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Danger on the Structure. Getty's ultimate goal is to create a self-contained oil complex, tying together Tidewater's tankers, refineries and marketing facilities, Skelly's plentiful Stateside crude resources, and Getty's own fabulous production in the Neutral Zone. Wall Street is exhausted from predicting such a merger, but Getty has his reasons for wanting to keep The Street in the dark. If he gives advance notice of any move, investors may buy up the outstanding shares of the company he needs stock in, make it more expensive for Getty to acquire. In the complicated structure that Getty has carefully built, he runs the danger of losing control of one company if he has to pay out too much of its stock in exchange for another. Says a business associate: "Paul can't take two steps at once or the whole thing might topple."
One reason Getty must move slowly is the complicated U.S. tax law. For example, before he can merge Getty Oil and Tidewater in a tax-free deal, according to law he must hold 80% of Tidewater's stock directly. He now controls 65% through Getty Oil (of which he controls 81%), Mission Corp. (46.98%), and Mission Development (47.21%). The problem: to get all that Tidewater stock into his own hands. This month Getty made another move designed to do just that. By arranging several stock exchanges among his companies, he hopes to get 65% direct control of Tidewater (TIME, Jan. 27).
What Accomplishment? Such maneuverings take time—and Getty is a man who has built an empire by outwaiting people. But he realizes that there is one adversary he cannot outwait. Says he tersely: "I am aware of the transitory nature of human life." Envisaging the terrible stock sell-off and taxes that would follow his death and the settlement of his estate, he established a trust in California, with his sons as participants, put half his holdings into it. "I'm a bad boss," he once told a friend. "A good boss develops successors. There is nobody to step into my shoes."
Getty has devoted his life to business with a single-minded dedication—and stunning success—that few men ever attain. Yet, like Midas of ancient legend, he has found no contentment in his golden touch. He has few friends, no close family ties. "The trouble," complains Getty, "is that everybody talks about how much money I make. I wonder what sort of accomplishment it is to make a lot of money?" Yet to Getty, acquiring money—and the power that goes with it—is apparently enough. Even now he says, with obvious relish: "I don't know of anybody who could sell out for more than I could."
*In the fall of last year the Pierre went cooperative, making it worth $25 million to Getty, who still controls the property through a mortgage. Getty has also started construction of a 22-story, $13,250,000 skyscraper, the Getty Building, on land he owns next to the Pierre on upper Fifth Avenue; it will be finished in the fall of 1958. Last year construction of another Getty property was completed: Mexico's plush, $4,000,000 Hotel Pierre Marques at Revolcadero Beach.