The ranch that Big Macs built

Chief among the beneficiaries was majority stockholder Ray Kroc, 63, who instantly found his stake in the company—shares he’d once joked were worth less than a subway token—valued at a cool $33 million.

The McDonald’s corporation had teetered on the brink of bankruptcy for years as Kroc and his minions built it out, propagating facsimiles of the original San Bernar... read more...