BY LARRY TEITELBAUM At age 50, Howard Gittis L’58 decided he needed a little “R&R.” It wasn’t a day at the beach he was after but more risk and reward. So, in 1985, he left a prosperous career as a lawyer to join the management team at MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc. It was the best decision he ever made in a career filled with them. “My only regret is that I should have done it five years earlier,” says Gittis. MacAndrews & Forbes, which has holdings in Panavision, Revlon and a number of other diversified interests, counts on Gittis, the company’s vice chairman & chief administrative officer, to wager big money on major deals, turn the investment into even bigger returns and reinvest the “winnings” into future acquisitions. Gittis has played this high-stakes game of poker for nearly 20 years, during which he has mastered the art of negotiation. And what has he learned? “Judgment is the ultimate skill to possess in dealmaking,” confides Gittis, during an interview in his New York office. “You have to know when and when not to push. In any transaction there has to be something in it for both parties.” |
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