was sudden notice and I appreciate everyone taking time from their busy day to attend this meeting. I can’t promise it’ll be brief, but it will be thorough. Bear with me while I bring everyone up to speed on events that led to this meeting.
“Several weeks ago I met with Zosia Lund. She mentioned two things that disturbed me. First, that none of the LI executive officers would take the time to meet with her.” I shot Brady and Ash each a look and I was pleased to see embarrassment on both of their faces. “Second, she’d learned from a Duluth Chamber of Commerce member that LuTek had recently purchased ESP, a manufacturing company in her town. I was shocked by the news for her sake since it’s always been LI company policy to give notice to any LI business conducted in Duluth. On a personal level, I was mortified because I knew nothing about the acquisition. Nothing,” I repeated. “An acquisition I’ve since learned cost ten million dollars.” My gaze scanned the room. “Show of hands. Who was aware of the purchase of ESP through LuTek prior to it happening and not after the fact?”
Brady’s hand went up.
Ash’s hand went up.
My dad’s hand went up.
My mom’s hand went up.
“Who knew about the expenditure only after the transaction had happened?”
My uncle Monte’s hand went up.
My uncle Ward’s hand went up.
My aunt Selka’s hand went up.
My aunt Cilla’s hand went up.
“Who had no idea about this expenditure at all?”
Jensen, Walker, Annika, Jax and the three nonfamily members we were required to have on the board all raised their hands.
“The executive officers spent ten million dollars without bringing it to the board. Correct me if I’m wrong, Monte, but that’s not how this is supposed to work, is it?”
“No, Nolan, we have proposal procedures to prevent this sort of situation.”
The room was much quieter than I’d imagined it would be, as those not in the loop were glaring at the executive officers.
“After Zosia brought the issue to my attention, I attempted to find a paper trail so I could see if there was a legitimate reason we’d been uninformed of this acquisition. But I found nothing. As a subsidiary, LuTek’s offices aren’t in this building, so it wasn’t like I could pop down to floor fifteen and ask for duplicate copies. Last week, right after Archer’s heart attack, I stayed in the boardroom to add to my notes and I noticed a separate server listed that’s only accessible on this floor to the executive officers. I’m guessing if you don’t work on this floor regularly you never would’ve noticed it.
“Here’s where my annoyance started. I don’t like secret servers. I don’t like locked files. Especially not when I know there’s ten million dollars basically unaccounted for. Since I’m acting interim CEO, I tasked IT with getting me access.”
“You had no right to do that,” Brady said.
I leaned across the table. “Wrong. I have every right. Especially when I saw the other massive expenditure that LuTek had already agreed to also in those files. The buyout that was announced today to the tune of fifty million dollars. To be honest, I’m pissy about the fact LuTek has that kind of money and I had no clue.” I paused. “No, that’s not true. I’m livid that if I hadn’t accessed the files in the server late last night, I would’ve had to read in the fucking newspaper, like everyone else in the general public, that a subsidiary of the company where I’m currently acting interim CEO spent fifty million dollars acquiring a cable network. Let me repeat. Fifty. Million. Dollars.”
Silence.
“So let’s do the show-of-hands thing again. Who knew that LuTek has been in negotiations with All Sports Central for two months to purchase Wolf Sports North?”
Brady’s hand went up.
Ash’s hand went up.
My dad’s hand went up.
“Great. Who knew about the purchase only after it was a done deal?”
Monte’s hand went up.
Archer’s hand went up.
My mom’s hand went up.
“Awesome. Last really fun thing . . . who didn’t know until today that we now own a cable network?”
Everyone else at the table raised their hand.
“Annika, none of the press releases announcing the acquisitions came through Lund Industries PR?”
She shook her head. “Frankly, on a ‘don’t fuck with my department’ note, I’m pissed off we weren’t tasked with creating a much better way to announce the acquisitions.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing personal, as I’m so often told.”
My dad cleared his throat. “If I may.”
I nodded.
“Nothing we did