From the moment The Young and the Resltess’ Billy (Jason Thompson) decided to leave Jabot and work at Chancellor-Winters for Jill (Jess Walton), I knew that trouble would soon follow. In fact, as part of my predictions for The Young and the Restless in 2024, I stated a war would break out at the company between the Winters clan and the Abbotts, and that looks to be happening sooner rather than later.
In The Young and the Restless episode airing on February 16, Billy proposed to Devon and Nate (Sean Dominic) that Abbott be added to the name of the company. Specifically, Billy pitched the name Abbott-Chancellor-Winters or ACW. The idea caught Devon off-guard, and me as well.
To Devon’s point, the proposed name change came out of left field. When Jill ran the singular Chancellor company, not one time did she change the name of the business to reflect her Abbott surname. She didn’t seem to have a problem then. Even after Chancellor merged with Winters, Jill at no time mentioned adding Abbott to the company. It seems this desire to change the name of the business is squarely Billy’s doing in an attempt to mark his territory.
I can’t forget that Billy left Jabot because he wanted to prove himself in the business world and get out of Jack’s (Peter Bergman) shadow. Plus, he’s currently only interim co-CEO of Chancellor-Winters until Lily (Christel Khalil) returns. So it just seems as if Billy is trying to force the name change to stroke his ego and make sure people know he belongs.
Furthermore, I get the sense that Jill is allowing Billy to rock the boat because he is feeding into her own insecurities that the Winters family is trying to get her out of the company. Sure, Mamie (Veronica Redd) came back to Genoa City and partnered with Tucker (Trevor St. John) in a plot to rid her of the business. However, both Devon and Lily assured Jill they had no desire to see that happen, but Jill still felt threatened, hence her bringing on Billy and Chance (Conner Floyd).
Even after Mamie announced that she was done working with Tucker, and she agreed to be civil and cordial with Jill, it seems as if Jill has been operating with an "us vs them" mentality.
Now I’m aware that some people will have a list of reasons as to why Billy is right in this feud. They will point to the fact that Abbotts are almost equal partners in the company and the brand should be reflective of that (don’t forget, Mamie owns a small percentage of the business which prevents a 50/50 split of Chancellors-Winters).
If I’m honest, I hope the continuing friction causes one of two things. Either Devon conspires with Mamie, Nate and Lily to separate Winters from Chancellor and run their family company on their own, or Devon goes the Tucker-route. I’ve suspected that Devon will come to realize that Tucker was right about Jill and Devon will seek out the help of his bio dad. While the father/son duo are currently at odds, could Billy actually be the one who causes the two to reunite with a purpose in mind?
All in all, when it comes to The Young and the Restless, I prefer internal corporate feuding boil down family issues. Like the Newmans at Newman and the rest of the Abbotts at Jabot. If Devon is bumping heads, I just rather he do it at a Winters company with his sister and cousin.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus the next day.
