Like royals, family businesses have a special mystique. Galen Weston, a Canadian retailing billionaire whose bid for Self-ridges, a posh London department-store group, was accepted this week (though others may still try to top it), is no Prince Charles. But he played polo with the prince in his youth, went to the Queen Mother's 100th birthday party and owns a grand gated community in Florida called (what else?) Windsor. Successful family businesses have a strength that ordinary quoted companies often lack. But success―for family businesses, as for monarchies-means getting on with your relatives, or at any rate reaching an accommodation with them. Rows can destroy not just the family, but the business as well.
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