Out of work, a close friend offered him a job to transform a boutique commodities trading firm into a Wall Street investment house.
How can venture capital (VC) firms transform a weak innovation ecosystem into a productive and robust one?
Authoritarians often claim that democracy impedes development and that only a firm hand can transform a nation.
The deal, reported by Vulture.com on Wednesday, calls for the firm to transform a former tennis center in Hudson, N.Y., into the Center for the Preservation of Performance Art, a space devoted to pieces that may last several hours or even several days.
He had transformed a lethargic British firm into a global oil giant through two daring takeovers: one, of Amoco, has been completed, and the other, of Atlantic Richfield, known as Arco, awaited approval by American antitrust authorities.
In a sense, the evening was a triumph for the owners of a privately held company whose fashions of the 1990's transformed a family luggage firm, founded by Ms. Prada's grandfather Mario in 1913, into a powerhouse with global sales of $1.4 billion last year.
Many tech firms are seen as potential targets; some private-equity folk are even starting to gaze dreamily at Microsoft's cash mountain, though the software giant will surely remain out of reach.Semiconductors have become a test of the ability of private-equity firms to transform an industry.
A decade ago Ford thought it had found a saviour in the dynamic Jac Nasser, who declared his intention to transform the firm from an old-economy carmaker into a nimble, internet-savvy, consumer powerhouse that managed brands and sold services.
However, its management is determined to transform the firm from an industrial conglomerate into an insurance-oriented financial firm with long-term investments in consumer-facing, services-oriented businesses selling to China's rising middle classes.Why insurance?
But Mr. Corzine's ambition to transform the firm into a full-service investment bank will require more patience — and special items still leave the firm in the red.
