The board met the conference room where I had signed restructuring papers ten years earlier. Gerald took the chairman’s seat. Brian sat beside his attorney. I asked the secretary to read my holding company’s voting record. I asked Brian’s attorney to confirm his ownership claim. Nobody answered. Gerald called it a misunderstanding, then a family matter, then a mistake. I laid out my fifty-two percent ownership, my $1.6 million contribution, and the email promising the buyer that my interest would be “cleaned up” through a divorce.
I told them I would not block the sale. More than eighty employees had spent ten years building the company, and I wanted them protected. My conditions were valuation, guaranteed employment, and proceeds paid to my holding company. Brian looked at me. He asked whether I had understood everything. I slid a document across the table and told him to read it. Click continue reading below for Part2
