Word: mecom
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...just sold, for about $1,000,000, a cattle ranch in Nevada and published a new book, Unknown Oman. Last week, after a brief cruise in the Greek Isles, he flew to New York on the spur of the moment, went to Texas to dine with Oilman John Mecom, continued on to San Francisco and Honolulu. Next, he contemplates going to Viet Nam, where he is an accredited war correspondent for Scripps-Howard...
...late Jesse Jones, onetime U.S. Commerce Secretary and owner of the Chronicle. Recently, the trustees of the foundation, notably President J. Howard Creekmore, became anxious to convert the paper and other Endowment holdings into cash; last December they happily accepted an offer of $85 million from Mecom. In return, Mecom was to get the Chronicle, the well-located Chronicle Building and Rice Hotel, and a 30% controlling interest in the Texas National Bank of Commerce, second largest in town. Mecom put up $1,000,000 in cash and shook hands on the deal-which is the way he usually seals...
...Mecom then moved to take over what he supposed were his new properties. At the Chronicle, he had an office carpeted for himself in "Mecom blue," his favorite color. He was also elected chairman and chief executive officer at the bank and had a Mecom-blue rug put down in the lobby. He seemed ready to get into the newspaper business in a big way, threw a huge party for the entire staff at his home. Used to the penuriousrress of the Endowment, Chroniclers came away awed by visions of the future. But Mecom, who boasts some $500 million...
...also tried to get in on the deal. There was even talk that the Hearst chain and Scripps-Howard were interested. All this got back to Creekmore, a cantankerous and single-minded individual who is known to feel that the Chronicle should remain a locally owned enterprise. If Houstonite Mecom was going to sell it, then Creekmore did not want to sell it to Mecom...
...handshake quickly separated into fists of contention. Friends of Mecom say he had understood that six months from the date of the original deal-which was last week-he was to be ready with another payment of $14 million. Creekmore associates say the Endowment always made it clear that it wanted no part of long-term financing. Whatever the agreement had actually been, the Endowment and Creekmore gave Mecom its interpretation when he arrived with his cashier's check for $14 million. He offered to double the amount. They said that he could have 48 hours to raise...