Famous Family Business Feuds

Photo: Frederic Cirou | PhotoAlto Agency RF Collections | Getty Images The old adage says to never do business with family. Whether negative personal feelings seep into business dealings or vice versa, keeping business and personal matters separate has almost always proven difficult, but especially when it comes to family. And when the business is large, the disputes tend to be as well. And so does the publicity.Here, we look at some of the most famous family business feuds of the last century. From the break up to the make up and everything inbetween, click ahead for some of the most famous family business feuds.By Constance Parten, Senior ProducerPosted 31 Jan., 2011

Photo: STR | AFP | Getty Images Left: Puma CEO Jochen Seitz. Right: Adidas CEO Herbert Hainer Brothers Adolf and Rudolf Dassler founded a shoe company in their mother's laundry room in the town of Herzogenaurach, Germany, in 1924. But it soon became apparent that the brothers had different personalities, and tensions between the two came to a boiling point during World War II.Rudolf was sent to the front, and after his return, was picked up by U.S. soldiers and imprisoned for about a year. He reportedly was convinced that his imprisonment was orchestrated by his brother. The brothers split in 1948, and Rudolf Dassler founded the company that would become Puma. Adi formally registered Adidas in 1949. The rivalry between the brothers even divided the town of Herzogenaurach, where Adidas and Puma still have rival factories on opposite sides of the river.That came to a symbolic end on Global Peace Day in 2009, though, when employees of both factories played football together, pitting mixed Puma and Adidas teams against each other. The “Black” team of the companies' CEOs beat the “White” team 7:5.Source: National Public Radio, peace.puma.com

Photo: Paul Morigi | WireImage | Getty Images Brothers Larry (left) and Jimmy (right) Flynt were in U.S. District Court in Ohio Jan. 19 for a trial that could determine the future of Hustler, which Jimmy Flynt says belongs as much to him as to his more famous brother.According to Cincinnati.com, which is covering the trial, the Flynts had a falling out several years ago "after Larry fired Jimmy's two sons, severed ties to his brother and tried to evict him from the Hustler store he runs in downtown Cincinnati." Jimmy apparently responded with a lawsuit claiming he was a full partner in the family business, entitled to half of Hustler's assets.According to testimony, Larry claims Jimmy was only ever an employee, and not a very good one at that. The trial was expected to last approximately one week.Source: Cincinnati.com

Photo: Bhaskar Paul | The India Today Group | Getty Images The world's richest siblilngs, Mukesh Ambani (right) and Anil Ambani (left) settled a rift in May 2010 by ending noncompetition agreements that had been a source of bitter dispute. The billionaire brothers from India said they were ending accords completed in January 2006 that barred them from competing across their business interests. Mukesh runs Reliance Industries, and Anil leads the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. Reliance Industries has agreed not to enter the commercial generation of electricity from natural gas until March 31, 2022.In the years since the brothers split their father’s company, their battle over the price of natural gas from Reliance Industries assets halted plans for a major north Indian power plant. A merger between Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications and MTN Group of South Africa was scuttled after Mukesh Ambani said he had the first right to buy shares in his brother’s company.Source: The New York Times

Photo: Courtesy of Gucci Although the Gucci family started producing leather goods in Italy in the 15th century, today's famous Gucci brand was founded in a saddlery in Florence by Guccio Gucci in 1906. His sons, Aldo and Rodolfo later took over the company, growing it exponentially. But financial scandals and family in-fighting led to considerable adverse publicity over the years.The family disputes included suits filed by Paolo Gucci against his father, Aldo, and other relatives and the company. Countersuits were filed by the defendants, in part to prevent Paolo, a designer, from issuing a competitive leather line with the Gucci name. Paolo Gucci's suits were dismissed in 1980.Split by the bitter fights for control of their high-fashion retail empire, Gucci family members eventually sold nearly a 50 percent interest in Guccio Gucci S.p.A. to a Middle Eastern investment banking firm in 1988.Source: The New York Times

Photos: Canada Press; Greg Agnew | Moncton Times & Transcript In 1957, Harrison (left) and Wallace (right) McCain, founded McCain Foods with the support of their brothers Robert and Andrew. The brothers opened a French fry processing plant in their hometown of Florenceville, in western New Brunswick, Canada, less than 10 miles from the American border. They ultimately became the world's largest producer of frozen french fries. As co-founders of the multinational food company, Harrison and Wallace worked side by side for 37 years. Their offices were even linked by an unlocked door. But in 1993, when Wallace appointed his son Michael to head McCain U.S.A. Inc. in Chicago, despite his brother's objections, things changed. By 1994, Wallace, was forced out of McCain Foods. The power struggle split family loyalties, and some of the clan went with Wallace to run Maple Leaf Foods, one of Canada's largest food processors. Source: The New York Times, mapleleaf.com

