In every state, there are reasonably few very wealthy people who seemingly have great influence on the economy. In the northeast of the US and into a province called New Brunswick, one of the families of concern is the Irving. Whether it is gas stations or woodlots and mills, the Irving’s have an influence on what government does and for that reason it is worthwhile to know about the family. In a book  called Irving vs Irving, by Jacques Poitras published by Viking Books, Toronto, 2014 –  two brothers decided to separate their interests in the family company. The first generation starts, the second generation expanded or vertically integrated the companies. The third generation begins the process to break apart as they have other ideas. In the story of the Irving’s the founder wanted everything together and all his sons to work together. As the sons had families with sons of various capabilities, differences of who was going to control the biggest parts of the billion dollar empire was explored in the book. Although when a billion dollar empire is taken apart with one portion of the family worth $5.6 billion and the other worth $5.5 billion, there was not too much sorrow to be had. Internally, in an effort to split the company, various projects to raise money were taken that two generations would never had happen. When a family is worth billions, the government whether state or provincial has a hard time saying no to what would make it easier for the company to be in business in their state or province.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, in this case the family companies are private and is very profitable on a year to year basis. To invest in the family, is to invest in companies which support them for every once in a while, the family companies will threaten to close down and relocate to some where the ability to continuing to make profits is greater. If you live in the state, one hopes besides keeping the plant or mills operating – the wages remain constant or at least the taxes to support the infrastructure. As an investor, you want someone else to pay for the infrastructure and keep company taxes low.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions