On 16 August 1978, Conrad Black, whose family had obtained control of Argus Corporation, an investor in Massey Ferguson, became active in Massey Ferguson's management. The previous year, chairman Albert A. Thornbrough received a $471,000 salary, the highest executive salary in Canada at the time. During the 50 years between 1929 and 1979, the firm made more than 4% profit on its sales only five times. Under Black's leadership, Massey Ferguson instituted significant cost-cutting programmes that returned it to profitability. During the late 1970s, production was relocated to a new, large facility in Brantford, Ontario. In 1978, Massey Ferguson was the first to introduce an electronic control system for the three-point hitch on a tractor. However, a worldwide decline in the agricultural equipment market combined with high inflation, high domestic interest rates and a major recession, caused Massey Ferguson to slip into a loss once again. On 31 October 1979, Volkswagen AG made an informal offer for 51% of the firm, but was rebuffed by Black. On 23 May 1980, Black resigned as chairman. In a subsequent series of detailed and lengthy letters to Herb Gray—the then Canadian Minister of Industry under the government of Pierre Trudeau—he remarked on the challenges faced by the firm, and outlined his solution, which would have seen the Canadian and Ontario governments as well as Argus Corporation refloat the ailing firm. Black failed to obtain a suitable response, and resolved to cut his losses.