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2007 News Archives - Business News
See Also: Clear Springs

Shakeup at the Empire

by Brent Kellogg
October 18

Wherever Clear Springs is, I must visit it sometime, especially after today when Senator Jack Abbott said it's a great place this time of the year. So I'm thinking; Wisconsin, almost November, cold and rainy, yeah, it must be like Hawaii. The fishing must be good too. If it wasn't, why would the senator take his step-son and wife there on a fishing trip? Does Noah Newman even know what a fishing pole is? Before leaving, will he be out in the Abbott home backyard digging worms?

And why are so many reporters still calling the senator? To ask how he feels now that the Ethics Committee has postponed a hearing into his shady ethics and business ventures? Wouldn't you think something that happened early in the week would still be FrontPage news? According to Abbott, he's willing to answer "any and all questions", proud that Internet blogs are calling him "Teflon Jack", and yet he's bitching that calls are coming in on his private line and wondering how they got his number.

Has the senator forgotten so soon the entire day and complained about privacy invasion? Has he, a State Senator, not heard that Verizon has admitted to giving the government its customer's calling records? Did he not hear that AT&T may have done the same thing? So what's the big shocker? For one thing, his former wife is getting out of the corner prison on a special work release program. Phyllis Newman will work five days each week for Abbott's pet company, NVP, a health and wellness conglomeration owned by Mrs. Nikki Newman with the subsidy project known as Clear Springs, apparently overseen by Abbott and financed by Newman Enterprises giant Victor Newman.

A free woman by day, inmate by night, Phyllis will be brought up to speed by all NE department heads for what Abbott said today will result with the "sizzle" being put back into the Clear Springs website. A webmaster by trade, Phyllis hadn't been incarcerated for more than two day before she said she was conducting a prison workshop for aspiring web designers. How her work release will impact prisoners hoping to learn a skill they can use on the outside was not immediately known unless the workshop will be held at night when teacher is back behind bars.

Learning of his client's lucky break when she's been in prison less than 60-days of a six-year sentence, attorney Michael Baldwin said it not like Phyllis has been given a "get out of jail free" card, and that she'll be expected not to use her time at work for the purpose of having "personal relations", AKA sex with her husband. Big teeth glowing, Nick Newman, told not to see his wife's semi-release as an opportunity to bang Phyllis on the office desk every five minutes, was already planning what she'll wear on the job. Red panties, check. Red garters, check. Anything, so long as it's red.

In a related development, having made the decision that enough of his memory loss has been found so as to facilitate his return as NE co-CEO, Nick thanked slave Neil Winters for keeping the empire together during his absence, said that Winters was a regular "Aaron Rodgers (A-Rod)" during that time, but that he's resuming his position as the boss.

Worried that his seat on the Board of Directors may have been usurped and that his spot on the food chain had changed, Winters hightailed it to Victor's office only to find the great man playing online chess with a man in London. Making the slave cool his cotton, Victor played his final move resulting in checkmate and a word to the wise: "You have to know when to strike."

His power status still in question, Neil was put off until Victor pondered what would be best for the company and later, with his other "boy" on hand, Victor announced a new power structure. Nick will head up the Venture Capital Division, sister Victoria Newman will head the Real Estate Division, and Neil will be co-CEO of Newman Cosmetics! A company that never really went anywhere following the failure of Safra, Neil unveiled today that on his very own he has acquired for NE, Dr. Kwans' Skincare Products!

In other business news, Victor made good on his threat to pull the financial plug on the Clear Springs project. An interesting development considering the project is so near completion more than half of Genoa City's elite have left for, or are in the process of going to, the grand opening, Victor told his estranged wife that he's tired of pissing money away on the project, that all her decisions have been bad ones, and that she's in over her head. The bellowing came as a surprise to Mrs. Newman who had said only minutes earlier that she's "smart" and been a "business woman" for years.

