
Irwin Jacobs, Feared 1980s Corporate Raider, Dies in Apparent Murder-Suicide - jkuria
https://www.wsj.com/articles/irwin-jacobs-dubbed-irv-the-liquidator-made-his-name-as-a-corporate-raider-in-the-1980s-11555424688
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RickJWagner
I used to love to bowl. (10 pins.) I wanted to be a professional bowler in my
youth. I remember reading about Irwin Jacobs when he bought AMF, the giant
bowling manufacturer.

The Bowler's Journal (the leading bowling industry publicaiton at the time)
ran a cover story on Jacobs, complete with a tuxedo and high-rise office.
Jacobs assured us that he was in bowling for the long term, bringing more
resources to AMF so it could raise the sport to new heights.

Of course he broke up AMF shortly after, extracting profits from the pieces
and pretty much ruining everything good about the company.

I didn't think well of him.

~~~
xref
AMF is mentioned in the article, guess they had more businesses than bowling
(like yacht construction). Still it was amusing reading the article thinking
they were just swimming in bowling profits:

“In 1985, he ac­quired the con­glom­er­ate AMF Inc. and de­nounced the
man­age­ment for what he con­sid­ered lav­ish spend­ing on lim­ousines,
cor­po­rate jets and plush of­fice space in White Plains, N.Y. “Their
ap­petite at cor­po­rate was more be­fit­ting of Gen­eral Mo­tors,” he told
the Times.”

bill-murray-kingpin.gif

