Chapter 8

“Mr. Mallory, Mr. Clayton will see you now. If you follow me, I will show you into his office.”

Sean followed the secretary into Harrison Clayton’s office. As soon as he stepped into the door, Harry greeted him.

“Hello, Sean. Have a seat; what can I do for you?” He asked.

“Well, sir, the reason I came to you is that you handled my grandfather’s estate, and I have a few questions that I would like to ask,” Sean stated.

“Well, ask away; I’ll do my best to answer them.”

“Well, Mr. Kirkwood has offered me a seat on the LDC board of directors.”

“Congratulations, are you going to accept the offer?”

“I think, I’m a bit out of my league,” Sean answered.

“Well, you’re going to be the CEO of a major corporation; why not take a seat on the board? After all, you own more than enough of the company to do so. This brings me to the question I have for you,” Harry stated. He’d been waiting for an opportune time to bring up his dilemma.

“Go ahead, fire away.” Said Sean.

“Well, the employees of Whitten Avionics, who own 20 percent of the company, which is the remainder left after the family members’ shares, have concluded that the company should be taken public in hopes of finding a buyer for it. I guess they are trying to make a quick profit.” Harry said, trying to set the scene. He hated the idea of selling off his best friend’s life work.

“Even if it came to a vote, they haven’t got the majority.”

“I’m just stating what may happen, but you could talk to your mother. If you and she, along with Grace, decided to, I’m sure you could get the financing to put a deal together for the rest of the company.”

“And just who is going to run it, the man on the moon?”

“Well, that is one option, but it could just as easily be you, Sean. Have you thought about that?”

“Thought about what? I just learned that the company was for sale; how am I going to run Whitten Avionics and Whitten Enterprises, along with Mega-Tronics? I can’t be everywhere.”

“Well, you could merge the two companies again, or you could just be a member of the board. There are countless variations open to you. Just promise me you will think about it. I would hate to see your grandfather’s life work, the company he rebuilt into such a powerhouse, in the hands of someone other than his family.”

“You don’t need to guilt me into a decision. I’ll think about it. I’ll talk to my mother and Grace and see if I can convince them of the same. I haven’t got a clue as to where I can get the money from.” Even as he said the words, he realized that he did not know where, or more to the point, who to get the money from.

They discussed other issues for most of the afternoon. Finally, by 6:00 PM, they were through, and Sean left feeling a little bit more secure about the future. The plans for Mega-Tronics were initialized, and so were the plans to accept the position on the LDC board. All that remained was the successful takeover of Whitten Avionics, and slowly, Sean’s dream was becoming a reality.

Sean found out that being suddenly wealthy had many advantages, but it had one considerable disadvantage: taxes. His total inheritance tax came to close to a billion dollars. He was lucky, really. Whitten had long ago added his name to the LDC stock. He also made sure that the money he put aside for Sean’s college education was put into tax-free investments. He had to pay taxes only on the increase in the price of the stock as compared to the value at which it was bought or, more correctly, the last time a dividend was paid. Of course, there were the conventional taxes on all the cash and then on the actual value of his share of Whitten Avionics and Whitten Enterprises. So, he got hit for about one-tenth of his total net worth.