Toxic Gas, Hot Air, Threaten NVP Project

August 10, 2007
by Brent Kellogg

So I'm walking the dog when I see a crew from the local gas company digging up the street. I stop to ask what looks to be a supervisor, he's the one standing around, what if they found a Me Thane leak; what would they do? The guy gives me a look before repeating, "Me Thang leak?" I says no, Me Thane, as in never the thane shall meet. The guy's about to walk away without further discussion when I say, Methane, and go on to tell him about the silly Aussie in Genoa City who can't speak the language.

Bottom line: the source of any gas leak would be located and sealed. Depending on how far down into the earth the source is would determine the expense which is the responsibility of the property owner.

That's when my jaw dropped. For the first time in recently memory something said about how business is run in this Genoa City actually made sense! Overnight business executive Cane Ashby said that Chancellor Industries will not pump another dime into the Clear Springs project, and unless those who want the project to go forward are willing to cover the expense he's shutting it down.

Naturally, Newman Enterprises water boy Neil Winters was aghast. Because the widget company is on the hook for a loan given to Clear Springs project manager and NVP owner Nikki Newman, NVP, unable to extend its loan might go bust thus forcing NE to either pour more money down the drain or take a nasty financial loss. At the same time, Winters informed his boss that should Victor Newman let his wife's project go belly up for "personal" reasons, he, as a board of directors member would lodge a complaint.

Snorting like a mad bull, Mr. Newman said he'd take the loss and there would be nothing personal about it for he must teach the little woman once and for all who wears the pants in the family despite that not so long ago, when Victor was having epileptic fits and drooling all over himself, it was Mrs. Newman who had to practically change his Depends and had been working with him hand and glove to "take Jack Abbott down", a goal they never accomplished.

Incredibly, Abbott continues to have a say in how NVP is run, must be apprised when his wife and Newman's son go off on quests to find photo shoot locations, presumably for NE, and still dabbles in competing Jabot Cosmetics when it suits him all while having recently been elected to the State Senate and has yet to lift a finger doing the People's work. Informed by Ashby today that Methane gas found at the Clear Springs site must be cleaned up, Abbott, calling Ashby "Sport", said he doesn't give a rip if it gets cleaned up or not and that Mrs. Newman can rot in Hell for all he cares.

In related business news, appearing on the senator's doorstep today to say he'd anticipated Abbott's need for a good employee, porn addict, former NE mailroom clerk until Wednesday when he was fired, Daniel Romalotti said that of all the job applicants there must be at NE, none have criminals records like he has, and that he's hoping to expand his accomplishments when he's found guilty of illegally transporting of a dead body and other crimes too numerous to mention. To that end, Romalotti said being gainfully employed would show the judge he's serious about changing his evil ways and that the judge would give him a lighter sentence. Furthermore, having a job, especially one in the building he'd just had his ass kicked out of, would prove to his detractors they can't keep a good man down.

Jabot CEO to Launch Competing Company

August 9, 2007
by Brent Kellogg 

It's another of those oh my freaking god days as Jill Abbott announced today her intent to find Phillip Chancellor III's birth mother. Easily confused in my old age, I thought the matter was settled? I thought there were DNA tests upon DNA tests which proved Cane Ashby is Phillip #3 and if anyone's birth mother needs to be found, it's whomever gave birth to the body in Phillip's grave. Of course it's always been weird that since finding out he's a Chancellor, Cane has never gone by his given name. Considering too that pushing thirty Cane has taken up with - the not old enough to drink legally in Wisconsin - Lily Romalotti, anything is possible including Lily having sex with the aging man before her divorce from Daniel Romalotti is final.

It could be too that Jill was confused. Not only has she been cut out of her mother's will and said she's moving out of the Chancellor Mausoleum, Jill had sex today for the first time in something like twenty years. You'd be confused too if you hadn't had sex that long and then had a slab of pork shoved up your vagina.

Complicating matters, Jill went on record to say that she and Mr. Chee, the latter having been fired from Jabot Cosmetics by old lady Sterling when he refused her $2.5 million bribe to stay away from Jill, are launching a new "venture" which will directly compete with Jabot, a toxic chemical company of which Jill is the CEO.

