Gang,
 
I had  to get into the act too.
 
This  will probably be the last email you get from me from this address. I just closed  the sale of NBCi to NBC and am now looking at the world with a new point of  view. After 5 years in investment banking following b-school, I spent the last 3  years riding the .com wave before crashing onto the beach. We had a wild ride  completing something like 15 acquisitions, 25 minority investments, 4  international JVs and license agreements and raising over $500 million dollars  in three separate public equity offerings before the party ended. It could have  been worse. The experience was more fun than riding a rollercoaster on speed and  I met a ton of great people. I also got to see a number of 4QTRS out West  including Sheraton, Lee, Scott and Ana (just last month). Luckily,  NBCi had a graceful landing with a sale of the company to NBC. The price  ($2.19) wasn't quite the peak ($106) but what the hey, times have changed and  you've got to change with them. I did fight like hell for that last $0.04 cents  though using every bit of knowledge I gained in my negotiation class at the old  alma mater. The merger was approved last week and closed on monday and I am now  officially unemployed.
 
I am  currently doing things such contemplating my navel and counting waves on the  East End of Long Island. It's not all bad losing your job in August. We have a  house in East Hampton for the month and between shuttling the kids to camp and  getting in some tennis and golf I am keeping quite busy, thank you. Jeannette  closes her private practice every August so we are all (me, Jeannette,  Hannah, Noah and Rachel) enjoying the break. We have a trip to Europe planned  for September and then i will face the awful job market with one option  being continuing in the media space doing corporate development / m&a  work.
 
I have  been told by people wiser than me that it sometimes takes 6 months to get  your bearings and figure out how to put all the pieces together. If so, so be  it. I'm prepared for the worst with all that great training we had (read: yes  you can drink all night and still pass a final exam). In the meantime, if you  happen to be out in the Hamptons this summer don't hesistate to look me up. I'll  be the one sipping a cold beer under a big umbrella watching the waves roll up  on the sand.
 
Marc
 
cell:  917-922-9303
email:  marc@sznajderman.com 
home:  212-316-6670
 
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Yager  [mailto:kryager@home.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 5:40  PM
To: MSLS@Bigfoot.com; AndrewSWhitman@aol.com;  jagah1@bloomberg.net; peterbennborn@compuserve.com; kerry@garage.com;  ccalger@enron.com; carvej@tdbank.ca; pfalcon@netvigator.com;  jcriado@ahorrocorporacion.com; peter_dahlstrom@mckinsey.com;  damsen@sprynet.com; esquivel@pacbell.net; ajferrer@mindspring.com;  rgatlin1993@kellogg.nwu.edu; ggeib@windsorfoods.com; robert_gershon@msn.com;  milton@pcc.net; randy@gottfried.com; lee@stonepath.com; IHechtman@aol.com;  BAEFSOFIA@aol.com; BIriondo@aol.com; marjory.rosser@gecapital.com;  sheraton.kalouria@nbc.com; t.kersig@kersig.com; ingrid_gentry@b-f.com;  gavin.kosviner@gs.com; SSLathi@aol.com; lavorato@enron.com;  albert.manzone@intl.pepsi.com; scmartin@rheem.com; bmj@michelson-realty.com;  george@fschi.com; dmullarkey@scirex.com; dmuller@earthlink.net;  andre.patay@kavli.no; peterson@cedarllc.com; lorraine_berchtold@yahoo.com;  WTJRSJ@aol.com; scott@sedlik.com; marcs@nbci.com; frischer@msn.com;  john_tiefel@mckinsey.com; j.e.vazquez@yahoo.com;  scott.e.velting@ameritech.com; michael_vila@hotmail.com;  mwaldron1993@alum.kellogg.nwu.edu; ana@justarrive.com;  donna_bauman@unc.edu
Subject: Another 4Q Update
Hi all!! or Y'all (which ever you  prefer)
 
Great summer, 3 weeks in Italy (tuscany) with my  wife and kids.  I love Tuscany.  Cannot wait to see the rest of  Italy and start getting into more of Europe...next year.  Other than that  I went to my kid sisters baby's christening.  So weird to see my sister  that way, those of you with younger sibs know what I mean.
 
It seems, like so many others, the  entreprenuerial song is calling me...again.  I had a lot of fun in  dot.com land, but I am certain that one has played itself out for  now.  Also, in all honesty, I think I will leave this technology stuff to  the rest of you.  I get it, but man...there are too many ideas in each  sector for little ol' me to keep up with.
 
So, I find it is a good time to get back to my  roots and what I was doing around the 5-yr reunion; LBOs.  This time I am  focusing on my true love, turnarounds; the messier the better.  I have  set up a partnership.  Initially, my partners and I seek mfgs  ($5MM to $50MM) of products with ticket prices under $100 per unit sold, with  losses or breakeven performance.  They need to be in the Midwest, and in  Greater Chicago if they are less than $10MM in rev.
 
Example: this summer we bid on a $30MM mfg of  brass ingots (cost $25 bucks an ingot altough sales where in the $100K plus  per order), with losses roughly of $3MM per year.  It had lots of  financiable assets and a core business that was viable.  Management had  stopped paying attention to cash flow and thereby ran the ship  aground.
 
It does not have to be that mundane, but you get  the picture.
 
So that sort of stuff should keep me real busy  for a while.  If you come across small/middle market companies with these  kinds of issues, drop me a line.  Especially, those of you in really big  companies with lots  of no-one-can-remember-why-we-bought-this-company-in-the-first-place  little divisions.
 
If you are in Chicago, drop me a line.  If  you are flying in or out of Chicago, wave just before you land, you are just  over my house.
 
Until next time...
 
Ken Yager
847.692.2262 h/o
847.987.9450 mkryager@home.com 
713 South Lincoln Avenue
Park Ridge, IL   60068