BLUE BLOOD AND MUTINY opens in early 2005, when the usually closely–guarded opinions of the Eight publicly boiled over. After their concerns were brushed off by the Board of Directors––packed with associates of Purcell––and several sympathetic executives resigned, the Eight bought a full–page ad in the Wall Street Journal in which they called for the Board to appoint a new CEO. The unprecedented move stirred massive press attention, including a cover story in Fortune, and sparked rumors on Wall Street that Morgan Stanley was a buyout target. For the time, however, the Eight appear to have won the battle, for in June 2005 Purcell resigned and former president John Mack––who had been pushed out by Purcell––was appointed CEO.
Opening the long–closed doors of this elite bastion of Wall Street, author Patricia Beard will tell the story of the unprecedented power struggle at Morgan Stanley. BLUE BLOOD AND MUTINY weaves the history of the House of Morgan with the fight for dominance between two competing business cultures––one, the gentlemanly attitude handed down from the days of J.P. Morgan, and the other, an "every man for himself" model of contemporary corporate business.
Patricia Beard is the author of six nonfiction books and hundreds of nationally published magazine articles. She has been an editor at Elle, Town & Country, and Mirabella magazines.
432 pages
