The man has a hospital wing named in his honour.
So, in the spirit of Conrad Black, corporate piggishness and lobster ceviche, allow us to take this tribute thing to a new level.
Why not name a university wing as a special tribute to Black and his – shall we say – unique management style? Let’s call it the Black Institute of Creative Management, dedicated to those longtime, buy-and-hold Hollinger International minority shareholders who are hiding under the covers in embarrassment at this very moment, wondering how they could have been hoodwinked into investing in management that allegedly conspired to systematically loot the newspaper publishing company of more than $400 million US, or most of its profits from 1997 through 2003.
Of course, the Black Institute’s official textbook would be the Hollinger Chronicles, the 513-page internal report recently prepared by a special committee of Hollinger International’s board and filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Although Black has rejected the report’s findings, the Hollinger Chronicles should be must reading for CEOs who wish to master the fine art of running a public company without the annoyance of worrying themselves sick about unwashed shareholders who couldn’t tell a lobster ceviche from beluga caviar.
Black (assuming that he isn’t – shall we say – tied up) could make a special guest appearance at the Black Institute to lecture on how to get a hospital to christen a wing in your honour with a charitable contribution paid for, in part, by your company’s shareholders.
According to allegations in the Hollinger Chronicles, those Hollinger International shareholders hiding under the covers were unknowing donors to Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, which continues to honour Black with the Black Family Foundation Wing. If you can hear under the covers, nice gesture, gang.
Black Institute students could be asked to memorize choice quotations from the Chronicles such as this one pertaining to charitable contributions: “Hollinger’s charitable giving during this time period was tainted by a number of factors, including Black’s and (former Hollinger senior executive David) Radler’s usurpation of public credit for Hollinger’s charitable giving.”
The Chronicles also claim that Radler used company money totalling $168,000 to pay for part of a $637,000 donation to Queen’s University that established the Radler Business Wing. No word on whether Queen’s has booked Radler to lecture its students about integrity and ethics in business.
The Black Institute could also enlighten students about how to have fun in business by being socially responsible. And don’t we know how important that is? Nope, we’re not talking about your boss splurging on that foosball game for your company’s office. We’re talking about serious birthday parties, such as Black’s $40,000-plus birthday party for wife Barbara Amiel Black’s 60th birthday at New York’s swanky La Grenouille restaurant. The Chronicles allege that $42,870 was charged to Hollinger International for Barbara’s bash, featuring 80 friends.
Apparently, minority shareholders were not invited to nibble on lobster ceviche with the Lord and Lady.
The Black Institute could also teach students how to do Bora Bora in French Polynesia on $53,000 a day, a feat apparently mastered by Black and his wife in 2001. The Chronicles allege that Hollinger received a chit for expenses for this 10-day vacation.
If you go to school on Conrad Black, you’d also learn not to go cheap when entertaining your board members. As the Chronicles state, alleged expenses charged to Hollinger included $28,480 on three dinners for Hollinger director Henry Kissinger and his wife. Apparently, the former U.S. secretary of state (since resigned from Hollinger’s board) doesn’t go for super sizing at McDonald’s.
The Black Institute would also pay special attention to teaching CEOs that fair compensation cannot be understated, using Hollinger International as a model.
As the Chronicles allege: “Hollinger was used as a piggy bank for the Blacks . . . From 1997 to 2003, Black and Radler received ‘management fees’ of $218.4 million through HLG (Hollinger Inc.) and Ravelston (Black’s private holding company).”
Black Institute students could also learn about how to lose their money – by investing in companies in which the CEO has “hammerlock” control over its board, as the Chronicles allege Black had.
The report notes that Black controlled Hollinger International through special shares that allowed him to control 68 per cent of the votes while actually owning just 18.2 per cent of the company.
As stated in the Chronicles: “Black had the votes to replace any member of the board, and they all knew it. Black called the shots, and he wanted a board filled with prominent people who wouldn’t make waves. Black got what he wanted.”
If you Hollinger shareholders are still hiding under the covers, take heart.
You weren’t the only ones wearing blinders while the man with the hospital wing named in his honour was singing from a Frank Sinatra songsheet, I Did It My Way.
You kept fine company.
You and Henry Kissinger.
* POMPOUS WORDS: “I have been characterized and stigmatized as an embezzler. I’m trying to retrieve my reputation as an honest man.”
– Conrad Black, six months ago in a Delaware courtroom.
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Up 51 cents (+50.5%) on 8.45 million shares (for week ending Sept. 3).
Market’s dead, huh? Well, not exactly. Check out those white-hot uranium stocks screaming on the back of runaway uranium prices. Vancouver-based uranium explorer UEX rocketed on news of a $5-million private
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COLD STOCK: Hot House Growers Income Fund
VEG.UN $6.90
Down $4.95 (-41.8%) on 1.128 million shares (for week ending Sept. 3).
Canning season has turned into selling season for many unitholders of this tomato and bell pepper producer, which canned its monthly distribution for August. That’s always a surefire recipe for stewing unitholders to jump out of bed – or hotbed. The Vancouver trust company blames a bumper tomato crop in North America for plunging tomato prices.
(Gyle Konotopetz, who once toiled at one of Lord Black’s lesser properties, can be reached at gyle@businessedge.ca)