Without saying what kind of company, anything that competes with Jabot can't be good for a firm which has for years been on the brink of bankruptcy due to poor management. Should Jill get around to resigning her position, it'll open up a new slot for an up and coming CEO like, dare we say, Daniel? The poor boy is out of work, plus he's got the skills needed including the prerequisite; college freshman.

Insomuch as Jack Abbott remains tied to Jabot, and Daniel is forecast to ask former step-daddy Jack for a job, what better timing? If, as Sterling had once planned, Billy Abbott can run Jabot, why not Daniel? While he's asking, it would behoove Daniel to inform Jack that he's turned his keys to the college flophouse Jack gave him and his lovely bride over to Lily. Since Lily is rubbing Daniel's nose in new sugar Cane, nothing would serve Lily better than having the rent-free pad snatched out from under her ass before foster brother Devon Hamilton, whose black heart will skip a beat when he finds out he's got Lily all to himself under the same roof, or Cane can put their weenies to her on it.

Meanwhile, since Daniel has apparently resigned himself to being the porn addict weasels-in-law claim he is and discriminated against him for, Daniel has yet to learn to stay away from trashy Amber Ashby. Appearing with her today at the Indigo jazz club, owner Neil Winters, who had told Daniel to stay away from his family, and in particular Amber because she's bad for business, was too busy sucking around former campaign manager Karen Taylor to notice when they walked into the tiny watering hole even though Amber was not wearing much more than a fig leaf.

His dead wife's favorite spices causing him to have a bawling jag, it was only last week that Neil had whimpered how much he misses Dru Winters. But the faux grief was too little too late as those who witnessed his actions following Dru's death, and know Neil more than they care to, knew it wouldn't be long before he'd be screwing again. If not Daniel, than another woman.

Follow the Bouncing NVP
A True Cock & Bull Story

July 19, 2007
by Brent Kellogg 

Pop Quiz: Why is Little Shop of Horrors owner and department store magnate Lauren Fenmore Baldwin in Clear Springs? Is the Clear Springs project even up and running and if so, who's running it? Surely not Mrs. Baldwin. What does she know about the project besides that those who do run it, and that's not clear either, wanted her to open a department store inside each Clear Springs location of which it appears will be similar to the NVP chain of health and wellness spas?

Can't come up with an answer? Neither could we. For someone who's been gone so long alone on her own, when those thought to be behind CS are enjoying the comforts of Genoa City, it's sure taking Baldwin a long time to accomplish her goal. NVP co-brain child Phyllis Summers Abbott Newman paved the way for a chain of NVP stores along the West Coast in just under 2 days and an NVP branch was opened in New Delhi in less time than that.

As if you didn't already know that business is this city is more along the lines of monkey business, behold how NVP owner Nikki Newman sold her shares of Jabot Cosmetics overnight to Chancellor Industries President Katherine Sterling and moments later, without consulting a lawyer, without at least having one present to give the appearance she wasn't merely signing over the pink slip to her BMW, signed legal papers making NVP hers.

Stranger still is the fact that originally Victor Newman took NVP away from his wife and gave it to Jack Abbott as a means to take Abbott "down". And yet today it was learned that the great man sold NVP back to his wife as a way to "go after" Abbott. Faux Jabot owner #2, Abbott was surprised that Newman would sell his wife's company back to her after giving it to him. He told Newman today that Jabot has been sold again which came as a surprise to Newman who it's been said has his finger on the pulse of Genoa City business.

Thought to be worthless, faux Jabot owner #1 Mr. Kim Chee said today that thanks to him, Jabot has prospered and that it was only because Abbott convinced him that he sold Jabot to Sterling. That Chee and Abbott were engaged in illegal activity had nothing to do with it and Chee hasn't been scared by the fact that both Sterling and Mr. Newman have threatened to expose him.

