Gary Winnick founded Global Crossing in 1997, observing the telecommunications surge of the 1990s and using it to build the largest fiber optic network in the world for the purposes of transmitting voice, text, video and other data between 27 countries. The company went public in 1997, with Winnick retaining 27% of the company's shares worth $1.4 billion, and a year later held a market value of £38 billion, surpassing Ford Motors . Winnick enlisted the services of Salomon Smith Barney, who hired an analyst with an unprecedented level of influence in the telecommunications industry, Jack Grubman. After a year of low revenues and poor cash flow, Winnick sought to emulate WorldCom with its acquisition-driven business model. Hiring former AT&T executive Robert Annunziata as a new addition to lend credence to his company's respectability, he began negotiations to purchase long-distance provider Frontier for $11.2 billion, followed in the next quarter by the announcement of a $37 billion deal to buy US West that ultimately fell through after losing to Qwest. The acquisitions were intended to provide cash flow and increase awareness and respectability of Global Crossing, allowing Winnick's stake in Global Crossing to grow by more than $4.5 billion. In 1999 Winnick abandoned his earlier plan to raise capital for the company piecemeal and moved to immediately finance the fiber network using junk bond sales arranged by JP Morgan Chase's Jimmy Lee. Winnick not only benefited as a shareholder, but also collected fees through his holding company and subsidiaries, for example 2% of Global Crossing's gross revenues were paid in exchange for a long-term consulting agreement with PCG Telecoms, a subsidiary of Winnick's Paci.. .... middle of document ......helps develop an action plan to reorganize the company and fulfill its promise to donate an additional $25 million to help employees who they had lost money in the scheme Global Crossings pension plan. Winnick has since moved on and founded a new company, iCrete, a company that designs precision concrete for use in projects such as the Freedom Tower, New York. Works Cited http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2002/06/ 24/325183/ http://observer.com/2002/04/gary-winnick-should-go-to-jail/ http://www.fiercetelecom.com/special-reports/who-were-worst-wireline- ceos-all-time/gary-winnick-global-crossing http://www.fraudlaw.org/Fraud/Fraud%20by%20Type/Public%20Companies/Global%20Crossing/Global%20Crossing%20settles.htm http:// www.crn.com/news/channel-programs/18820983/global-crossing-chairman-gary-winnick-to-resign-from-board.htm http://www.forbes.com/forbes/1999/0419/6308242a . html