Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
“So I have a question for you because my grandfather and your Uncle Vincent own the Ludlow Bubbly, and it is really getting out there – what happens when you decide to go do something else beside moguling? What happens at the end of the empire you've built?”
This was ten-year-old Andrew Ludlow talking with equally precocious nine-year-old Vertran Stepforth. Vertran's grandfather, Thomas Stepforth Sr., was a true mogul – Lofton County's only Black billionaire, and somewhere in its top 3 richest men, period. Vertran was his “grand-mogul,” his capacity to think like a business person having come out early. His analogs in the Ludlow family were Andrew and eleven-year-old Eleanor, first cousin and adopted sibling to Andrew.
Vertran considered this.
“You know, I honestly have no idea, being only nine, and just starting in business. But I know who does know, because your Papa and my Pop-Pop are both at that age when they are needing to think about what happens.”
“Papa is just starting, too,” Eleanor said, “but at his age we worry, just a little bit, about how he gets out of it if it gets too much. He has stress-related heart stuff.”
“But the thing is, Papa is not thinking of letting it go because it's our inheritance,” Andrew said.
“Oh, well, in that case, the empire doesn't end: it gets some new emperors,” Vertran said. “But then again, unless you really love business, it's kind of tough at our age. I think Pop-Pop is off the phone, so let's go ask him.”
Mr. Thomas Stepforth Sr. had been impressed by the Ludlow grandchildren already, but seeing the two oldest drawing even with Vertran was a revelation to him. For the moment he just asked the question, but his look at Mrs. Velma Stepforth said he wanted to talk some things over with her afterward.
“Well, the advantage your grandfather has is that, because he is so close to the beginning, he can plan the end more easily. Most businesses actually end by going out of business – they run out of money or workers or customers, or something happens with their supplies or location, or they get caught not doing their accounting or legal pieces right. But, if a founder wants to go do something else, he can choose to just close the business or sell it, perhaps to the other partners, some other individual or company, or the company's own workers, or some combination of the same. He can also sign it over to his choice of heir, while he is still alive.
“Then there are people like me who are what is called a serial entrepreneur. Business people like me prefer to see an opportunity, buy or build a business, grow it, get it to a good place, and then sell it – it is the creativity part that we like.
“OK, but then how do you stay a billionaire?” Eleanor said.
“Investment,” Mr. Stepforth said. “First of all, you don't have to sell your whole company – so there are a lot of companies out there that I owned at one time, matured, and sold all but the stake I still wanted for investment purposes. There are also a lot of businesses that I am what is called an angel or mezzanine investor in – I help companies get money to get to the next stage of their development, and often times I keep a portion of the ownership. And then, of course, there's boring stuff like stocks and bonds in companies I like but don't want to be personally involved. Vertran here thinks I'm going to live forever, but, I am 66 now!”
“Our grandfather is 58 – I'm just making some notes here to take to him on Sunday,” Andrew said. “Looks like there's more than one way to get your grandkids an inheritance without having to work too hard.”
“I look forward to meeting Capt. R.E. Ludlow,” Mr. Stepforth said. “Y'all's soda is now the only soda I drink, and the quality did not decline once Rhodes Bottling took over, so I know your grandfather stays on top of things.”
“Look, when your company's chief quality control officer's Army nickname is 'Hell to Pay,' there aren't going to be any problems with the quality!” Eleanor said. “Everybody knows that if we ever throw a bad batch, Papa is going to find out who is responsible and boil down and bottle them himself. You do not mess with Capt. Robert Edward 'Hell to Pay' Ludlow Sr. – that's just something you just don't do!”
“Especially not about his grandchildren's inheritance,” Andrew said. “See, Papa is a good, kind man on most days, but anything involving us or Grandma, and he will flip right back, take some folks up out of here, and sleep good. There are seven Ludlow grandchildren in all, and half our combined foster parents are in prison and thanking God they made it because the alternative – well, you know his nickname already so I don't have to go through that again.”
“Sounds like my type of man!” Mr. Stepforth said.
“Oh, he is,” Vertran said. “I haven't met him yet, but everybody knows what happened that time Auntie Valerie was being messed with by that school back in the day. They are still not done telling that story, Pop-Pop – but that's the kind of story I'm sure Capt, Ludlow would love.”
“Oh, we know about it – it's in his dossier on you, Mr. Stepforth,” Eleanor said.
“Oh, I made another dossier!” Mr. Stepforth said. “How delightful to be noticed and appreciated.”
“See, Papa is like this,” Andrew said. “He's only been out of the Army for a bit over two years, and Col. Lee is Special Forces and so is Cousin Major Ironwood Hamilton, so they taught him a lot of stuff. Papa has a dossier on everyone who is around his grandchildren, is going to be around his grandchildren, is thinking about being around his grandchildren, and might someday be because Lofton County is big but doesn't have a lot of people in it for its size. He also has a sorting system. You're in the approved sort, Mr. Stepforth, which is why he went on for his treatments, knowing you were coming.”
“Now, don't get it twisted – you're not there because you're a billionaire,” Eleanor said. “Papa does not play that. Again, no matter who you are, if he even thinks you don't belong around us, but you don't get that, that's going to be the end of your empire. If you make it into the 'plow them under' sort, just make out your will and trust, or just get your passport and head on out, because if you make enough space between you and us, Papa may let you live.”
“Yep, that's my kind of man,” Mr. Stepforth said. “He and I should probably compare sorting systems, as many grandkids as we both have about to take over the 21st century. Gotta protect the grandkids – what is the point of generational wealth if you don't do that?”
Later, Mr. Stepforth sat down with Mrs. Stepforth.
“Although Capt. Ludlow – according to my dossier on him – does not have the temperament of a serial entrepreneur, I do see in both his grandchildren and how that business got up and running as it did what his real business is: his real business is his grandchildren, and now that I've had time to spend talking to the eldest and the youngest, I can say that he and his wife are doing a phenomenonal job!”
“That soda, in its perfection batch by batch, says that too – but both he and our son-in-law Vincent are about to get crushed by the Ludlow Bubbly,” Mrs. Stepforth said. “There's not enough capacity in Lofton County for it as it sits, so it either is going to need dedicated bottling, or it will need to move, and all that takes money the company can't produce fast enough.”
“Which is where I'm going to come in, to help my fellow grandfather out, because what he needs to do is to be free to handle his real business,” Mr. Stepforth said. “The love and almost obsessive dedication he has to them just oozes off his little ones – but he has a lot more options than he knows about, and I'm going to present them to him once I get to know him a little better. Not that I need the couple or ten more million dollars in those options, but he might appreciate them!”
Capt Ludlow has no idea what his grandchildren/children have done for him or themselves. I had a feeling Mr Stepforth was going to help with the soda business, it did not take him long to figure out the real business, his grandchildren.
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Capt. Ludlow is getting set up for a Sunday surprise ... you see it!