Running into Chee at this week's most popular hole in the wall, Indigo, Mrs. Newman thanked him for making Jabot a success without which she wouldn't have made a profit and thus been able to purchase NVP which was hers to begin with. Again, why Mrs. Newman didn't consult a lawyer boggles the mind. If she had she may have been able to get NVP back for a song.

And with all the changes in ownership, NVP is still being run out of Newman Towers apparently because with no employees to speak of, only one office is required to house it and its works too many hours one full-time employee Karen Taylor who was paired again with former Newman campaign manager, turned "political consultant" David Chow. Chow accepted Mrs. Newman's job offer after she begged him to stay in Genoa City saying Chow "has a business background" and is so in demand he can pick and choose which jobs he wants.

Having said earlier, that sticking around Genoa City for Jana Hawkes trial would remind him too much of former lover Carmen Mesta, Chow jumped at the opportunity when it dawned on him that, if he's lucky, the Newman's are probably close to another divorce which can only mean that he'd be in line as the 1,099 man to marry what is now a cow old enough to be his mother. Were that to happen, as a very special bonus, Chow would also get to work in the same building with the old bull. All that's missing is the cock to make this a true cock and bull story.

Sea of Confusion

June 8, 2007
by Brent Kellogg

I was confused about where Clear Springs actually is because there are a number of places by that name in states like Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi. Then it hit me that Nick and Phyllis Newman recently went to Texas and so that's where the Clear Springs Nikki Newman and those under the NVP umbrella must be trying to set up shop. Now what's confusing me is why the land Brad Carlton purchased there is illegal and how it is that Phyllis is holding it over his head because - based on what she said and who can believe anything she says - Brad made the purchase using "insider knowledge."

I'm no real estate developer or agent, so please forgive me when I say I've never heard of such a thing. Either the land is for sale, or it isn't. That it might be government land, say owned by the City of Clear Springs, unless this city is run by some of the most crooked of gangsters, there is no way Brad could own a piece of the rock without it being public knowledge. If Brad got first dibs on leasing rights, that might make sense if not for the fact that Nikki has said that NVP has already secured enough land to erect an entire department store on - and then some - which would indicate the property is private and thus whatever price Brad bought in at is none of NVP's business except that NVP got taken to the cleaners - apparently.

Ah, but Brad has confessed he does own the land and wants to sell it to Jack Abbott! In return, Phyllis won't rat him out again and his estranged wife will allow him to keep his seat on the Newman Enterprises Board of Directors which is another of the strangest things I've ever heard. Does this mean that because Brad isn't married to the boss' daughter he can't keep a seat to which he was duly elected? He was elected, wasn't he? He couldn't have been appointed, could he? Neil Winters had to be elected, didn't he, and wasn't it Brad's vote for Neil that caused Phyllis to blackmail him in the first place? And what if Jack buys the land? Will it be another House of Kim/Jabot Cosmetics deal?

And you wonder why I'm confused?

Additionally, we learn that Nikki and Victoria want Lauren Baldwin to open a Fenmore's Department Store there based on the horror shop design. Lauren would have to restore an existing 1920 department store so she couldn't rape the landscape like some Amazon forest destroyer which would be more costly and because she's a walking Wal-Mart, Lauren turned the offer down.

Crazy as the notion is that NVP is becoming a regular Wal-Mart of health and wellness spas, one of the three operatives of NVP, Phyllis up to her eyeballs in legal trouble and about to go on trial, feigning a back injury which keeps her laid up at the Abbott Motel, joined Jack and Sharon Abbott this week for a meeting with reporters to explain why she's living at the motel.

