Session: 123456789101112131415161718192021         Page 865866867868869870871872873874875876877878879880881882883884885886887888889890891892893894895896897898899900901902902a903904905906907908909910911912913914915916917918919920921 of 1029

business, but by 1957, Charlie Allen had become one of the most successful men in Wall Street. He had become head of a huge banking institution. He had real guts, and he still has; and he would invest in projects that the older banking houses thought were too speculative. In a couple of them, like Syntex, he had made millions of dollars...literally millions of dollars.

Well, I consulted my old friend Charlie one day and he said, “Sure. We'll get out a stock issue for you.” Suddenly Random House embarked on its financial career and expansion. This marks a big change in Random House because from that moment on we began to lose some of our control. The minute you go public, the public owns your stock and you've got to make periodic reports to them. You owe your investors dividends and profits. Instead of working for yourself and doing what you damn please, willing to take a loss if it pleases you to do something, if you're any kind of an honest man, you have a real responsibility to your stockholders. Well, it was a very important decision. On the one hand, it made us rich overnight and gave our families security. On the other hand, it was the beginning of what led to our selling out to RCA because one step leads to another. The moment you go public you're on the way to not owning your business anymore.

Can I just interrupt with one question? Did you go to any other banks--I mean Banker's Trust or anything like that--or did you go right to...?