The Five-Year Contract. (#arrangedmarriage)

Chapter 18 - Jack Van Lowden

Connecticut, Greenwich, 23th November

It was midnight when I got to my room. Lately, I have been working non-stop trying to make sure that everything that my father and Robert were doing didn't sit on the sidelines and that included finalizing the last adjustments to the deal that supposedly had closed before they got into that damn helicopter.

Brushing a hand through my hair, I pick the remote and turn on the television that's facing my bed. While I'm taking off my clothes and getting ready to get to bed, I like to see the news or reruns of programs...mainly finance programs that would usually be on the Bloomberg channel or on any other business channel.

Taking off my sweater, I noticed that CNN is passing an investigative piece about the lives of my father and his business partner, Gerald. They are showing interviews when they were thirty-something and when probably I hadn't even been born. Seeing and hearing them talk, hurt, was a constant reminder that they weren't here with us.

I'm not in the mood to be sad. Quickly, I exchange the channel to Bloomberg and what are they doing? Apparently, they are discussing the future of Dot Com. They had two business analysts and TV commentators in the studio, a blonde guy named James Alcott and another short guy with brown hair and tanned skin, Daniel Jackson. I have never heard of James Alcott, but Daniel I had. We met briefly in a business conference and previous to that I was aware of his work, he flipped businesses that were dying and turned them into profit machines. He was really good.

"So, what do you think the future of Dot Com is going to be? They lost the CEO and the Chairman of the Board in one very tragic accident." The TV presenter says. "We want to hear your thoughts."

"First, thank you for having me on your show. Now, diving into your question, Peter. I don't think we are going to see a drastic change in Dot Com. They are the largest e-commerce company in the world, they are one of the most valuable companies and their shares are sold and bought daily for more than 700 dollars a share. So, I'm not expecting a big change even if the leadership is different. Eric Fowler is a competent guy, he's currently the interim CEO but I'm sure he is going to serve as the next CEO of the company and Edward McCarthy has Chairman of the Board. It's a very oil machine company and they are going to maintain what they have been doing."

I snorted listening to that. It's going to maintain what they have been doing? Eric Fowler is a competent guy? This guy, whoever he was, did not know how to analyze the business. Seriously, does he actually know that the people that are currently in charge are not competent at all? Dot Com is a leading innovative technological company, Fowler and McCarthy were as stale as they come. They were comfortable with the profit margins. They didn't care about growth opportunity or innovation to create something unique.

"What are your thoughts, Daniel? Do you agree with James's view?" The presenter asked politely to the other guy.

"Well, I agree with some of James' points, but my view is different on the matter. Dot Com is in fact an oil machine company, that can run without its CEO for a few weeks but not for a long period of time. What I think James analyzed wrong is the current CEO of Dot Com, Eric Fowler. You think he is a competent guy, fair enough, well, he may be, but Eric is stale as they come." I smiled at his comment. Now, we are talking. That's what I think about him too, he did a competent job as COO but not a great job. He wasn't looking to be better. He was fine doing just what was expected of him and nothing more. On top, he was an ally of McCarthy or better a pond to McCarthy use the best way he liked. "They went with the safe option again, but as you said Dot Com is the leading e-commerce company and they are a very innovative company to their core. So, what happens when they stopped being innovative? The growth they are used to is no longer going to be there because other companies are going to ketch them up."