This is the Tom Hartman Program.

Our book today on the Tom Hartman Book Club is Coakland, The Secret History of Coke Industries and Corporate Power in America by Christopher Leonard.

This is from the Preface. On May 18th, 1981, four Wall Street

bankers traveled to Wichita, Kansas. They went there to make an offer to Charles Koch, the

CEO of an obscure mid-sized energy company.

The bankers from Morgan Stanley wanted to convince Koch to take his family's company public,

offering shares for sale in the New York Stock Exchange.

Their deal was squarely in line with the conventional wisdom of corporate America at the time.

Going Public was seen as a natural progression for companies like Koch Industries,

offering them access to big pools of money

and promising enormous paydays

for the existing team of executives.

All it required from the CEO was to surrender control.

Morgan Stanley in return would collect a small fortune in fees.

Charles Koch was 45 years old.

He had run Koch industry since he was 32

and his father died suddenly.

He was trim, tall, and had an athlete's build.

He spoke quietly in meetings and seemed almost passive.

The bankers laid out their plan to take Koch public.

They revealed what to most executives at least might have been the most significant detail.

If Charles Koch agreed to the deal, he could earn $20 million overnight.

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