Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) and Jack Abbott (Terry Lester) had always hated each other, but things reached a fever pitch in 1989 when Victor staged a successful (and secret) hostile takeover to attain the Abbott family's Jabot cosmetics company. The previous year, Jack had arranged for a scandalous, tell-all biography to be written about Victor, without realizing that a secret chapter was being included with the details of his sister Ashley's (Brenda Epperson) abortion of Victor's child. When the book hit, Ashley was devastated and Victor swore revenge when he found out the originator of the book. He plotted to take away Jack's most prized possession: his family's company. In the mean time, Victor also ended up scarring family patriarch John Abbott (Jerry Douglas), and he had to eventually admit the reasons for his actions to Ashley. The Jabot takeover plotline drove story well into the 1990s and established Y&R as the go-to soap for making boardroom business into compelling drama.
Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) and Jack Abbott (Terry Lester) had always hated each other, but things reached a fever pitch in 1989 when Victor staged a successful (and secret) hostile takeover to attain the Abbott family's Jabot cosmetics company. The previous year, Jack had arranged for a scandalous, tell-all biography to be written about Victor, without realizing that a secret chapter was being included with the details of his sister Ashley's (Brenda Epperson) abortion of Victor's child. When the book hit, Ashley was devastated and Victor swore revenge when he found out the originator of the book. He plotted to take away Jack's most prized possession: his family's company. In the mean time, Victor also ended up scarring family patriarch John Abbott (Jerry Douglas), and he had to eventually admit the reasons for his actions to Ashley. The Jabot takeover plotline drove story well into the 1990s and established Y&R as the go-to soap for making boardroom business into compelling drama.