Harry Warner - Retirement

Retirement

In May 1956, the brothers announced they were putting Warner Bros. on the market. Jack, however, had secretly organized a syndicate, headed by Boston banker Serge Semenenko, which purchased 90% (800,000 shares) of the company's stock; Harry had at first rejected Semenenko's earlier offer to purchase his stock in February 1956, but later accepted the offer after Semenenko increased his bid and agreed to make Simon Fabian-the head of Fabian Enterprises who had also become a friend of the Warners- the new Warner Bros. President. After the three brothers sold their stock, Jack (through his under-the-table deal with Sememenko) joined Semenenko's syndicate and bought back all his stock, which consisted of 200,000 shares. The deal was completed in July 1956 After which, Jack, who was now the company's largest stockholder, officially appointed himself as the new company President.

Warner found out about Jack's dealing while reading an article in Variety magazine on May 31, 1956 and collapsed after reading the news. The next day, he checked into Cedars of Lebanon Hospital and doctors told him he had a suffered a minor heart attack the previous day. While at the hospital, Warner also suffered a stroke that impaired his walking ability and forced him to use a cane for the rest of his life. Six days after his stroke, he left the hospital and decided to sell forty-two of his thoroughbred racehorses. This subterfuge proved too much for Warner and he and his family never spoke to Jack again; when Jack made a surprise appearance at Harry's San Fernadino ranch, to attend Harry's 1957 wedding anniversary to Rea Levinson, nobody in the Warner family attending the event spoke to Jack. All Warner was now dedicated to doing was raising horses.

Shortly after this, when Jack was away one day, Warner made one last visit to the studio to take $6,000,000.00 out of his old studio account. He gave $3,000,000.00 to his wife Rea, and $1,500,000.00 each to his two daughters Doris and Betty. In the meantime, he sold a large portion of the remaining studio stock he had to Semenenko had and made sure of it he would never come near the Burbank studio ever again.