Not many people knew Beverley Barlow was one of the wealthiest women in Australia when she died on Saturday.

You will not find her picture anywhere, or any significant mention of her in the social pages.

And this probably how she would have wanted it, even before the name of the business she helped set up in Australia, 7-Eleven, was dragged into controversy by a Fairfax Media/ABC investigation into the exploitation of its franchisee workforce.  

Bev is the elder sister of Russ Whithers. He bore the brunt of the furore over the wage payment scandal as the group's then chairman, but his sister owns half the business (shared with her husband Doug Barlow) and shared the $1.5 billion net worth of the business.

Their business included the Starbucks chain in Australia and extensive commercial property holdings associated with 7-Eleven.  

The convenience store operator is still haemorrhaging money to compensate workers for the industrial scale underpayment of wages in its franchise network. The financial compensation bill now exceeds $128 million. 

Bev was extensively involved in the business during its early days. CBD was told she was head of payroll at the company, which might explain why she was reportedly furious with her brother when the scandal broke. 

It did not help on the PR front that the story unfolded just months after she and her husband had paid a record $20 million for a Brighton manor. 

Bev is survived by her husband Doug, and their three children who are active in the family's charity: The Barlow Foundation. 

"The Barlow Foundation delivers grants to charitable organisations that seek to foster self-reliance and self-empowerment in women and children from disadvantaged backgrounds," says its website.

"The hope is that the work of this Foundation will allow others opportunities to find their way out of disadvantage and towards their own future, self determination and success."

But what about the family fortune? Will Bev and Russ's empire be split following her death? 

A 7-Eleven spokesman said there was no official company statement about her passing, or what would become of her stake in the business. 

But it is interesting to note that Bev's son Chris Barlow is the only family member who remains on the 7-Eleven board following Russ's resignation in October 2015. 

"Chris holds a Masters in Business Administration from Melbourne University, and has completed the program for Executive Development at IMD, in Lausanne, Switzerland and the Private Wealth Management Programme at Wharton Business School," says the Barlow Foundation website. 

Sound like the next generation are ready to take charge?

No Downer for CEO

To the victor goes the spoils, but the vanquished are doing just fine in the case of the Spotless takeover by Downer Group. 

Spotless CEO Martin Sheppard was going about his normal day-to-day business on Friday as Downer moved higher up the Spotless register. Photo: Wayne Taylor

The Spotless board has reluctantly supported the Downer offer – which it had to, given Grant Fenn's $1.2 billion bid is paying off and his crew now controls 67 per cent of Spotless.

And as of Wednesday they will control the board with four of its current and former directors entering the boardroom and three current Spotless crew making for the lifeboats. 

Luckily for Spotless boss, Martin Sheppard, his stake in the cleaning group got topped up by 346,120 shares earlier this month "as a result of the exercise of options under the long term incentive plan".

The first question that needs to be asked is, how on earth did Sheppard earn any sort of performance incentive given the extraordinary collapse in its share price almost literally from the day he started. 

The answer is in the date the shares vested, and the fact that the rest of his share options expired. It was all triggered by a "change of control" when Downer's stake breached 50 per cent.

The next question relates to the acknowledgement by Spotless "that some shareholders with a greater appetite for risk, longer investment horizon or more aggressive investment strategies, may wish to continue to hold their Spotless shares".

Spotless is still getting back to CBD to confirm whether any of the board members – including Sheppard whose shares are worth $2.3 million –are pursuing a more aggressive strategy and turning down Downer's offer. 

Legally fresh 

There were some startling admissions in Mark Korda's affidavit filed in the Federal Court against Network Ten's scheming billionaires. 

"My investigations to date do not reveal that any of the companies in the Ten Group are in possession of any perishable goods that are the property of third parties. It there are any such goods, I have not been contacted by the owner(s) of those goods to demand their return," he says. 

Hey Mark, its finals week on MasterChef. You might want to have a look, just in case. 

Principal's pet

It would have been hard to find anyone more nervous about their return to work on Tuesday than Deakin Business School lecturer Adrian Raftery. 

It was last Tuesday that he lit up social media with his exasperated post about the fact that not a single student had showed up to his class on estate planning. 

"I don't know about you but my generation always showed up for lectures and seminars, particularly at the start of semester. Here is my first class for 2nd semester which was supposed to have started 15 mins ago," he said.

"After being pumped up to give a great class, I am deflated that they couldn't bother their arse to show up."

He also made the point that estate planning was a tricky subject and the class was not available online. 

"Students don't realise that their lecturers could be their best advocates for getting a job. What would you do if you were in my shoes?"

Take away their smashed avo?  

While Raftery threatened to "use the ole size 16s" on his students, a LinkedIn post on Tuesday morning showed him settling for a more savvy Gen Y approach, thanks to suggestions from colleagues and the public in reaction to his post.

This included desk changes to make the room less "classroom-sterile", muffins and even a lucky door prize. 

"D-Day is here and let me say that I am more nervous than any job interview that I have ever had in life," he said in a post that included a photo of his empty room 20 minutes before the class started. 

Let us cast aside the moral hazard of bribing young students just to show up to class, and let's see what the results were. 

"Break in class right now so I can update & say 91% attendance at 8am which increase to 94% within 15 mins. Woohoo!," was the triumphant post from Raftery.

Follow CBD on Twitter. Got a tip? ckruger@fairfaxmedia.com.au