This article is part of the George Kalmar Business Ethics Series
Dilemma submitted by Anonymous
Answered by Rabbi Kurt Stein
A friend of mine, Reuven was the CEO of a very successful private company. They were being pursued by Shimon, a CEO of a public company, who wanted to buy Reuven’s company. Reuven knew much more about his own company than Shimon knew. Shimon, of course, sent in a small army’s worth of attorneys and accountants to perform due diligence on Reuven’s company. However, after the due diligence was completed, Reuven knew that Shimon’s army had overlooked some critical issues and was potentially offering too much money for the company.