News of the "arrangement" had already made all the papers and yet not one reporter had thought to get both sides of the story as if CNN and FOX own the media in Genoa City. Worried that maintaining a harem will hurt his political career, Jack summoned and the reporters appeared to ask questions about Sharon's and Phyllis' catfight resulting in the death of Dru Winters. The reporters were interested in this, but didn't question as to why little was done to find Winters' body. When the girls flicked off the death of a human being as nothing more than a tragic accident, there were no follow-ups as to the since removed from the Internet suspicious video shot by a cameraman which had led some to believe Winters was murdered. Like good little sheep, the reporters merely asked how long Phyllis will be staying at the motel, and told until she's able to care for herself and her baby, did not ask why one of the many maids and slaves roaming this city couldn't do that job at Mrs. Newman's home, or whatever did happen to Mrs. Martinez, Miguel Rodriquez and PainMe Johnson. Is PainMe on one of those never-ending sea cruises with her stunted nephew, Nate Hastings at the helm?

Needless to say, had the reporters asked any penetrating questions that mattered they'd most likely walk away as confused as I was, and, um, still am.

A World Unto Its Own

May 22, 2007
by Brent Kellogg

The business world in Genoa City is a world unto its own. Nothing that happens in it resembles reality as do those engaged in it. Powerbroker Victor Newman, with a entire floor of Newman Enterprises reserved for attorneys and accountants, turned this week as he always does to outside the mainstream all-purpose lawyer Michael Baldwin of whom he expects to negotiate ownership of NVP while at the same time Baldwin represents competitor Jabot Cosmetics' new owner Katherine Sterling.

Reading the small print on legal documents pertaining to the transfer of NVP from Jack Abbott back to the Newman family, Baldwin wasn't at all concerned that at some point Victor would have caught his engaging in a conflict of interest. Although the topic has come up before, COI is usually dismissed outright as having no consequence.

Baldwin himself broached the subject Monday by telling his wife that while he represents Newman, he also represents Sterling, But since such conflict does not jeopardize his license to practice law, and despite obtains-prescription-drugs-by-fraud Lauren Baldwin knew it was wrong for her husband to represent the two persons in question, Baldwin's only worry was that he's "torn" over his wrongdoing. Nevertheless, like so many other conflicts and fears of losing his license, Baldwin pressed on.

He patronized Victor by saying that he and Lauren had made a donation in memory of Victor's thought to be dead son and this admission of conflict did not phase either man. No mention was made of what fund Baldwin donated to, why a donation was needed at all considering how rich the Newmans are, who else may have donated or what the difference was between whatever Baldwin donated to and Cassie's Challenge, another mysterious fund Sterling had said earlier she had donated to.

Having met with Sterling to talk her out of purchasing Jabot, not because the purchase could be seen as illegal in that Jack Abbott has no legal right to sell the cosmetics company, Sterling, as did Victor, demanded Baldwin finalize the documents as soon as possible and the thought of consulting with her own corporate lawyers never entered Sterling's dementia-ridden head.

Faced with no other choice but to sell NVP back to Newman, Abbott told wife Sharon of the sale and she, aware that Jack does not legally own Jabot, couldn't understand why Jack would do such a thing since he made NVP the success it is. The sad incredible reality that it was Phyllis Summers and Nikki Newman who made NVP what it is, and that NVP became a global entity within a matter of weeks and then thought to have been outsourced at about the time Phyllis gave birth to Nick Newman's baby, was overlooked by the Abbott's as Jack said that without NVP weighing him down he'll be able to make a name for himself elsewhere. Sharon did ask if she's not being told something, Jack said no and still it didn't gel with the rocks rolling around in Sharon's head that she's known for some time Jack doesn't own Jabot.

As for how the sale of Jabot will help Jack's run for political office, Sharon had to ask campaign manager Ben Hollander who said news that Jack sold something he doesn't own will have little, if any, impact on the campaign. The Press, so feared the Newman's had to have police protect then from at the church they memorialized Nick in, won't report Jack's role in the sale.

Of all the shady business dealings, Sterling's telling technically legal Jabot owner Mr. Kim Chee that she's onto him, is purchasing Jabot with or without his approval, and did not order Chee to get his ass out of Jabot, was absolutely insane. She did order Chee to stay away from her daughter, Jabot CEO Jill Abbott, when she learned the two were planning a trip out of the country, however.

