Measured by the total sales of acquired companies, the LBO phenomenon increased tenfold between 1979 and 1983. By 1985, just two years after Gibson Greetings, there were eighteen separate LBOs valued at $1 billion or more. In the five years before Ross Johnson decided to pursue his buyout, LBO activity totaled $181.9 billion, compared to $11 billion in the six years before that.
