Broadbandits: Inside the $750 Billion Telecom Heist

By Om Malik and Om P Malik

Book Overview

Investigating the financial fraud and misguided power plays that brought down the telecom industry Once the foundation of the Dow and NASDAQ, the telecom industry has eaten up more capital than any other industry in recent history and has nothing to show for it. Today, it is by far the worst culprit in the spate of financial dirty dealings that have been splashed across the business pages, and yet the rewards reaped by top executives at many of these failed or failing companies have been inversely proportionate to their decline. Broadbandits takes readers behind the scenes to get the story they won't get in the media. Investigative reporter Om Malik follows the money trail and deciphers the actions and motivations of a generation of new economy -barbarians- that brought down this once lucrative industry. This intriguing book offers an inside look into the telecom bubble, with tales and anecdotes about mavericks who turned simple light and glass fibers into veins of gold, financiers who got greedy and fleeced unsuspecting millions, clueless venture capitalists who thought they'd tapped into the mother lode, hapless entrepreneurs who believed that they were changing the world, and self-proclaimed pundits who were cheering it all on from the sidelines. Broadbandits is a compelling account of the downfall of telecom giants such as WorldCom and Global Crossing, and will show readers how many telecom upstarts and veterans alike became victims of what one chief executive aptly described as -high-yield heroin.- Om Malik (New York, NY) is a Senior Writer for Red Herring who focuses on the telecommunications sector. Prior to joining Red Herring in July 2000, he was senior editor at Forbes.com. His work has also been published in newspapers and magazines such as The Wall Street Journal, Business 2.0, Brandweek, and Crain's New York Business. For a very brief while, he was a venture capitalist.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471434051
• ISBN13: 9780471434054
• Release Date: May 2003
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.0" x 1.2" x 4.7"

Customer Reviews

I am invaluable-I didn't know what was going on!

Though much of the financial carnage associated with the companies chronicled in Broadbandits is well documented, I found Om Malik's coverage of the human element and motives involved to be both fascinating and illuminating.His timing on publishing this book could not be better, given the backdrop of ongoing investigations and legal action against many of the companies or principals he writes about. I find it ironic that a number of these "visionaries" and "promoters" who were paid like kings because they were supposedly so invaluable to their companies or firms, now use as a defense that they really didn't know what was going on in their companies. It is amazing people like Bernie Ebbers who made literally hundreds, if not thousands, of presentations to knowledgeable investors, who ask insightful questions, could now make this claim. Also, where are the other research analysts on Wall Street. It is one thing for Grubman to be an active co-conspirator, but where was the independent research that should have debunked these charlatans before they got started. The easiest myth to debunk of all is the myth that the Internet was growing 100% every four months over a sustainable period and press releases that claimed dial port consumption was increaseing 10% per month. Any reasonably asstute person could do the calculations on this and realize that there are not enough people or information to sustain this growth rate for more than a fleeting moment. In a matter of a couple of years everyone in the US would have had to have been signed onto an individual dial port twenty-four hours a day. Om Malik makes it clear how phony these arguments are and how dishonest and disingenuous they are. Future generations will look back on this much as we look back at the Tulip Bubble in Holland and wonder how did anybody ever believe any of this. This is a great first book for Om Malik.

Who, what, when, and why

This book explained things to me that even after following these stories over the last 5 years I didn't understand. I now know how all this stuff works, and why the bubble burst, and why my 401K looks more like a 101K. And, the book is actually enjoyable. I never thought reading about the people that stole my money could by so much fun. I guess it feels better knowing that most of them got theirs.

An OC-3 dose of human greed searching for technowealth

Be it the robber barrons of the railroad age or the techno age, their MO is the same. Hype the potential of rapid growth and fabulous wealth to employees, investors, lenders, and regulators while you carve out your personal wealth and build your mansions. Flagler did it in Florida and Ebbers did it Mississippi. Fast Eddie W. is doing it at SBC in Texas and hoodwinking all as the PSTN infrastructure is being fast eclipsed by the Chamber like pioneers at Cisco with VOIP networks. I made it my goal in reading this book to focus on telecom pioneers such as my Illinois native telecom hero, Jack Goeken, who took on the Goliaths at AT & T. I was happy to see that the author balanced out the book by talking about Jack. There is still plenty of room for the telecom Horatio Algers to make a substantial and lasting impact in helping the masses of the world to better communicate and bring us all a little closer together. Search these people out ... go to work for them ... invest in them ... read about them ... get inspired about them. We are out there!

Don't repeat history, learn from this book!

The latest run-up of telecom stocks -- for no reason -- is an interesting backdrop to reading this book, because you can see it all happening again. Malik's insights are deep and enjoyable, the pace comfortable, and the writing is engaging. While I can't say I enjoyed re-living the disasters in the telecom industry, I can say that it's something we all should do to avoid making many of the same mistakes. A great beach book.

A Thrilling, No holds barred account of Broadband Mania

A no holds barred account of moral and financial bankruptcy of the senior managements of major telecom companies...Malik weaves an entertaining account of the systematic deceit of the public by the barons of the new telecom and power of hype to which many of us succumbed. A must read for all those who lost in the stock market hype to be kept from being taken for a very expensive ride again.....