Growing up a WWE fan during the Attitude era, I remember watching live when Shane-o-Mac jumped 40ft down from the Titantron. I remember gasping. “The guy’s the owners son. He must already be so rich. And he’s jumped off the Titantron. He would do anything for that company”.
Sadly that’s no longer the case following Vince McMahon’s decision to release Shane McMahon from the wrestler roster. The decision coming after Shane caused troubles at the recent Royal Rumble. A generational business family fall-out, with father dropping son.
There have been some other notable family fall-outs in business:
Adidas/Puma
Most famously brothers Adolf (known as Adi) and Rudolf Dassler founded a shoe company in Germany in 1924. They specialised in sports shoes, and even supplied the Germany team at the 1936 Summer Olympics.
However with the rise of the Nazi party, the two brothers reportedly had different political opinions; with Rudolf rumoured to be more strongly supportive of the regime. At the end of WW2 both brothers were investigated by the Americans for their role in the Nazi party.
The methods each used to defend themselves – often quite brutally at the expense of their sibling – led to huge hostility between the brothers. They became enemies and never reconciled.
When they were released from the investigations, they each created a sports shoe company: Rudolf founded Puma in 1948, and Adi founded Adidas in 1949. Both brothers remained in their home town of Herzogenaurach, which became divided as the two rival factories were built either side of the river.
Following their deaths in 1974 (Rudolf) and 1975 (Adi), the two were buried in the same cemetery in Herzogenaurach … albeit at opposite ends!
McCain oven chips
McCain oven chips have grown to be the world’s largest frozen chip supplier. Founded by two brothers – Harrison and Wallace McCain – they ran the business together for 37 years to great success. The brothers were so close they had an unlocked door between their two offices in the company HQ.
However in 1993 that close bond changed as Wallace appointed his son to head the US operations for the firm, in a move that Harrison was strongly against.
The power struggle that ensued saw Wallace forced to leave the company within a year, and led to a 20-year estrangement between the brothers.
Gordon Ramsey Holdings
More recently chef, restauranteur and tv personality Gordon Ramsey had quite the fall out with his father-in-law, Chris Hutcheson.
First Gordon decided to axe Chris from his role as Chief Executive of his company, Gordon Ramsey Holdings, in 2011 in a high-profile and acrimonious case.
Then things took a turn to the bizarre when Gordon took Chris and his family to court for attempting to hack into company computer systems after leaving the company. The father-in-law, along with his sons were found guilty of almost 2,000 access attempts over a 5 month period; with information obtained leaked to the press in an attempt to smear his son-in-law.
Although Chris was handed a 6 month jail term and declared bankrupt following the ensuing, long-term legal fall-out, it is said that the two parties are now reconciled.
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They say in business to be careful who your partners are… sometimes it’s even more true when your partners are family members…