‘Pleasanter for whom?“ Regan asked.
Bruce steepled his fingers and said, “Last fall, you blackjacked us into investing a billion and a half dollars in World’s Fair bonds, and you simultaneously got us into a position where we were committed to absorb any bonds that this dummy underwriter of yours failed to get rid of. The bond sale was a flop and we are now creditors of the 1992 Columbian Exposition to the tune of many billions of dollars. We’ll be lucky to recover ten cents on the dollar of that. In addition, our working capital has been badly strained. We’ve had to liquidate profitable investments and to turn down interesting new opportunities, simply to keep the operation going with our treasury depleted. The next quarter’s earnings will be seriously affected by this situation. Henry Olcott tells me we’ll be lucky to cover our dividend at all. Which means we’ll have to dip into the earned surplus for part of the dividend payment, and thus further strain our capital position.” The old man’s smile was a frosty one. “Claude, you’ve made a blunder. In most companies, when the executive officer makes a mistake of this magnitude, he doesn’t need two hints to get out.”
‘I haven’t made any mistake,“ Regan said doggedly. ”I admit I counted on wider support for the World’s Fair bonds. But the Fair is still a year and a half away. I predict we’ll unload most of the bonds before then. Furthermore, I predict that the Fair will be a great success and that we’ll recoup our entire investment-with dividends. And-“
‘It’s hopeless,“ Bruce Regan said. ”You’re a paranoid, Claude. A megalomaniac fool. You’re blindly bringing a mighty company down to destruction and you can’t even see what you’re doing.“
“I’m the blind one, am I?” Regan retorted. “It’s less than a decade to the twenty-first century, and you’re still stuck in the nineteenth! The real disaster would be to let you get control of the company again. We-”
Bruce sighed. “Time is wasting. There’s a press conference called for noon, and I want to have this settled by then. I’ll entertain a motion from the floor.”
Rex Bennett said, “Be it moved that Claude Regan be removed from the post of Chief Executive Officer of Global Factors, Inc., at the close of business on April 1, 1991. The said Claude Regan to continue to draw his salary until the expiration of his contract with Global Factors, Inc., at which time-”
‘Wait,“ Regan said. ”Let me talk!“
‘Out of order,“ Bruce snapped.
Bennett droned his way through the rest of the motion.
Bruce instantly called for a second, and Lloyd Holt’s hand shot up.
‘Is there any discussion?“ Bruce asked.
‘Damned right there is!“ Regan said. The Factor got to his feet and faced his uncle squarely. ”I’d like to point out what will happen if you go through with this thing. Public confidence in Claude Regan is going to be very severely undermined. He’ll be openly branded as financially irresponsible. Now, I don’t deny that this will be an awkward tiling for Claude Regan, but it’s also going to be terribly serious for Global Factors. It could cost the company a hell of a lot of money.“
‘I fail to see-“
Regan cut his uncle off sharply. “Hear me out! I’m identified with the Fair. For better or for worse, it’s a one-man Claude Regan project. If I go under, the whole Fair will go under. If I’m thrown out of here, exhibitors will start withdrawing from the Fair, bond pledges will be cancelled, the whole show will go into receivership. Since there are no assets to be divided, just a mess of liabilities, Global's investment in the bond issue will be a total loss. It’ll cost Global better than four billion dollars to fire me now. Is that a risk worth taking?”
Rex Bennett smiled and said gently, “You’re overlooking one point, Factor. If the World’s Fair gets into financial trouble, as I have no doubt it will with you at its head, you will be replaced. Some cooler, wiser head will take charge and see the project through, and the bondholders will not lose their investment.”
Regan coughed discreetly. “I’d like to meet that cooler, wiser head, Mr. Bennett.”
‘Perhaps you will.“
‘I doubt it. Let me tell you something, Bennett, and it’s going to sound paranoid and megalomaniac. There’s only one man in the world who can make that Fair a going proposition, and it’s me. Claude Regan, Factor. I can bull the thing through, but nobody else can. So if you destroy my public image, you’re destroying the Fair, and wiping out Global’s heavy investment in that Fair.“
‘So you regard yourself as the indispensable man?“ Bennett asked.
‘Right.“
Regan had never seen a real, genuine sneer before, except in televised movies almost a century old. He saw a sneer now. Bennett said, “You’re crazy, Claude.”
‘Perhaps I am.“
‘And what’s more, you must think we’re crazy. Having gotten us into a devilish mess through your rashness, you now want us to back you to the hilt-because you say you’re the only man who can get us out of that mess!“
‘You’ve stated it exactly,“ Regan said. He swung around and faced the lower end of the table-faced the men he had thought of as ”his“ until not very long ago. He stared at Olcott, who met his gaze evenly, and then at Harris, who fidgeted. Regan said, ”There’s something else you’ve failed to consider, all of you, and that’s the profit Global stands to make out of this Fair.“
‘I don’t see any profit,“ Bennett said cavernously.
‘That’s because you’re not looking,“ Regan said, with his back still turned on the Old Guard. ”Look here. Because of my megalomaniac, paranoid ways of doing things, I’ve dispensed with the committee system for running the Fair. I’ve got a lot of big names on the letterhead of my committee, but I make all the decisions. Those were the terms under which I took on the job, when the Fair was just about at the point of collapsing, and they agreed.“
Harris blinked. Olcott scratched his chin.
Regan said, “What we’re building up there is a pleasure satellite. A resort world in the sky. It’ll have everything- sideshows, gladiators, you name it. It runs for two years, and then it liquidates and pays off its bondholders. In the past, it was customary to demolish a World’s Fair when it was over. It’s a stupid and wasteful thing to do, like most of the things done in the past. Why spend good money to smash that satellite up? Why not sell it to a private corporation, and let it stay up there as a permanent exposition?”
He saw some eyes widen. He continued to stare at the two waverers.
‘I’m the boss of the Fair. Megalomaniac me. I decide who purchases what. Suppose I undertake to sell the satellite to Global Factors, Inc. Let’s say I sell it for a million dollars. It cost billions to build, but that’s all been paid for out of Fair profits. Now we liquidate, fast. Global picks up a fabulous entertainment property for a song. Nobody can yell, since Global did underwrite most of the cost of building the Fair, and took a hell of a risk, and deserves some kind of reward. It may not be ethical, maybe, but it’s perfectly legal for me, as head of the Fair, to do whatever I damned please with that satellite after the Fair closes.“
Olcott’s eyes were gleaming. Regan could practically see the dollar signs dancing in the little comptroller’s canny brain.
‘Next point,“ Regan barked. ”The Fair is also building a space line to take people to the satellite. A bunch of neat little spaceships costing a few billion bucks all told. When I sell the satellite, I’ll naturally throw in the space line too. Wouldn’t that be nice? A pleasure world and a brand new space line, dropping into Global’s lap? Partly subsidized by the exhibitors at the Fair, partly subsidized by Global-but all Global’s to keep. It’s pleasant to contemplate. We ought to be able to gross a few billion a year out of that operation after we take title. Of course, it’s never going to come off, because you’re going to fire me, and I’ll be so discredited that the Fair will collapse into bankruptcy and what’s already been constructed will have to be dismantled and sold for scrap.“