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gygaxfaq Page 3 of 7 placed his own interests below those of the corporation. 1985: Gary exercises an option, and with what amounted to a handful of shares voted by other family members, he had ac. 50.1% majority. Later, when Brian Blume exercised an option he held, so as to sell those shares, and the others he and his brother Kevin held, to Lorraine Williams, Gary was again a minority shareholder. In this same year he sued to prevent the transfer of Blume-owned shares, arguing that a corporate buy-sell agreement prevented the sale to Williams. The local judge rules otherwise. Back to the top... Back to the homepage... What Happened to Gygax - TSR? The reader is referred also to the FAQ regarding stock ownership in TSR, as it explains a good deal of what happened. Gary was President of TSR Hobbies, Inc. when it was formed in 1976. In fiscal 1981 the company made c. $16.5 million dollars income, with c. $4.25 pre-tax profit. At this time, corporate long-term debt was about equal to an average month's receipts. Gygax did not believe in borrowing money except for short-term needs, for projects that could not otherwise be produced, but that would in a relatively brief time generate sufficient sales to repay any loan needed to get them to market. The board of directors of TSR then consisted of Gary, Brian Blume, and Kevin. Blume. The latter two voted about 60% of the outstanding shares ofstock of the corporation, compared to Gary's c. 30%. The Board decided to reorganize the company. Gary would be president, but "beneath" him were two other presidents: Brian Blume was "President of Creative" at TSR, and Kevin Blume was "President of Operations”. In theory, they reported to and took direction from Gary. In reality, being two-thirds of the board, the Blumes ran TSR and Gary was boxed out. From that point on, Gary never ran the company, and had to fight for anything he thought was in the best interests of TSR. Gary wanted to keep the best quality in binding and products in general. He believed that authors of works should have their names on the works. He believed that some royalty should be paid to creative employees. He thought that all employees of TSR should be able to buy shares of stock and participate in ownership. All of these ideas were antithetical to the Blumes, it seems. Each of these instituted practices were done away with systematically. with product quality being the main target. Brian Blume stated publicly that he wanted “obscene profits at federally insured safety”. FBI(19-cv-1495)-2272