📸

leave due to disagreements over the pace of the deals. "Yosi pursued a wide array of investments and acquisitions unrelated to our core business," said Bruce Glabe, an executive vice president. The stock fell 37 per-cent in a day. Two weeks later, Amram issued a highly unusual statement saying that he had resigned from Individual after the board turned down his idea to contribute company shares to Free Spirit Holdings, a fund he wanted to invest in media, entertainment, and health companies. And he attacked the board, calling for a special meeting of shareholders and the formation of a committee to evaluate the board's performance. Later that day, the board fired Amram, who said he would fight to regain his job. The escalating and very public dispute seriously hurt what had been Amram's shining reputation around Boston.

Even worse was what never became public. Before Amram's press release, the company had attempted to reach an agreement with him, and it invited him to discuss how he might return. When Amram showed up for the meeting with the company's lawyers, he brought along a chess-playing friend—John Fanning. He installed Fanning and a chessboard in a conference room. Amram would discuss his job with the directors, then wander back to the conference room to play chess, as if he were playing simultaneous games. "It was surreal," a witness said.

After Amram was fired, he returned to the Burlington, Massachusetts, headquarters to collect his things. Director William Devereaux asked him to leave. "He simply hit me, and as a result of that, I ended up on the floor on my back," Devereaux said. Amram denied that: Devereaux "puffed his chest out, and I pushed back," Amram said. "He pretended to fall. It was staged." Employees called the Burlington police. When an officer arrived, both men gave their version of the events, and Amram said he wanted Devereaux handcuffed, according to the police report. Devereaux said he didn't want to press charges and that all of Amram's possessions were in boxes that he could take away. "Mr. Amram stated he didn't think everything of his was in the boxes and wanted to check his work area for his belongings," the officer wrote.

"I escorted Mr. Amram to his work area, and I could see that there wasn't anything in this area but the desk and chair and trash bucket. Mr. Amram went into the trash bucket and found several paperclips and stated: 'See, I told you they didn't pack all my things.' Mr. Amram then

📸