On a good note for Sharon, I had a contract to review from my entertainment lawyer, Mr. Spiller which set me up as a silent partner in her talent agency. It was generous support for five years. If she couldn’t make it during that time she probably should be pursuing something else. I had every confidence in her. She certainly had the goodwill of a long list of contacts.
If I had to make a phone call or two to help I would.
After lunch, Jackson Transportation the biggest group arrived. It included Todd Goodson, Vice President-Container Production, Luke Harding, President John Churchill, the Scottish Line, and Bob Wilson, Narrow Freight. Popeye was there, of course. As far as I knew he didn’t have a title unless the title was Popeye.
We had allowed the entire afternoon for their presentations. Luke Harding started with an overview of the entire operation. He had two points to bring up, one was that every group was performing above expectations but would need additional financing to grow.
The second item was about Freight Forwarding. It had grown so fast it was recommended that it be spun off to a new and separate part of Jackson Enterprises. It would be known as Freight Forwarding. I privately thought that name was bland. Why not something like Freight Express? It could be shortened to FreightEx. It never got to a point where I could bring it up so I let it slide.
It turned out the additional financing being requested could be obtained in house. It was a matter of shifting funds around. Since they were my funds they thought it only fair that I approved. Frankly, the amounts being discussed were so large as to be meaningless to me. Sure if you need another ocean-going freighter just take thirty million out of petty cash.
At the last business meeting, the company was approaching one hundred million dollars in profit. The book value of the company was almost one billion dollars. This year’s profits were estimated to be two hundred and twenty-five million dollars.
Putting it all together I would make almost three hundred million dollars this year. As I said it was so much it didn’t seem real. The entire day during the presentations everyone was upbeat, as they were all involved in profit sharing. My only worry now was that someone might decide to retire with their new fortune.
One last item brought up by the accountants was the royalty money coming in from the beer can pull tabs. This didn’t fit neatly within any of our company Divisions. They requested we set up a small group to track royalty income and make certain we were receiving it from all sources. I questioned that. They used Mexicali Delight as an example. They sold and bottled beer all over the world. How would we know if they were paying from everywhere they used pull tabs?
I could see the logic in that. I asked Jim Williamson who was part of the Accounting Team to come up with an organization chart. I could see that we would actually need agents to go out in the field to see what was being done. This also gave me an opportunity to have Jim head up the new group on a profit-sharing basis. He certainly had earned it.
He promised to have a draft available within the week.
After all had left except Mum, Dad, Popeye, and Sam Wingate the corporate attorney, we had a meeting of the compensation committee. As a group, they had all the numbers in advance.
I was informed that the board was going to increase my compensation. I had been making one and a half-million dollars a year as President of the company. It was now going to be three million a year.
I think they were prepared for a battle. I didn’t give them one. Last year I got the logic that my salary acted as a cap on the entire company. It wouldn’t be fair to middle management if I didn’t take a raise. The logic seemed suspicious to me but as all American industry went with it, so would I.
I would be in a ninety-one percent marginal tax bracket so my three million dollars became about a million less state and local taxes. Poor me!
That didn’t take into account the net profit from the company. I would have to pay twenty-five percent if I held it long enough. Since I had no plans to buy Ecuador I was good.
I was beginning to see why Dad didn’t like President Eisenhower’s taxes. Though I think it was more of a Congress thing rather than a Presidential idea. I know one thing. I wasn’t going to bring any of it up with Ike.
As the last event of the day, we held a formal board meeting. This included the shifting of funds for Jackson Transportation’s expansion and approving a new division to be called Freight Forwarding. I brought up the name Freight Express with FreightEx but no one liked it.
I formally put forward that a new Division called Jackson Licensing to be created with Jim Williamson as its head and that he be included in the profits of said Division, the same as the other Division heads.
All items were approved unanimously on a voice vote.
Dad wanted to know what my investment plans were for my profits this year. I told him that I would sit down with an investment firm and discuss my thoughts on the services to the airline industry. Not airline companies, but those who built, maintained, and serviced them.
I specifically thought it was time I had another investment group involved, not that I wasn’t satisfied with the current one, Schwab, it just seemed prudent to spread it out.
Mr. Wingate said, “Hear, hear.”
I think that
