The Wrong Kind of Money Read Online Free PDF Page A

Liebling married William Hower, who had been her personal physical fitness trainer. The Howers have since separated, and Ruth Liebling has reassumed the title Countess di Pascanelli, a title that she claims is papal, though the Vatican will not confirm this.
    These marriages, and her abortive film career, are said to have caused her late father extreme distress, and are presumed to have cost him considerable sums of money.
    Meanwhile, Jules Liebling’s “good” son, Noah Liebling, 27, was left no Ingraham stock at all in his father’s will. Noah Liebling has worked in his father’s companies in various capacities since his cum laude graduation from Nevada State six years ago. In the industry, it was widely assumed that the younger Mr. Liebling was being groomed to head Ingrahams. But this is not to be, at least not for a while. For the time being, Noah Liebling is essentially just one of his mother’s employees.
    Jules Liebling’s will does, however, offer Noah a window of hope for the future, if he plays his cards right. The will stipulates that 25% of Hannah Liebling’s shares in the company—that is, 13% of the shares outstanding—are hers to do with as she wishes. Mrs. Liebling could, presumably, make a public offering of these shares. The remainder of her shares are earmarked as “discretionary holdings.” At such time as she feels is “fitting,” the will stipulates, the remaining 75% of her voting shares are to be turned over to Noah, giving him a majority voting position in the company. That time will come, the will states, “when my dear wife feels that my son is fully ready to assume the reins of my company.” That time could come next week, next year, or many years from now. Until that time Noah Liebling remains effectively tied to his mother’s apron strings and could remain so until her death, at which point his mother’s discretionary shares go to him without restrictions.
    If Jules Liebling’s will seems grossly unfair to Noah by some industry insiders, Noah himself—a highly popular figure in the industry—does not see it that way at all. Speaking to Business Week ’s reporter without a trace of bitterness, Noah Liebling said, “My father was a very kind and loving man, and a very fair man. His will is a very human, and very humane, instrument, it seems to me. My older brother, Cyril, has his own business, and has never had any interest in running the company. My sister is an extremely talented and artistic woman who, by her own admission, let her heart rule her head several years ago when she turned her back on a promising Hollywood career to marry. As a result, as she puts it, she ‘can’t even get arrested’ in the film or television community. Until she finds herself artistically, she will need the funds from my father’s trust to live in the style to which she is accustomed.
    â€œPlacing my mother at the helm of the family enterprises makes perfect sense to me. Though she never had an office in the Ingraham Building, or had a title in the corporation, no corporate decision, large or small, was ever made by my father without first consulting my mother. As anyone who has ever worked for us knows, my mother and my father were true partners in the family business in every sense of the word. This is why theirs was such a loving and lasting marriage.
    â€œAs for myself, I am much too young and inexpertenced to assume the stewardship of a company the size and complexity of Ingraham. At the moment I could not possibly run this company without my mother’s help and guidance. And so both my mother and I are very happy with the present arrangement, as are my brother and sister. Though we will always miss our father, we are all happy that he left things as he did.”
    Cynics point out that it is lucky that the Liebling family is happy with the will. A stern final clause declares, “Anyone who