High Wire Act: Ted Rogers and the Empire that Debt Built

By Caroline Van Hasselt

Book Overview

There has possibly never been a more daring business figure in Canada's history than Ted Rogers. Hailed by some as a visionary with an incomparable insight, and equally loathed by others as a ruthless opportunist, Ted Rogers relentlessly conquered his rivals in three industries - radio, cable television and cellular telephony. High Wire Act is an unprecedented, in-depth analysis into how Ted Rogers, driven by the psychological need to restore his family's name, leveraged his stake in a small Toronto FM radio station and propelled it into a media and telecommunications behemoth worth over $23 billion. The many topics covered in the book include details on Rogers'... Unmatched ability to foresee the convergence of cable and telephony before anyone else did Insatiable appetite for debt and risk taking, and how he bet his company three times to carry out his vision Shrewd political and regulatory maneuvers that always kept him one step ahead of his competitors and political adversaries such as Bell and the Aspers Opportunistic acquisition of the Toronto Blue Jays High Wire Act is a fascinating and one-of-a-kind look into one of Canada's most audacious and visionary business figures of the past fifty years. Every Canadian business reader will be enthralled by this enduring success story of Canada's only true telecommunications mogul.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0470152966
• ISBN13: 9780470152966
• Release Date: October 2007
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 520 Pages
• Weight: 2.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.8" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

history and finance

Being a Canadian, and a financial historian I was interested in learning more about Roger and his business, having known little before other than his letter that he would send to me (phone bills). This book provides a wonderful history of cable in Canada and touches upon the US growth and influence. While the book gets terse at times, exploring in relative detail the maneuverings of Rogers and his crew. I actually enjoyed those stories greatly but found that those details could have been explained more thoroughly for the layman to get into. Hence, I couldn't really recommend it to my friends - though I tried. At the same time some brief explanation, of one chapter at least, the technologies that shaped Rogers and the industry such as GSM and CDMA. These two technologies really defined the battle grounds between Rogers, BCE, Fido, et al. None the less, these topics could be found in other sources and while it deters the reader somewhat I still enjoyed this book immensely and would love to find other books dedicating so much financial detail as this one has. It's not surprising that its written by a forensics accountant. Any new books coming out? I'll be the first to buy.