Key Sentence:
- Days after his son Kendall’s explosive press conference marginalized Waystar Royco.
The Roy family patriarch opens up as he goes to war with his children, shareholders, and possibly the US government.
By Sergei Klebnikov, Giacomo Tognini and Lizette Voitko
It’s been a turbulent 48 hours for Logan Roy. First, the 84-year-old media mogul welcomes to his fictional home in the Hamptons – worth $200 million. Long Island’s most expensive property still in arrears after spending a week onboard the 279-foot, $130 million-dollar superyacht has returned from Solange in off the coast of southern Croatia.
Next, he’s in the spotlight ahead of the premiere of season three of Successios. HBO’s hit documentary about his family, on October 17. Then, a meeting of significant shareholders within two weeks will decide the fate of the proxy battle. That could oust him from the board of directors of Waystar Royco, the $46 billion (market cap) media and public entertainment giant that he’s based on his 20-year-old.
Finally, a recent disastrous congressional hearing shed light on more of the Brightstar Cruises Division scandal, first reported by New York Magazine. Involving decades of abuses, including secret payments to women who former company executives sexually harassed.
And then, just hours before returning to Waystar headquarters in New York, an unexpected dagger struck his heart: a shocking press conference that his son and former heir Kendall Roy accused of covering up the Brightstar scandal.
“The truth is that my father had a sinister presence.
He was fully aware of these events over the years and tried to hide and cover himself,” Kendall Roy, Waystar’s former Chief Operating Officer, said at a news conference. “My dad watched every inch of his entire empire, and the idea. That he would cash out millions of dollars in settlements and profits without his written consent was fantastic.”
Logan Roy admitted to Forbes that his immediate reaction to the disclosure was a four-letter letter unsuitable for printing. But the Scottish-born tycoon remains fearless. Roy believes he can prove to shareholders (and federal authorities) that he doesn’t believe his son’s words.
“In three or four years, there will only be one inherited media operation,” Roy said. Adjusting his stained purple tie under a gray steel vest as the sun shone on his silver hair. He looked into the 42-acre wood paneling office and outlined his vision for the future: “Okay, I said let’s do it. There is one company left, the last one. We will be the number one media group in the world. “
The stakes in the family feud couldn’t be more significant. Forbes hired his team of fictional wealth researchers to calculate Logan Roy’s estimated net worth of around $18 billion. Most of it comes from its 36 percent stake in Waystar, valued at $16.4 billion. He has lost part of the company through a divorce from Lady Caroline Collingwood. The British duchess and mother of Kendall, Roman, and Sioban own 3% of the company, worth about $1.4 billion.