"We will not let the company die slowly running out of money," he said.

"Many great companies have died of their own weight."

Under Thatcherism, companies live or die in the marketplace according to their own wit and resources.

Record companies live or die on the quality of the talent they attract.

His pharmaceutical company - which he founded but had later been forced to leave - was dying.

But even when the companies died, it always seemed better than being trapped in some compartmentalized bigger company.

His mother and the company had become one, and when he killed her, the company would die.

"I know just how long a bank can keep a company afloat before it just dies."

Why not just sell the brand and let the company die?

Whether the company was dying or just stagnating, things have clearly changed.