The Taking of Getty Oil

The Full Story of the Most Spectacular - and Catastrophic - Takeover of All

By: Steve Coll

Narrated by: Steven Cooper

Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

A true story of family, ambition, and greed in the most bitter and controversial takeover struggle in business history. The high-stakes fight between Texaco and Pennzoil to take over Getty Oil is a startling and intriguing case involving family infighting, courtroom drama, and corporate intrigue that ends in bankruptcy and the largest damages award in American history.

©1987, 1988 Steve Coll (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Dazzling on so many levels

Gripping elements abound: the absurdities of vast amounts of multi-generational wealth tumbling from the dead hand of a wildly creative-ruthless-disruptive patriarch into widely varied (and wildly eccentric) hands; the wealth-and-prestige-oozing scene rapidly developing a rich ecosystem of alliances, schemers, hangers-on, betrayals, awful legal conundrums trapping the most calculating people; swirling pools and eddies filled with lawyers, syncophants (some in very expensive trappings!), corporate chiefs, raiders, swarming in all directions and alignments, clawing for the glittering (or rather, oily) prize; and the climactic perfect storm systems one can see, brewing, frothing, forming up and approaching, to sweep these characters into fortune or chaos, willy-nilly.
Yet, there is a clear determinism in the sequence of events, a logical flow, but unpredictable, in the way impenetrable chaos is deterministic. It makes sense in the (skillful) telling, but midstream, we can't tell where it (and the characters) will wind up. I.e., this is a great explication of real life, with a kicker of billions of dollars whipped into the mix, a sort of accellerant.
All this is told in meticulous, lucid, businesslike detail. The author understands the legal structures and the stakes, and wastes barely a word describing each moment. The tempo delights me. This is not a sloppily written book. All the weirdness and hilarities of narrative twists are somehow laid out in a sober and constantly understandable sequence. Despite all this, if you don't like corporate/legal matters, you might not enjoy this so much. But for me, the colorful stories of a truly weird family provide a strangely hilarious relief peppered all through the sophisticated structures and plot turns. I can't get enough of it, and fortunately this is a prolific author. On deck: The Exxon-Mobil book. I have a new favorite author.

Captivating business story

I read this book once a year (now listen) so many cautionary tales to be learned.

Coll is a master!

The Getty takeover was intricate and complicated, financially complex, with a gamut of multiple players all with outsize personalities. Coll delivers in a masterful, understandable book, ideal for listening. So compelling!

Sibling contention, intrique, courtroom drama

Steve Coil, a correspondent for the Washington Post has painstakingly reconstructed telephone conversations, meetings and written memoranda to set out the events leading to the litigation between Pennzoil and Texaco. Coil has maintained his reporter’s objectivity, not condemning anyone but staying neutral throughout the book. The book was originally published in 1987.

The first part of the book is about the Getty family and their inner fights. The middle of the book is about Getty oil and its corporate officers and board members and their relationship with Gordon Getty. The last part of the book is about the trial.

Three and a half years of haggling and infighting preceded the legal judgment. Gordon Getty, one of the J. Paul Getty’s sons became sole trustee of the Sarah C. Getty Trust, which owned 40% of Getty Oil’s stock. Gordon Getty maneuvered for control of the company in opposition of the company management and his family. Pennzoil thought they did a takeover in January of 1984 in an agreement in principle to buy the bloc of Getty Stock, then the following week Texaco offered more money and bought the same stock.

On November 1985 a Houston court awarded a ten billion dollar judgment against Texaco to Pennzoil. It is the largest damages award yet made in an American business case.

The book by Coil reads like a novel with lots of drama, family conflicts and business fighting. I found the book most interesting. Steven Cooper narrated the book.

Destruction of Getty Oil

I had read a bio of J Paul Getty and his complex life, which was quite interesting. I decided to read this to find out what happened to the company his father had built and he had carefully managed and grew over the years. I could see why Gordon was not his choice to handle the trust alone. Undoubtedly, J Paul would be angry and disappointed at how the company was destroyed. The management team had done an admirable job of running the company, but with the death of an influential company lawyer, things quickly grew out of control. Gordon's lack of business instinct led to situations that out the company in danger. He was unaware and didn't care. I felt sympathy for Sid Peterson, the exec in charge, trying to protect the company and manage Gordon's increasingly unusual requests wanting to "enhance shareholder value." His misguided efforts led to numerous lawyers ( for him, for the company, for the trust, then the merger and valuations). It finally reached the point where the company was forced to find a buyer and fend off takeover attempts. Predatory businessmen and lawyers came for the feeding frenzy. You need a scorecard to keep track of all the players. Gordon, the Getty Trust, Getty Museum, other family members, the board of directors of Getty Oil, Pennzoil, Texaco and an army of lawyers. This led to one of the largest mergers and largest lawsuit damages at the time. This was a long book even for me to get through. The first half flew, my favorite parts being the board vs Gordon. It bogged down for me during the trial. I read this book using immersion reading. Narration by Steven Cooper was straightforward and rote.

Masterful telling of a cautionary business tale by a masterful journalist.

Steve Coll is one of the great nonfiction writers of our day. The personalities described in this tome are complex and deep with the exception of the clearly shallow money grubbers and cheats.The story develops from the death of a trusted attorney to the feeding frenzy of the takeover craziness of the mid 80s by executives, investors, attorneys and bankers with varying degrees of integrity. There are no true heroes with plenty of greed; enough for extra helpings. I will spoil the ending: The shareholders lose :-( 🤠

Couldn’t get over the reading

Aghhh - performance feels like narrator has no idea they’re telling a story - just reading words, super hard to get into.

Narrator ruins what is otherwise a good book

Just so monotone. I couldn't do anything else while listening to it besides lay in bed or I completely lost focus.

Terrible narration spoiled a good story

This book covers a fascinating story. Unfortunately, the narration is terrible. It's monotonic and emotionless. Sometimes I even wonder if it was generated by AI.