[1] John Spencer ran the company until 1988, when he sold it to Carter Holt Harvey for a sum estimated at $NZ 300 million.
[2] During the stock market boom of the 1980s, Spencer's nett wealth was estimated at $675 million,[1] making him New Zealand's richest man.
[3] He lost heavily in the 1987 stock market crash, but managed to retain a significant portion of his fortune, which was augmented by the Caxton sale.
[2] In the last years of his life, Spencer was as well-known for disputes over land access on his Waiheke Island property as for his fortune.
An intensely private man, he waged a two decade-long campaign to reduce public access to the Stony Batter historic site on his farm, a dispute which involved him on one occasion barricading a public road.