So the company you wouldn't have expected to self-destruct self-destructed.
Wayne Corporation is in danger of being disbanded after the kidnapping of their president and CEO Bruce Wayne - and of course, the terrorist attack on Wayne Tower sending that skyscraper straight into the ground a year ago. Bruce Wayne and his cabinet were kidnapped and never found, and there was no ransom note. To the company and the remaining cabinet, he's presumed dead.
The company had been running fine though. Given that Bruce likes to play the part of full-time billionaire playboy, he doesn't actually run the company all that much.
But it seems that the remaining Wayne family, the Kanes (Bruce's mom's family), and Bruce's adoptive kids are in disagreement as to who will control the company.
I've had a friend do some digging around. Because, y'know, times of chaos are good to benefit yourself.
And well, I heard that Brucie's left a will that's being mostly ignored. The will states control of the company would go to his kids at the age of their majority, but the man's right hand man Lucius Fox will run as president until then. Except Lucius Fox was kidnapped and disappeared off too in the same terrorist attack that got rid of Bruce.
I wish Wayne Corporation had a public listing. I would've made a killing shorting that stock. But instead it's a private company now - previously made public and then made private again after repaying all the investors a decade ago.
Anyway, a lot of harsh words were said between the Kanes, the Waynes, and Bruce's adopted sons, and they're all enemies now. The judge recently ruled that the Will stands, but because Lucius Fox is out of the picture, they decided to make the executor of the will a Julius Wayne.
Julius Wayne then proceeded to start dismantling the company with the major shareholders' blessing and selling parts of its subsidiaries for profit. In essence, he and the Waynes are extracting as much profit as possible before Bruce's kids can inherit the company they can't control.
Naturally, Damien - one of said kids - is appealing the decision of the original judge which is being fast-tracked, but I think by the time things are done, Wayne Industries will be kryffin screwed.
It's gotten so bad that the land where their flagship skyscraper got demolished was just sold to Lils's guardian. I think they believe they could always buy it back if they regret it, but they don't get how obsessed Lils's guardian is with that piece of land. She just spent nearly half a billion dollars on acquiring it. No wonder they said yes.
What's interesting is that the kids had very strong objections to the sale, which only spurred Julius on.
Oooo. Is there a secret on that plot of land? Underground labs? Secret weapon facility? Illegal human experimentation? Ohhh. I need to ask Lils to take me there one day.