Melvyn L. Bell - Page 19

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          does not establish an extensive or continuous activity of                   
          promoting corporations for sale as to constitute a separate trade           
          or business.                                                                
               Petitioner has not established that he provided promotional            
          services to the companies he owned.  Except for the blueprinting            
          company in the early 1960's, there is no evidence that petitioner           
          provided anything but financing to the companies.  Petitioner did           
          not actively seek out companies to promote and did not advertise            
          the companies he had.  On tax returns for 1985 through 1988,                
          petitioner reported income and loss from business enterprises               
          separate from BEI as passive income and loss.  Petitioner's                 
          primary activity with regard to BEI was to attend board of                  
          directors' meetings where he discussed financing for the BEI                
          subsidiaries and acquiring additional businesses.  These                    
          activities do not differ from those an investor would take to               
          protect and expand his investments.  Petitioner has not                     
          identified promotional services that he provided to the BEI                 
          subsidiaries for which he would have been compensated upon the              
          resale of one of the BEI subsidiaries.                                      
               The record in this case does not reflect the amount of time            
          that petitioner spent involved in managing or operating the BEI             
          subsidiaries.  We note that petitioner indicated that he devoted            
          a significant amount of time to ENSCO during 1986 to 1988 and               
          received a salary exceeding $300,000.  Petitioner attributed his            
          inability to successfully rehabilitate the BEI subsidiaries to              
          the time demands of ENSCO.  There was no showing by petitioner              


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