•
108-Mark
Burnett exits MGM as Amazon reorganizes integration of
MGM into its own studio
operations
LOS ANGELES - 11/29/22 -
TVIMagazine
••••It
was announced Monday that reality television producer
Mark Burnett, who served as MGM's television president
for eight years, resigned from his top leadership role
amid Amazon's efforts to integrate MGM into its own
studio operations.
••••
Burnett is best known for
introducing unscripted scripts "Survivor" and "The
Apprentice" with Donald Trump to U.S. audiences. In
recent years, he has served as chairman of MGM's
worldwide television group, overseeing a slate of
original programs including NBC's "The Voice," CBS's
"Survivor," ABC's " "Shark Tank" and "The Handmaid's
Tale."
••••
The move comes eight months after
Amazon purchased MGM for $8.5 billion, a key component of
the e-commerce giant's efforts to bulk up its content
library for Amazon Prime Video subscribers. As a
significant equity holder in MGM, Burnett profited
handsomely from the Amazon deal. In the nine years since
he first sold his One Three Media production banner to
MGM, Burnett has reaped an estimated $900 million.
••••
Mike Hopkins, Amazon's senior vice
president of Prime Video and Amazon Studios, and Burnett
jointly announced that Burnett was departing the company
"to resume his work as an independent creator and to
pursue new ventures as a producer.
••••
Burnett's contract was set to
expire by year's end. On Monday, Hopkins told Amazon's
staff that "Mark's stepping aside of course raises both
opportunities and questions about how we'll be organized
moving forward. "
••••
"After months of collaborative
transition efforts, we have thoughtfully re- organized
our teams so that they all have the opportunity to
prosper under the leadership of Mike Hopkins, Jennifer
Salke and Christopher Brearton. In these days of media
layoffs I am proud to say that everyone in the TV
division has been offered a way to continue to
contribute. No one was left behind," he wrote.
••••
Burnett, a Briton who got his
start in Los Angeles more than 25 years ago hawking
T-shirts on the Venice Beach boardwalk, scored with his
first major show, "Survivor," launched on CBS. But his
career achieved even greater heights after "The
Apprentice" premiered on NBC in 2004. Ratings soared, and
Trump became a nationwide sensation with his signature
line: "You're fired."
••••
Burnett's tenure at MGM had been
stormy at times, including clashes with other executives.
And in the fall of 2016, MGM faced calls to release
outtakes from the filming of "The Apprentice" so that
voters could get a view of Trump's unvarnished behavior.
The studio refused.
••••
On Monday, Burnett sent a lengthy
email to the staff, lauding their contributions to MGM's
recent television success. He noted that he had sold the
majority stake in his companies to MGM in 2014 when he
came aboard as the studio's television president. He
added that he later "sold the rest of my companies for
MGM stock and became Chairman of MGM Global Television
because I believed in the value of MGM."
••••
In 2015, MGM took full control of
United Artists Media Group, which was a joint venture of
MGM, Burnett, his wife, Roma Downey, and media giant
Hearst, for $234 million. Burnett and Downey received
$120 million for their 23% stake.
The deal boosted MGM's television
properties.Amazon closes $8.5-billion purchase of MGM,
giving it broader sway in Hollywood
••••
Burnett's departure was expected.
Other MGM executives, including Michael De Luca and
Pamela Abdy, who had served as th
••••
"After months of collaborative
transition efforts, we have thoughtfully re-organized our
teams so that they all have the opportunity to prosper
under the leadership of Mike Hopkins, Jennifer Salke and
Christopher Brearton," Burnett added.
••••
"As I step away from day to day
management and back into independently creating and
innovating, I will continue to oversee my legacy series
and be available to all of you and to Amazon for guidance
and support," Burnett wrote.
••••
Burnett helped rebuild MGM's
television operation with his own productions, including
the series "The Bible," which he co-produced with Downey
for the History Channel.
••••
"I wanted to follow up by thanking
him for his countless contributions to our success and,
on a personal level, for his partnership and counsel
throughout the integration," Hopkins wrote in his memo.
"I know you'll all agree that he is one of the most
innovative, creative, and prolific television producers
in our industry, and we have been extraordinarily
fortunate to have him on our team."
