From Deseret News archives:

Plenty of 'pitting' preceded Romney's profits

Published: Tuesday, July 3, 2007 12:57 a.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
The series

 » Series link — Special report from The Boston Globe
On a winter's evening in 1985, Mitt Romney sat in a drab 10-by-10-foot conference room in Boston's Copley Place, flapping his tie to mimic a rapidly beating heart. His colleagues knew that when Romney flapped his tie, it meant he was under pressure. Lately, the young businessman had been feeling it like never before.

The pressure had been building ever since he'd been tapped by his mentor to create and run an investment firm called Bain Capital. But two years after Romney took the job, and more than a year after he officially launched the firm, Bain Capital had yet to make many investments. And the few it had made were foundering.

Story continues below
Sitting in the conference room, Romney was so worried about the start-up's future that, according to one colleague, he raised the possibility of just returning the millions they had raised from investors and going back to their old jobs.

Dressed in a crisp blue shirt, with a white collar and gold collar-pin, Romney appeared to be the model of a successful young financier, with one exception. His shirt, according to colleague Geoffrey Rehnert, was drenched dark with sweat under his arms.

"Mitt was struggling," Rehnert says. "And he wasn't used to struggling."

In time, Romney would lead the shaky start-up from a staff of seven people managing $37 million to 115 people managing $4 billion in assets. During Romney's 15-year tenure, Bain Capital would post an astonishing record, on average doubling its return on realized investments every year. Thomas H. Lee, founder of cross-town rival Thomas H. Lee Partners, calls the company's performance under Romney "one of the great stories of American capital."

Romney would eventually use his business success as a platform for his political campaigns, stressing his leadership skills and data-driven management acumen. His critics would use his work in this little-understood world of private equity to paint him as a coldhearted profiteer, cutting jobs to line his own pockets.

Comments

You can be the first to comment on this story.

Image

Mitt Romney gives an interview during the 1990s, when he was head of Bain Capital. His cautious, devil's advocate approach defined the investment firm, which focused on leveraged buyouts.

previousnext

Latest comments

D-Will, Price sit out Jazz practice

If Jerry studies "game tape" he will see how to beat the Celtics, see Phoenix...

Gays get Mormon support in SLC

This headline is deceptive. The Church is not kowtowing on "gay rights" and...

Suspend her for half of next season. Fine the coach/school for not taking...

So, is this going to help her social life?

While I do not agree with Bob Bennett on everything, I do agree that the way...

Zone D giving Jazz headaches

"hee hee hee hee" Maybe it is coaching? nooooooo.....

Letters: Case of sour grapes

Right there with you guy.

There were no FLDS people on the jury. I'm sure the prosecution made...

Letters: Endless black hole

You go guy. So true.

Vatican looks to heavens for aliens

once mankind makes contact with intelligent life on another world its going...

Advertisements
Advertisement