Abbott, Chee and Abbott Caught in Dragnet

May 4, 2007

Let's see, a click here, a click there on my computer and God have mercy but what I'm plugged into the Jabot Cosmetics security network! Try it yourself. Did it work? Did you see? No, no, not the part where Mr. Kim Chee told Jack Abbott he wants to add another hair product to the long line of Jabot products. Why anyone would need another shampoo or conditioner only Chee knows. Whatever the reason, Jack was opposed. Not because there are too many hair products, but because sales have improved and he, Jack Sprat, doesn't want to take any risks. Ah, but Chee was so determined he told CEO Jill Abbott of his idea when damn but what Jack appeared, ordered Jill to take a hike, and told Chee to do what he's told.

Meanwhile, the great Victor Newman, aware that Jack is really the owner of Jabot, told flunky lawyer Michael Baldwin to get some dirt on Jack and Kim so that they can take the boys down before Victor leaves town for five weeks. Quick like a bunny, Baldwin scurried home to tell his wife that Jack owns Jabot and that Victor needs proof. Already giddy at the thought of taking Jack down too for what he did to her criminally insane mother-in-law, Lauren Baldwin began wetting her pants. What about the email proof obtained illegally? Not admissible in court? Rats. What about Abby Carlton who overheard the adults confessing their sins? Would the courts believe a child? Probably not. What then?

That's where having access to a computer came in. Of course, it helps if the computer is a fancy one with the latest technology such that it can hear cows mowing in the background where Sheila Carter is holding hostages and belongs to Kevin Fisher who just happened to leave it around for Lauren to use, she was plugged into the Jabot network watching and listening as Kevin and Gloria Abbott replaced a stolen file once in the possession of Wilma Bardwell and discovering that Gloria is responsible for Emma Gibson's death. Alas, for all they'd seen and heard, Baldwin said none of it is admissible in court and thus there was but one thing to do.

Knowing that Kim and Jill were on their way to dinner at the Athletic Support Club, Baldwin, along with Victor, confronted Kim and told him if he doesn't cooperate his ass is grass too!

The alternative is that Chee could flip them off freeing Baldwin and Newman up to use what they know as blackmail fodder, but isn't there already enough of that going around now that Lauren has the goods on Gloria who she was so anxious to protect? Will these gangsters ever let the corrupt justice system do its job and stop being vigilantes? When Abbott and Chee do go down will that result in two less criminals slithering along the streets of Genoa City? Or, like weeds, will another two take their place?

Enter Phillip Chancellor III, AKA Cane Ashby and his sleazy wife, Amber.

Relative newcomers to our fine city, the Ashbys were thought to be rolling in dough. He, with money to burn traveling from Australia to the United States looking for his birth mother, Cane landed a job bartending at the Winters newly opened jazz club and married Los Angeles transplant Amber Moore before learning that his mother and grandmother live in Genoa City and that both women are filthy rich. Said to be a fashion designer and operator of a profitable porn site on the Internet, it was revealed today that the Ashby's are so down on their luck Mrs. Ashby's credit card was declined when she tried paying for a meal at the posh Athletic Supporter Club.

Instructed by the credit card company to destroy the card, a club employee returned the card as Mrs. Ashby whined to her husband of having spent her last paycheck on bills. Overhearing the conversation, college students Daniel and Lily Romalotti came forward to pay for their meal and learning that Mr. Ashby had been offered employment at his grandmother's construction company, urged that he take the job. When Ashby refused, the Romalottis bragged how they had landed great jobs thanks entirely to their nepotistic connections and practically begged Ashby not to let a similar opportunity pass him by. Sticking to his I'd rather be broke guns, Ashby declined the inducement.

Later the Ashbys were spotted at Jabot Cosmetics where Mrs. Ashby sought employment as a receptionist directly from her husband's grandmother, Katherine Chancellor Sterling who sold her interest in Jabot months ago. Not that Mrs. Ashby knew that prior to going to Jabot, she may have known that Sterling has never been actually seen at Chancellor Industries. With her grandson present, Sterling made the job offer again and this time Mr. Ashby took it.

