I suspect that this may be the activity which led to his firing.
He went into competition with SW when he started buying paint at discount and selling it. They should have tried to straighten him out a little and use his stardom to their advantage. Sherwin sells pallets of paint, not just gallons and trailer truck loads of one color to commercial customers, all the time. If you need several truck loads of paint next week, Sherwin can probably get it.
If he bought the paint? Still
He was buying the paint, so the company was not losing money. I fail to understand the problem here.