Bernie's Bad Idea.
2. Rocky Mountain High.
3. Once a Junkie, Always a Junkie.
4. Billionaire versus Billionaire.
5. The Attack of the Clones.
PART II: THE MILE NIGH CLUB.
6. Fresh Prince of Hot Air.
7. Nobody@HOME
8. Teddy Gets Taken to the Cleaners.
9. The House (of Cards) that Jack Built.
PART III. THE LIGHT KNIGHTS.
10. Canadian Rhapsody.
11. The Dan and Desh Show.
12. Just an Illusion.
13. The Swami of the Broadband Boom.
Epilogue: The End Game.
Acknowledgments.
Appendix A: Cash & Carry.
Appendix B: Bank Balance Buildout.
Notes.
Index.
