In the 1980s Tom Wolfe coined the term "masters of the universe" for hard-charging Wall Streeters. In the '90s, that term is applied broadly to the takeover pros behind a decade of stunning mergers and acquisitions. The decade produced more than $8 trillion in M&A, far more than the $2.4 trillion in the "decade of greed."
In the 1980s Tom Wolfe coined the term "masters of the universe" for Wall Street's elite. Then deal makers were pioneering the leveraged buyouts and corporate raiding techniques of that colorful era. Times have changed, tactics have changed. But today merger and acquisition activity goes on at a rate far greater than anything seen in the eighties.