The story ending there on a happy note might have been a crowd pleaser except for the fact that in Genoa City there are no happy endings. Seen later back at the club, Mr. Ashby was on the phone informing someone that he'd accomplished his mission and hinted it won't be long until, like others have done in the past, he'll be embezzling funds from the Chancellor fortune.

God Help Them

March 22, 2006

Having already covered the Newman Board of Directors election three ways from Sunday, I didn't see the point in getting into the creepy details and was planning on mowing the lawn. But the grass was wet from the rain two days ago and so I figured, why not? Even then I probably would have been better off taking a nap, but something else about what happened today bugged me.

Since when have Brad and Victoria Carlton been planning a takeover of Newman Enterprises? Don't these nitwits have any shame? I mean, Brad may still have an axe to grind with the old man, but Victor Newman is Victoria's father for Christ's sake! What is wrong with this girl? She's been handed everything on a silver platter and still she's not satisfied?

Still, it was funny to see how worried some of the people who had nothing to lose were. You might have thought, from all the hand wringing, it was the Presidential election.

Nick Newman wagged his hairy tongue that if his sister and Brad voted for his mother, his vote for Neil Winters wouldn't count. Nick said he couldn't vote for his mother because, well, it's complicated. You see, his wife, Phyllis Newman, she's a Newman by marriage. She's not blood nor did she give birth to Nick like Nikki did, not that Nikki shouldn't hang for letting him out of the womb, Nick's got to vote for the family member closest to him and today that was Phyllis who directed that Nick should vote for Neil Winters. Neil's Phyllis' Man of the Month who can best facilitate her power struggle which involves supporting her former husband, the man present at her daughter's birth, Jack Abbott.

That's the problem with the voting public. The media whores tell them Hilary is gonna win and so they throw up their hands. Oh, no reason for me to vote since she's gonna win anyway.

Victoria saw right though Nick's loyalty. Phyllis has Nick to pussy-whipped he can't see when he's being used, or that once Jack's plan, such that it is, is in place Nick won't play any part in it as though he'd want to have a part in it since his daddy runs the empire and Nick will never again get his hands dirty doing work.

As if she had any chance of winning, Victor demanded Nikki drop out of the race. When she refused, after she'd lost, Victor browbeat her for daring to go against his wishes and warned her again never to question his rule over the empire which Victor claims he still occupies despite that his diaper-wearing adult children are running the show. Furthermore, by not allowing herself to be walked all over, Victor said Nikki humiliated him which isn't hard to do given that a few months ago he was a feeble, gun-toting old man hearing prowlers at the Newman Ponderosa. He let Jack Abbott snooker him and that's not humiliation?

For the unfair tongue lashing Nikki got, Victor was right when he insulted her intelligence. This woman never learns. She's like an unwanted dog that keeps coming back to lick his master's hand the moment the master stops beating him with it. A few days back Nikki was all for Victor's taking Jack down again, and yet here she was today accusing Victor of playing "mind games" with Jack. So which is it, Nikki? Either crap or get off the pot. Stop being a dog. Never mind that you are an old cow, stop licking Victor's hand as you did today when you said, well, he's only doing what's best for me. If that's what you thought, you should have dropped out of the race. Not that you were ever in it. And don't be giving anyone crap about needing to protect your assets. You've got enough money to last ten meaningless lives. Victor has said as much himself.

The outcome of the vote already known, it was nevertheless laughable watching the already discussed members related to one another casting their votes at a publicly held company. Nikki voted for herself. Victoria voted for her mother and Nick voted for Neil as did Brad and Victor. The die cast, Neil said drinks were on him and a fun time was held by all at Neil's jazz club but not before the bickering had begun with Victoria warning Brad he'll pay for betraying her and Phyllis saying, "God helps those who help themselves" as if she ever once prayed to any god or that any god would grant such a materialist wish.