Photo: Sage Ross "Two straws and one chocolate Fribble were all it took to bring together Friendly's founders Prestley and Curtis Blake," according to The Boston Globe. The brothers met up at a Florida Friendly's in February 2010 to share the super-thick, soft-serve milk shake and reminisce about the ice cream shop they founded in 1935 using $547 from their parents.For decades, the relationship between the Blake brothers fit their family-friendly restaurant. But a few years ago, the brothers were involved in a public feud over the future of the company before it was sold to private equity firm Sun Capital Partners.Former company president Curtis accused treasurer Prestley's spending habits for stifling Friendly's, which would be sold to restaurant executive Ronald Smith - a deal that strapped the company with enormous debt. Prestley later became Friendly's second-largest stakeholder. Both brothers were saddened that the company tore them apart, but are trying, at least publicly, to make amends.Source: The Boston Globe

Photos: John Chiasson | Liaison | Getty Images; Slaven Vlasic | Getty Images; Getty Images "In the annals of family feuds, the slugfest of the Koch family of Kansas is one of the biggest, meanest and longest-running." That's how The New York Times described the family rift that led to a court case. The legal battle itself stemmed from a 1983 settlement between William and  two of his brothers, Charles (left) and David (center) Koch. That settlement gave William (right; another brother, Frederick, and a number of Koch cousins $1.1 billion in return for their 5.5 million shares in Koch Industries, which  takes in more revenue than such corporations as Microsoft, Walt Disney or Merrill Lynch.William contended that the group was shortchanged in that 1983 deal and pressed the case through 25 Federal and state courts until a verdict against him in 1999. He was seeking another $62 a share, or $339 million in 1983 dollars, for the group's holdings. Court documents he filed estimate that interest would bring this to more than $2 billion.After 10 weeks of testimony and two days of deliberations, a  f ederal jury found William was owed nothing by his brothers Charles and David, who almost entirely own Koch Industries, a $35 billion oil conglomerate in Wichita, Kan., that is the nation's second-largest private company after Cargill Inc.Source: The New York Times

Photos: AP; Getty Images Darryl McCauley worked for his half-brother, comedian Dane Cook, as a business manager from the early 1990s until December 2008. In 2008, Cook accused McCauley and his wife of stealing more than $11 million from the comedian's company, Great Dane Enterprises. He pleaded guilty in October, 2010, to 27 counts of larceny over $250, three counts of forgery, embezzlement and other charges, and was sentenced to five to six years in prison. He also faces 10 years of probation after his release.McCauley was convicted of stealing money from Cook's business and personal accounts between 2004 and 2008 by transferring funds to his own accounts. In one instance, he forged a check for $3 million dollars, written to himself.McCauley’s wife, Erika, also faced criminal charges, including larceny and receiving stolen property. She pleaded guilty to charges of larceny and conspiracy to commit larceny and was sentenced to to up to three years in prison with a concurrent probationary period of 13 years.Source: The Boston Globe

Photos: Getty Images; Dave M. Benett | Getty Images British Chef Gordon Ramsay's personal life was splashed through the tabloids in late 2010 after a big argument with his father-in-law went public. Ramsay ended his professional relationship with Chris Hutcheson when he fired him as chief executive of his company, Gordon Ramsay Holdings, in October.Angry, Hutcheson is reported to have called Ramsay a "monster" who tried to turn his daughter, Tana, against him. Ramsay followed up with a public letter condemning Hutcheson, calling him a "dictator." The British tabloids made plenty of hay from the rift, but by mid-January, Ramsay appeared ready to end the dispute.He reportedly told the UK's Mirror that he'd "made mistakes, but I've learned from them," and "don't mix family business with pleasure."Source: The Mirror

Photos: Getty Images Back in 2006, stories of a rift between Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone and his children, Brent and Shari, began surfacing in the media. Brent, who filed suit against Sumner in 2006 asserted he was entitled to more than $1 billion in National Amusements, the family company his father used to control shares in Viacom and his other enterprises. Brent ultimately dropped the suit in February, 2007. But Sumner also was reported around that time to have soured on his daughter, Shari, whom he had groomed as his successor.Sumner played down the reports of the tensions with his daughter, telling The New York Times in July, 2007, that he had "no intention of removing her from the board. I haven't encouraged her to take a lesser role, and I consider her a credible candidate to succeed me, but I believe the board should pick my successor."Many published reports portrayed the split as so deep that Shari would ultimately leave the board. She didn't. Shari remains president of National Amusements and vice-chairman of both the CBS and Viacom boards.Source: The New York Times, National Public Radio

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