•
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tviStory
108 - Mark Burnett exits MGM as
Amazon reorganizes integration of MGM into its own studio
operations
///
• 108-
'Top Gun: Maverick' Passes 'Titanic' as Seventh-Highest
Grossing Film in Domestic Box Office
History
••••
"Top Gun: Maverick" has toppled
"Titanic" as the seventh-biggest film release ever at the
domestic box office, earning $662 million in ticket
sales.
••••
For Paramount, "Top Gun: Maverick"
has also overtaken "Titanic" as the studio's biggest film
in its 110-year history. However, James Cameron's
disaster epic is still outpacing Tom Cruise's fighter-jet
adventure outside of North America with $1.5 billion at
the international box office and $2.2 billion
globally.
••••
"Top Gun: Maverick" has sold a
similar number of tickets overseas as it has
domestically, with the film's international tally at $690
million. Without playing in China or Russia, the
blockbuster follow-up to 1986's "Top Gun" has grossed
$1.3 billion to date.
••••
Thanks to word-of-mouth and repeat
customers, "Top Gun: Maverick" is pulling in audiences
that would have been enormous even prior to the COVID-19
pandemic. Now, it's close to reaching Marvel's "Avengers:
Infinity War," which currently stands as the
sixth-highest grossing domestic release ever with $678
million.
••••
Beyond that, the list of the top
five domestic releases ever consists of "Black Panther"
($700 million), "Avatar" ($760 million), "Spider-Man: No
Way Home" ($804 million), "Avengers: Endgame" ($853
million) and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" ($936
million).
••••Since
"Top Gun: Maverick" debuted in May and cleared a new
Memorial Day weekend opening record with $160.5 million,
it has remained a box office force. "Maverick" is
Cruise's first movie to surpass $100 million in a single
weekend and his first to reach $1 billion at the
worldwide box office.
•
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for More tviStory-
108- s90-
A'Top
Gun: Maverick' Passes 'Titanic' as Seventh-Highest
Grossing Film in Domestic Box Office
History
///
•
108-
CAA acquires rival ICM
in landmark talent
agency deal
••••
Creative Artists Agency bought ICM
Partners in a landmark deal that could transform
Hollywood representation. The deal reduces the number of
top agencies to three dominant players: CAA, WME and
United Talent Agency.
••••
The deal is the industry's largest
acquisition since the William Morris Agency merged
with Endeavor in 2009, essentially turning Hollywood into
a two-agency town.
••••Although
financial terms were not disclosed, the acquisition was
valued at $750 million, resulting in a pro-forma
enterprise valuation of $5 billion for the enlarged
agency.
••••
CAA and ICM combined will have
more than 3,200 employees across 25 countries. The deal's
closing will leave behind only a handful of power
players. Endeavor, the industry's largest, went public
last year and is valued at around $9.8 billion. United
Talent Agency trails behind both firms.
••••
Apple, Amazon and Netflix have
muscled in on Hollywood in recent years, and traditional
media companies like Disney and Discovery have joined the
race. The growing power of these firms and the economics
of streaming have changed the way actors are paid, and
made it harder to bargain on their behalf. That has made
it tougher for a smaller agency like ICM to compete.
••••The
CAA takeover was first announced in September but the
deal had to be delayed due to increased scrutiny clearing
a regulatory review by the Department of Justice and the
Federal Trade Commission as the industry experiences a
wave of deal-making and M&A fervor rages in
Hollywood.
••••
The pairing will mean significant
jobs losses at ICM. Of the 425 employees that CAA
would have taken on as part of the deal, some will have
to be cut.
••••CAA's
acquisition of its smaller rival is part of a wider
consolidation that is reshaping Hollywood as media
companies boost their film and TV offerings for streaming
platforms. It comes at a time of rapid changes in the
talent representation industry, where power has shifted
away from A-list actors and directors toward creators of
content such as writers and producers.
••••CAA
will now have access to ICM's lucrative publishing
business and its top clients, including "Grey's Anatomy"
creator Shonda Rhimes, actor Samuel L. Jackson, director
Spike Lee and Ellen DeGeneres. ICM also represents
"Breaking Bad" creator Vince Gilligan and "The Handmaid's
Tale" creator Bruce Miller.
