MICHAEL T. FRIES

摘要

Nthe late 1980s, investment banker Mike Fries was working on a number of major U.S. cable deals when he got to know Gene Schneider. The legendary cable pioneer had just sold off his American systems and was planning to build a new cable empire abroad. "After six months of working with them to raise capital, I decided they were on to something," Fries recalls. "I left my job in New York, took a 70% pay cut and dived in," becoming the fifth employee of Schneider's United International Holdings in March 1990. Their offices weren't exactly lavish-Fries' first desk was a cardboard box-and the risks were enormous. U.S.-style cable operators were virtually unknown around the world, and most early American investors in cable systems in the U.K. and other parts of Europe failed miserably, with most selling off their investments in the 1990s.