Sublime

“In a sense, Waterman was the first LBO,” Wriston recalled.20 McLean’s prize was a formerly debt-free company whose bank loans and ship mortgages soared to $22.6 million at the end of 1955, nearly ten times its $2.3 million of after-tax income. In a step that set the norm for future leveraged buyouts, McLean disposed of unwanted Waterman assets to

I also knew Copart was mine again. At the time, I had three million shares, making me the biggest shareholder, with 40 percent ownership of the company. I could do one of two things—use my stock as currency to buy other companies or go back to Wall Street to raise more money. Now that Copart was public, raising more money would be easy.