Jeff forges on, distributing a consultant’s report about the details of a public offering. It means nothing to me, but the tension in the room is palpable.
Questions are asked by some of the board members, but by the time the meeting wraps up, I have no more clarity about what’s going on than I did before the meeting started—other than the bombshell, of course.
Jeff wants to sell our company.
I don’t know how I feel about that.
As the video feed broke off, the door swung open and Alicia stepped inside.
Obviously, she knows that we’re here, and Jeff organized it…does she know what the board discussed? She must. It’s not actually a secret.
I decide I don’t care if I’m violating some secret. “What’s going on?” I ask her.
She offers a polite smile. “Your brother thought you should know,” she said as she let the door close behind her. “In case your mother tried to involve you in the discussion.”
Beside me, Will crosses his arms. “She controls our shares. We don’t need to be involved.”
“Of course.” Another polite smile. “If you’ll just wait another moment or two, your brother should dial in for a private conversation.”
Right on cue, the screen lights up again, and she punches in a code before leaving the room again.
This time, Jeff is front and center on the screen. He’s back in his office, it looks like. “Will!” he booms. “You made it.”
Our youngest brother gives him a raised eyebrow look. “What’s with the cloak and dagger stuff? We couldn’t have Skyped or something?”
Jeff laughs, but it’s a fair question. It’s entirely possible that our brother has lost objectivity when it comes to what’s reasonable to ask of another human being.
I glower at him. “It’s not funny. You inconvenienced me, and had Will fly across the country. For what?”
“I couldn’t broadcast a regular stream, it had to be internal, and we don’t have any facilities in California. If Will was getting on a plane, it might as well be to where you are, right?”
I guess. “All so we could hear first hand that you want to sell the company?”
“Take it public.”
“What does that mean for us?”
He blinks into the camera. “You’d get your money.”
“I don’t want any strings-attached-cash, Jeff.”
Beside me, Will nods. “We don’t need your money.”
“For one thing, it’s your money, and speak for yourself, baby brother. Scott there has himself a cash flow problem. But that’s not why I’m doing it.” He sighs and rubs the back of his hand against his forehead. His perfectly tailored suit moves effortlessly with him, and I’m reminded that my brother is every inch the wealthy billionaire now. “I want to focus my attention on new projects, with my own venture capital. I don’t want to report to a board and do what’s best for a large company. So think of that what you will, but I want out, and since neither of you ass*ole
s are interested in stepping up…”
Ah. f*ck
. I nod. “Okay, I get it. You don’t want to continue to sit on the board and recruit a new CEO?”
“That would be an even longer, more drawn out process.”
“And what if the board doesn’t go for it?”
A shadow crosses his face, then he looks straight at us. “There are companies that would stage hostile takeovers. At the first rumors of board disagreement…”
“Is that what you want us to do? Leak the news?” Will shakes his head. “Don’t involve us, man.”
“No. God, no. But if you’re approached…we should have a common response. United front.”
Possibly against our mother. But I nod, because for all our differences, we’re brothers, and we have each others’ backs. “Okay.”
We talk for a few more minutes, agreeing on what Will and I will say—deny—if we’re approached by business reporters or representatives from other companies. Then Jeff signs off and we head back to the lobby.
I need to fill Will in on the papers Jeff had me re-appropriate from that Georgetown townhouse. Papers I documented carefully before couriering to him in New York.
“Do you have time to get coffee?”
Will gives a long, regretful look at Jeff’s blonde assistant standing watch and nods. “I’ve got two hours before I need to be back at Reagan.”
“Let’s go.”
An hour later, neither of us understand exactly why Jeff is so interested in mineral rights or nanotechnology, but we’re in a hundred percent agreement that we don’t want any part of it.
“It doesn’t really impact on my life,” Will says, shifting on the booth seat across from me in a run-down diner we found just off the interstate. “Do you think he’ll want our help once he goes his own path?”
I shake my head. “Can you imagine the three of us trying to run a company? It would be a disaster. And you’re deploying soon. Hopefully many more times before you’re done flying. You don’t think to think about this shit.”
“And what about you?”
That was the million-dollar question. My phone vibrates in my pocket and I use that excuse to buy myself a second. Will laughs at me as I check the message and reply, probably too damn eagerly.