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__ Viacom Sucks It Up __
It wasn't performance, profit margins, or even clashing personalities that led Viacom chair Sumner Redstone to summarily fire his president and CEO, Frank Biondi, this past January. At least, it wasn't Biondi's personality. But it may well have been Redstone's. "Sumner just wants to run the company, and he doesn't want anyone in his way," says one Viacom insider familiar with how the firing went down. "Frank was in his way."
No more. The 72-year-old Redstone now Viacom's chair and CEO has consolidated his power utterly, leading many to compare his new role to the autocratic leadership style of the 65-year-old Rupert Murdoch, scion of News Corp.
It's a comparison Redstone would not necessarily reject. In fact, Redstone has publicly praised his competitor, a man who, among other savvy moves, has created a broadcast network rife with fare like 90210 and Melrose Place. Who loses when Fox owns the youth market with trendy programming? Seen any good episodes of The Grind lately, Mr. Redstone?
With the acquisitions of Blockbuster and Paramount still heavy in its belly, Viacom can ill afford to lie pythonlike in the sun and let the digestion process take its course. And it's hard to sprint on a full stomach. But now that the company is in the biggest of the media big leagues, it has to run with the Time Warners and News Corps of the world.
According to insiders, Biondi, widely praised for his financial acumen and for being "a really nice guy," was not moving quickly enough for Redstone, the itinerant entrepreneur. Redstone knew that if Murdoch sneezed, News Corp. could purchase a cold-remedy firm a nanosecond later. The Viacom chief not only craved that kind of executive power, he understood it was necessary to direct a sprawling media empire. Biondi, it seemed, had to go.
As we reported a year ago, the new Viacom is nothing if not a brand powerhouse, with Blockbuster, MTV, Simon & Schuster, Star Trek, and countless other sheep in its megafold. But Viacom is still the new kid on the block, and it is still unofficially organized by medium: television networks, new media, motion pictures, publishing. According to many within the company, the elusive synergy in which a brand can be cross-sold in various media came too slowly for Redstone. "Redstone sees what Disney does with a brand," says one analyst, "where the bottom line shoots up with Pocahontas tapes, books, merchandise, albums, and games. He wants more of that synergy at Viacom."
Meanwhile, Biondi had let one of Redstone's favorite executives, MTV vice chair (and former Nickelodeon president) Geraldine Laybourne, accept an offer to run Disney/ABC Cable Networks's entire cable plant.
While it's not clear that the loss of Biondi translates into a fleeter Viacom, it's clear that his departure, and Laybourne's resignation, has put the company on notice: things are going to change around here, and everyone will be much more accountable. "It's sad to see Biondi go," says one insider. "But we simply have too much work to do to worry about what it all means." Exactly the message, we'd wager, that Redstone wanted to send.
- John Battelle
__ [Original story in Wired 3.04, page 110.] __
__ Vegas Nerds __
Under a starry desert sky in January, Paramount Parks and Hilton Hotels broke ground on the first-ever Star Trek theme-park attraction Š in Las Vegas. Among those beamed onto a larger-than-life stage were Commander Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), who directed phaser fire at the spot where the US$50-odd million attraction will stand next spring. Meanwhile, the 3,000-room Las Vegas Hilton will be adding a 65,000 square-foot space station to the hotel.
According to Tim Fischer, executive VP and general manager of Paramount Parks, Vegas offered the perfect coordinates for this venture, given the mecca's surreal ambience and 30 million pilgrims per annum. Watch out, Disneyland: there's a new entity in scanner range. And it'll be docking at DS9 next year.
[Original story in Wired 4.01, page 154.]
__ I-Rations __
Shortly after US Army units rolled into Bosnia, Pentagon officials announced that the peacekeepers would have Internet access "I-rations." American citizens were urged to send generic electronic greetings to the troops via an email address established as part of the Defense Department's BosniaLINK homepage at www.dtic .dla.mil/bosnia/. (Email could not be addressed to specific individuals or units.)
A smattering of the "any soldier" messages were to be distributed through military print and broadcast media in Bosnia and surrounding regions, and also posted on BosniaLINK. As Wired went to press, however, a DOD spokesperson said the extent of email use among the 16,500 US troops was less than hoped for, due to severe technological limitations (such as Tuzla's few, poor-quality phone lines and remote troop locations). Iridium, anyone?
[Original story in Wired 1.1, page 46.]
__ Sold! __
Encyclopaedia Britannica's newest owner, Jacob Safra, heralded his purchase as the "crown jewel of accumulated knowledge." The European financier declared that his goal in buying the company from the William Benton Foundation was to distribute the age-old resource an icon of print publications to "all people, of all incomes, and all ages," a statement that hints at wide accessibility. But two months after the sale, Britannica refuses to elaborate on the details of these bold plans.
The University of Chicago, which has backed the ailing Britannica in recent years, received an undisclosed amount from the January sale. (The New York Times reported that Britannica could fetch up to US$500 million, a figure the company declined to confirm.) In October of last year, Britannica unveiled a Web site (www.eb.com/) as its primary digital interface. The site charges a $150 subscription fee to individuals and so far has sold 300 pricier site licenses to US colleges and universities. For those with richer blood, the publishing concern is also hawking a CD-ROM, retailing for $995.
The January sale followed the August '95 closing of two-thirds of the publisher's North American sales offices.
[Original story in Wired 3.08, page 72.]
