Wall Street: Without a Fuss

After a brief pause to regroup following last month's victory in the proxy fight for control of the many-sided Alleghany Corp.. the Murchison brothers of Texas—John, 39. and Clint Jr., 37—swung into action last week.

Predictably, the Murchisons (TIME cover, June 16) sought to rid the Alleghany empire of any influence of their defeated rival. Alleghany ex-Chairman Allan P. Kirby. First they went to work on the biggest Alleghany-controlled company, Investors Diversified Services, the nation's largest mutual-fund complex with assets of $3.4 billion. It was Kirby's ouster of the Murchisons from the I.D.S. board last year that prompted the brothers...