Selena is upset, because I won’t stay quiet and let her enjoy her favorite indulgence – Gossip Girl.
I am usually able to let most questionable elements about the world of GG pass, including why no one seems to actually attend class, why so many swank Manhattan clubs let teenagers drink at the bar or that it’s convenient to just pop in at a gallery or cafe in Brooklyn Heights when you live in the Upper East Side. All of these I tolerate without vocal complaint.
But I am having trouble accepting a plotline from the past few weeks, the world of Gossip Girl has decided to give everyone’s favorite character Chuck FULL CONTROL over his father’s multi-million dollar business.
The heir apparent to Bass Industries
The 17-year-old son of the owner was granted in dad’s will 51% ownership of the company (With step-mom getting 29% and the board getting 20%).
Let’s examine this just a bit.
In order for this to be possible, the late Bart Bass would have had to have had completely and total 100% control of his business.
He did not; because 1) there is a Board and 2) they reference the shareholders.
This means that Bart could only own a portion of the company, like CEO/Founders of companies in the real world tend to do. So, let’s assume he had a major stake in the company still, say 20% ownership. What would that mean?
It would mean the 51% of his shares he gave Chuck, which would be roughly 10% of the company. That’s still a sizable amount that would make the Board sit up and take notice. That’s still a sizable enough amount that Uncle Jack would still want to connive to steal it (under the completely illegal bad behavior clause, but that’s worthy of it’s own rant). Chuck wouldn’t get to be CEO for a day, (which is a rabbit hole the writers didn’t really want to go down anyway), he’d probably get a Board seat, a huge dividend and plenty of opportunity to continue to cause trouble.
Would that be too complex for the show’s typical teenage girl audience to understand? Even if they don’t get all the details, isn’t it better than dumbing it down and teaching the next generation that business works like a monarchical succession?
Well… you make some good points, Greg, but I think I can refute them with one simple argument:
HE’S CHUCK BASS!!!
; )
I’ve never even seen GG, but I love this rant. Between this and your Twilight rant, I think you are creating a unique niche for yourself as an adult male critic of teen girl fare. You should write a column in Seventeen or Sassy or something! (Do those magazines still exist?)
I’m a little ashamed to know this, but in my defense it’s only because I’ve been keeping up with the print media news a bit lately (you know, like watching a train wreck : ) But, yes, for now Seventeen still lives, as perhaps a sort of ‘last girl standing’ in the realm of teen magazines. Teen does not, and I’ve never heard of Sassy, but by that measure I’m guessing neither does it. Sad… or something.