Resources — Deal Breakers

Ep. 01 How AOL/Time Warner Destroyed $200 Billion in 2 Years −$200B

Stealing Time — Alec Klein

The definitive account of the AOL/Time Warner merger. Required reading. Audible affiliate link.

Audible ↗ Course

Breaking Into Wall Street — Financial Modeling

The M&A modeling and valuation courses referenced throughout the episode.

AOL Time Warner SEC Filings — EDGAR

Primary source: 10-K and 10-Q filings including the $54B goodwill write-down disclosure. Free.

Ep. 02 Quaker Paid $1.7B for Snapple — Then Sold It for $300M −$1.4B

Barbarians at the Gate — Burrough & Helyar

The landmark M&A narrative. Essential background for understanding deal culture in this era.

Audible ↗ Free

Quaker Oats SEC Filings — EDGAR

10-K filings 1994–1997 covering the acquisition, operating losses, and divestiture.

Ep. 03–12 Upcoming episodes

Soon

Resources added with each new episode

Sprint/Nextel, eBay/Skype, Sears/Kmart, Microsoft/Nokia, Daimler/Chrysler, Google/Motorola, and more.

Always useful

General resources

SEC EDGAR Full-Text Search

Search any company's filings — 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, S-4 merger proxies. Free. The primary source for every Deal Breakers episode.

Breaking Into Wall Street

Financial modeling, M&A, and valuation courses. The best structured finance education available outside of a banking desk. Affiliate link.

Corporate Finance Institute (CFI)

M&A modeling, accounting, and valuation courses. Strong on forensic accounting fundamentals. Affiliate link.

Every book referenced on Deal Breakers is available on Audible. Free trial via this link. Affiliate link.

Affiliate disclosure. Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you purchase through them, Deal Breakers may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. We only link to resources we reference directly in episodes. This disclosure is required by the FTC under 16 CFR Part 255.