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Message: <blockquote data-quote="humble minion" data-source="post: 9459643" data-attributes="member: 5948">I’d have to go back and relisten to the relevant bit of the podcast, my jaw was kinda on the floor at that point.My recollection is that the offer was for all of Gary’s 800 shares at a way-above market value of $3000 each, plus the trademarks to D&D, plus a lump sum payout and a sum of $500k/yr for 5 years in exchange for nixing the royalties deals (owed and ongoing) and TSR no longer paying for Gary’s mansion in LA. The total mentioned was $17 million, of which only $2.5m was paid in instalments. Am I misremembering? Because that would imply that $15m would still have to be found. That’s a huge chunk of change, though admittedly it in the interest of getting some massive ongoing liabilities off the balance sheet, so the bank may not have just laughed them out of the room. Given later events, I’m a bit uncertain of Williams’s ability to manage and restructure the company into sound profit-making venture, however. I suspect that if Gary had taken the deal, TSR would have crumbled much earlier under the weight of the debt load.Also I’m a bit unsure who’d actually be paying this money - TSR as a corporate entity, or Williams herself. Presumably Williams wanted to end up the new owner of Gary’s shares, so she must have contributed some money herself, but only TSR could choose to transfer D&Ds trademarks, not her in her private capacity. Unless, of course, the lines between TSR corporate money and Williams’s interests were already becoming blurred, just like they did under Gary and the Blumes. The more things change…It occurs to me that a similar series about Williams would be profoundly fascinating too. How did she turn from this hard-headed ruthless dealmaker and money person into someone who just sleepwalked her company into insolvency because she wasn’t involved or competent enough to realise they were manufacturing and selling stuff at a loss.Sounds like we’ll never get it though. She seems to have firmly shut the door on that part of her life.</blockquote>

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