And through it all you might have wondered: Who was that guy Bob? The old man Victor strongly suggested retire so as to open up a seat on the board? How did Bob get on the board in the first place? Did God help him? Did Bob help himself to a seat one day and nobody notice?

God help them all; they're gonna need it.

Rope-a-Dope Power Struggle

March 6, 2007

Unless Jack Abbott has some "plan" beyond selling NVP which he's yet to unveil, why would Victor Newman get so bent? He and Phyllis Newman seemed pleased with Abbott's plan today, but the GCN hears it'll be a different story by the end of the week and so it must be asked: Wasn't it the great man who put Abbott into power and foolishly signed the papers giving Abbott NVP much to the horror of his own wife who founded the company? And now Nikki Newman is running around like a chicken with her head cut off squawking that she's getting screwed?

Considering NVP is a subsidiary of Newman Enterprises, why weren't Newman corporate lawyers apprised of the decision to sell NVP? Why weren't legal papers drawn up so as to protect Newman's interest given that the original intent of the sale was to put Abbott in control during a time when business genius Newman was disease ridden?

Without getting too deep into what amounts to another Jabot Cosmetics-like rope-a-dope power struggle, how interesting would it be to speak with Newman investors. With its poor management and inexperienced CEOs, who in their right mind would pump money into this company? What is the price of a share of stock, $5?

With all of three major executives running NVP, with the chain of spa and wellness centers spread from Wisconsin to India, where are the employees? How can a booming company we've been led to believe NVP is, function each day when one of its executives is having a baby in an elevator and subsequently held hostage? How can NVP operate when Victor is off searching for treasure in a foreign country and his wife, on those rare occasions when she's at the office, spends her time conducting personal business?

Remember the great NVP gala not so long ago? September it was. Some of the strangest people were gathered including Newman hot shot Brad Carlton. That was the day and the place Brad was told by PI Paul 'Clueless' Williams that his mother, Rebecca Kaplan, was thought to have gone missing. Whatever became of Rebecca? Did she drop off the face of the Earth again as she did that day? Remember Brad not being concerned even though he'd said that Rebecca was constantly informing him of her whereabouts? With the reliquary and its associated fear behind them, did Rebecca leave town? Where did she go? Does it matter?

Sharon Newman was at the gala too. She was hanging onto Jack's arm and making a speech alluding to the fact that she was partially responsible for NVP's success even though she was nothing but a spokesgeek for the company at the time, was recovering from having been kidnapped, and spent the time following her release bawling and sniveling about what a wreck the ordeal had made of her.

Nick Newman and Phyllis Summers were there handing out what Victor called "retreat" samples. Photographers were everywhere. There seemed to be more photographers than guests. Neil Winters and the home wrecker Carmen Mesta were in attendance as was Winters' wife, Dru, who was hanging onto some man she'd picked up for the purpose of making her husband jealous.

The real crazies at the gala were Ashley Abbott and Wilma Bardwell. It wasn't given much thought, however, as Ashley worked for the competing Jabot which had entered an agreement to provide the toxic goop Nick and Phyllis were passing out to guests. Wilma, the so-called District Attorney, was there with Gloria Abbott who had - within weeks of Jabot founder John 'Yawn' Abbott's death - a case of the hots for Wilma despite that it was Wilma who put Yawn behind bars.

Not counting Katherine Sterling, who at the time owned most of Jabot, or Jill Abbott, who was and remains the most useless Jabot CEO ever, Kevin Fisher was there too as it made sense the Abbotts would want the man who had tried to kill Yawn's granddaughter present since Jill had given Kevin a fancy job at Jabot for which he was not qualified.

Adding to the strange affair were Nick and Phyllis announcing their engagement, and drunk as a skunk Dru who had be dragged by her hair out of the place by Neil in what would become one of Dru's many displays of insanity.

The history of NVP is important so that questions won't be raised later this week when - remarkably - Brad and Victoria Carlton attempt to sway the Newman Board of Directors. The Board didn't have to be consulted when Victor sold NVP outright, but now, when Abbott wants to sell it, there's got to be a Board vote.