Chapter 13 - Brendan Had One Chance to Save the Company
The restructuring took six months.
Brendan almost destroyed it twice.
He fired the first restructuring officer.
Northstar reinstated the officer under the loan agreement.
He tried moving a luxury vehicle into another entity.
Our auditors found it.
Then something unexpected happened.
Brendan stopped fighting every fact.
Maybe humiliation exhausted him.
Maybe impending fatherhood affected him.
Maybe watching Jessica leave when the lifestyle became uncertain taught him something he did not want to admit.
He began cooperating.
Real financial statements replaced optimistic projections.
Unprofitable projects were sold.
Two hotels were retained.
One stalled development entered a joint venture instead of burning more cash.
Personal aircraft costs came out of the company.
Several executives who had spent years telling Brendan whatever he wanted to hear were replaced.
The empire became smaller.
But real.
By the end of the restructuring, Brendan was still wealthy.
Just not mythically so.
And for the first time in years, the wealth was supported by numbers rather than magazine estimates.
Northstar made money on the restructuring.
That was our job.
I did not give Brendan special treatment.
I also did not destroy him because I could.
May you like
Power exercised only for vengeance eventually becomes another form of weakness.
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