European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 11, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Severe or the pain Revere Sman h. Ross Perot it rap rom Perot. I 1985 rules Lor the household. She never spanked him but she ruled him with a Stern and compassionate moral code. His lather would take Black employees to the local county airs along with his family a bold act during those racial limes. We d go to the county fair in new Boston every year. All the Blacks that worked Lor us would come along. That was a 20-mile trip. My dad would give them his business card. He was so Well liked people would just kind of leave the Blacks once one of the Perot workers was arrested for vagrancy in California. The sheriff said. We Don t care who. You Are we re throwing you in jail the Man pulled out one of the business cards. Gabriel was contacted wired train fare and brought the Man Home again. Years later Perot led a bitter Campaign to Reform and equalize Public education opportunities for Blacks and hispanics in Texas. Perot went to work for ism at age 27 alter completing a four year hitch in the Navy. He was an instant Success As Salesman. He was determined to Start a business of his own in the computer software Field. By the time he was 32. He incorporated electronic data systems using $ 1.000 from his savings. Several former colleagues from ism joined him. Perot s Gypsy Type operation stunned the computer world when it landed the frito Lay account within six months of Startup for a then unheard of $5.128 a month. Perot did t even own a computer. My computer operator would put tapes in the trunk of his car and go where he could find unused computer time. We leased All the time we could what really in praised frito Lay was the harsh negative reaction from ism. They dispatched a five Man team to put me out of business. Ism did not appreciate what i was doing. I was Competition and Competition was when shrewd Herman Lay saw what ism was doing he said. You boys must have something " Perot wanted to keep the company in private hands but employees to whom he d passed out Stock asked to go Public. They knew right off that the company would be a great one. They knew it would make a lot of people a lot of Money. And it through one of the sharpest underwriting deals in financial history. Perot recapitalize his company. He carefully selected the . Pressprich and co. Underwriting House which bought eds at $ 16.50 a share representing a near record Price to earnings ratio of 118 to one. At the close of trading the first Day sept. 12, 1968, eds was Selling at $23 a share. Since Perot had kept More than three quarters of the shares for himself his net Worth at Sunset was More than $200 million. By the first week of october eds Stock was quoted at $33, and at the height of the Bull Market in 1969-70 it hovered around $150, making Perot at least on paper a billionaire a Little More than seven years after leaving ism on a Hunch. He jumped at the Chance to put his newfound financial Clou 1o work. President Ninon and Henry Kissinger called me and asked to to do something to help protect our fighting men. Captured in North Vietnam during the process of Vietnam nation. They wanted me to get the harsh treatment changed. They turned me Over an army colonel named Alexander Haig. It was my Job to figure out what to do and to do ii. Unfortunately a lot of people could t separate my interest in these prisoners and support for the he quickly made a Success of his private crusade to draw Public attention to the plight of the prisoners. His eds group set up an organization called United we stand and within a few months had collected 26 tons of mail food clothes and Medicine Lor the prisoners. Many of the pos later credited Perot s actions with improved treatment and their eventual release. The War ended and big business beckoned. He created and expanded an Oil company and vast real estate holdings. Eds burgeoned during the High tech revolution of the 1980s it had grown to an International corporation of More than 25,000 employees and in the tall of 1983 it caught the Eye of Roger Smith chairman of general motors. Smith thought his company needed an infusion of new technology and vigor. Smith and Perot hit it off. A merger Deal perhaps unique in the business was arranged. To keep the cd can do spirit burning. Pm decided to keep the merger company completely Independent and Issue a special cons j of pm Stock with dividends tied exclusively to the future of eds. Pm paid eds More than $2.5 billion for its Stock More than half of which still belonged to Perot. Perot is keenly interested in his philanthropies. He gave Hall of the $5 million he earned in his first eds underwriting to the poorest of Dallas schools and contributes immense sums to the boy scouts and other organizations to which he feels he owes a debt. He is negotiating to bring the North american Indian museum from new York to Dallas and has purchased an original deed of the City of Dallas because he heard an out of Stater was going to snatch it. He s proud of his kids Ross or. Nancy. Suzanne. Carolyn and Katherine. Nancy was voted the outstanding woman graduate in her class at Vanderbilt and Ross also from Vanderbilt won top aviation honors for flying a helicopter 28.000 Miles around the Globe. Perot Doe in l rank nil life a Success yet ill measure my failure or Success by the Way my children he is convinced a Man need not sacrifice his fun his Freedom or his family life for big Bucks. One suspects he d live the same Way if he did t have a billion dollars. Life s a spider web not a corporate flow Chart. You never know How these connections will relate. If Money is your god you re going to Chase it All your life. I know a lot of Rich Guys who never have any Tun. I have a lot of fun. I do everything i the stars and stripes Pago 15
