That's a very unpleasant way of ending it but I would assume that relations between Mr Crook and Mr Silverton had broken down completely (otherwise it doesn't say much for the incumbent management style).
Personally, I wonder whether Mr Crook was doing more harm than good in recent years, given his apparent complete intolerance for anyone who didn't toe the line (his line), including the BOC. Given that he tried to control who said what about the company on the outside, one can only guess what it must have been like inside the company.
All that aside, there aren't many company takeovers where the previous owner works contentedly alongside or under the new owners for very long, especially where the previous owner had his own way for the previous 20-30 years.
|