Secret CompaniesA surprising number of executives create companies they don't tell anyone about—not their employers, their bankers, or their prospective business partners.
When we uncover these side companies, we think about self-dealing issues, such as whether the company sells supplies to the businessman's employer or leases office space to it.
These secret side companies often surface when we plug an executive's home address or telephone number into a database. Other times, we discover a company because its name is derived in part from personal information like the address of an executive's country house or a combination of his and his wife's first names.
