"I don't want to belong to a club that will accept me as a memember" - Groucho Marx
Posted on 07/03/2003 10:05:38 AM PDT by NativeNewYorker
July 3 (Bloomberg) -- Jack Welch, who was General Electric
Co.'s chief executive for 21 years, has settled his contested
divorce case on the eve of a scheduled trial.
Terms of the settlement were confidential. Welch, who retired
from General Electric in 2001, was to go to trial in divorce court
in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on Monday.
''Jack and Jane Beasley Welch have settled their matter
effective immediately and are now divorced,'' said a press release
issued by attorneys for both parties.
The contentious case led to disclosure of Welch's retirement
package and prompted the cancellation, at Welch's request, of most
of his fringe benefits. General Electric was criticized for
lavishing him with cars, an apartment on Manhattan's Central Park
West and tickets for sporting events. The company also covered his
country club fees and expenses for food, wine and laundry.
An attorney for Jack Welch, Daniel K. Webb, said that
Superior Court Judge Edgar W. Bassick III approved the divorce
agreement after a 20-minute hearing today in Bridgeport at which
both Welch and his wife were present.
''They are divorced, and the trial that was scheduled to
start this coming Monday is now canceled,'' Webb said. ''The terms
are confidential and the parties have agreed to have no further
comment.''
An attorney for Jane Beasley Welch, Morton Marvin, declined
to comment. Another of her attorneys, William Zabel, could not be
reached for comment.
The Welches were married for 13 years. Jack Welch filed for
divorce in April 2002 after public disclosure of his affair with
former Harvard Business Review editor Suzy Wetlaufer.
Perks Disclosed
Welch agreed to pay for company-provided services after they
were disclosed. He valued them at as much as $2.5 million a year.
Welch may be the first high-profile retired executive to give up
and even pay for such benefits. Under a modified contract, Welch
said he would continue to get only the secretarial and office
services traditionally given retired chairmen.
The Welches also sparred over the value of Jack Welch's
fortune. In November, Welch offered his wife a settlement proposal
that might amount to as much as $140 million, the New York Post
reported.
Zabel dismissed the offer as akin to a pension and said
Welch's affidavit of his assets understated their value by more
than $100 million. Welch said in the affidavit that his assets
total $456.2 million and that his after-tax income from his
pension, consulting work, investment income and Social Security is
more than $1.4 million a month.
While the settlement was being negotiated, Welch paid his
wife $35,000 a month in temporary support.
She put up with a lying cheating jerk for 13 years.
She put up with a lying cheating jerk for 13 years.
For that she should at least get to be a senator.
Here's my very favorite Jack story:
In Fairfield, at the end of a country road and by the edge of Long Island Sound, is a primo-exclusive golf club, populated only by old-money CT bluebloods. 200 members, tops. Everybody wants to play golf there because outside of Scotland, there are very few true, seaside, "links" type courses, and this is one of them. Jack wanted to play there. Badly.
Not bleeding blue enough, Jack was denied membership, despite his bazillions. After all, he worked for a living.
So, Jack bought the property next to the top of the club's driveway, thinking to impress the members, and built a gorgeous, mega-million dollar home there, beautifying the property, and increasing the appeal of the club.
Every day thereafter, the members would wave to Jack as they drove past his mansion. This was 15 years go. He's still not a member.
GE was fully within its rights to pay him as they did, and lord knows Jack's marriage is his own business, but in the context of his enormous ongoing PR/ego/self-stroking machine, the combination was a PR disaster that made it easier for the enemies of free enterprise to smear decent capitalists.
"I don't want to belong to a club that will accept me as a memember" - Groucho Marx
She was cheating as well, maybe even more than him.
LOL
He was out on his new yacht...
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