Originally Posted by swedie View Post
* After all was said and done and things went over budget, they were not getting the positive response WM was expecting, WM sensed he had made a huge, bad decision, realized he had pushed the business onto DM who was not interested, WM felt overwhelmed, hopeless and guilty therefore committed suicide.
That is an accurate assessment and it reconciles with the meeting DM had with the project manager of the hangar developer.
The project had consumed most of the WM family cash and he ended up with some bank debt toward the end.
Bank debt would not be a problem once the business was up and running , and overall the project would have been profitable and a good investment (of the family cash)
All that was left to do was to get DM seriously interested in the repair facility , have him remove his private cars and hobby projects , show the new building to prospective clients and contracts would be signed , and cash would start to flow in
The project manager could not get DM to remove his junk from the hangar , .... thus no showing the facility to potential customers .... WM and hangar staff could not get DM to even show up in the mornings .... DM would wander in late and work on his cars and trucks.
WM would have come to a tremendous realization he had made a big mistake. After all , his motive was to set up the operation for DM and DM could care less by the looks of it.
In the bigger picture we must recognize Grandfather CM was the one who built the wealth and success of the company , WM lived off the avails of CM's success and rented out the original CM hanger. The original hangar had to be torn down and WM wanted to duplicate for DM what CM had done for him .... thus the modern Hangar facility for DM to run and carry on the MillardAir Name.
I think WM began to see the writing on the wall a few months earlier , and DM probably confirmed it in a final showdown before WM decided to exit.
Mix some alcohol in the gloomy situation and it is understandable how WM maybe wanted "out" ... things were looking bleak and broken from his perspective .... he may also have hoped that DM might mature and take some responsibility with him out of the way .
Obviously that did not work out because DM quickly dismantled the repair facility plans and used the $6 million building to repair a couple of old vehicles. It was the poorest business decision he could have made. The value of the project dropped by 80% in an instant , no cash flow , bills and loans still to be paid.
DM may not have actually pulled the trigger but he certainly was the main contributor to the gloomy outlook faced by WM