••••
Clients include Tom Hanks, Steven
Spielberg, Zendaya, Ava DuVernay, Ryan Murphy and Reese
Witherspoon, while ICM represents Shonda Rhimes, Ellen
DeGeneres, musical artists such as Ariana Grande, Samuel
L. Jackson and Pete Davidson, and among others.
••••
Previously CAA announced that it
had bought full ownership of CAA-GBG Global Brand
Management Group, a brand management agency. Earlier this
month, Beverly Hills-based United Talent Agency said it
had expanded its international footprint by acquiring one
of the U.K.'s biggest literary and talent companies,
Curtis Brown Group.
••••
CAA, ICM and othr agencies weathered a tough period over
the last two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, when
several agencies laid off workers after productions shut
down and live events were canceled.
••••Agencies
also were squeezed by the effects of a losing battle with
the Writers Guild of America that forced them to rein in
the use of packaging fees and affiliated productions that
had helped them diversify their business.
••••
In January, CAA announced plans to move its Los Angeles
headquarters to a larger location in Century City as it
prepared to absorb hundreds of new employees through its
then-pending acquisition of ICM. The agency will leave
its current spot on Constellation
Boulevard
and head across the street to the
under-construction Century City
Center tower in 2026.
• Click
for More
tviStory- 108-s90-
•
CAA
acquires rival ICM
///
•
108-
Warner film chief Toby Emmerich will steps
down
Former MGM Film Executives
Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy Named New Co-Chairpersons
and Chief Executive Officers of Warner Bros. Pictures
Group
Under New Strategy Warner Bros. Studios Will Be Broken
Out Into Three Distinct Businesses
BURBANK, CA -- June 1, 2022 -- Warner Bros. film chief
Toby Emmerich, will step down from his job running one of
Hollywood's biggest movie studios in a major shakeup
following the company's recent merger with Discovery.
Emmerich, a 30-year veteran of the company who most
recently served as chairman of Warner Bros. Pictures
Group, will take on a production deal with the studio. He
well launch his own production company focused on film,
television and streaming. Warner Bros Discovery will
finance Emmerich's firm and have distribution rights to
its films and shows under a five-year deal.
•••
Industry veterans and former MGM
film executives Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy have been
appointed co-chairpersons and CEOs of Warner Bros.
Pictures Group, which currently includes Warner Bros.
Pictures, New Line Cinema, DC-Based Film Production, and
Warner Bros. Feature Animation.
••••
Most recently, De Luca and Abdy
led MGM Studios as motion picture group chairman and
president, respectively, since 2020. They are stepping
down following Amazon's $8.5 billion deal to acquire MGM
and will join Warner Bros. Discovery this summer after a
period of transition.
••••
During the pair's tenure, MGM
released such hit films as Oscar-nominated "House of
Gucci," Best Picture Academy Award nominee "Licorice
Pizza," and the James Bond franchise's Oscar-winning "No
Time To Die." Throughout his 30-year career in the film
business, De Luca has been responsible for an impressive
portfolio of films, including: "Reminiscence," "Captain
Phillips," "Moneyball," "The Social Network," "Boogie
Nights," "Blade" and "The Mask." He also produced the
$1.3 billion grossing "Fifty Shades of Grey" franchise.
He is a former president of production at both New Line
Cinema and DreamWorks.
••••
Abdy served previously as a
Partner and Head of Film at Makeready, where she produced
"Queen & Slim" and "A Million Little Pieces." Prior
to that, she served as President of Production at New
Regency, which released the Academy Award-winning
"Birdman," "Gone Girl," Oscar-winner "The Big Short," and
"The Revenant," which received 12 Academy Award
nominations including Best Picture, and two Golden Globe
awards for Best Picture (Drama) and Best Actor. Before
joining New Regency, Abdy was the president of Scott
Stuber's Bluegrass Films.
••••
De Luca and Abdy follow longtime
studio executive Toby Emmerich who is stepping down as
chairman of Warner Bros. Pictures Group. Emmerich has led
the film studio division since 2017, previously serving
as President and Chief Content Officer, and before that
as President and Chief Operating Officer of New Line
Cinema. He is a 30-year veteran of Warner Bros. having
joined the company in 1992 as a dual development and
music executive.
••••
An accomplished screenwriter and
producer, Emmerich is launching a new production company
at the Warner Bros. studio, focused on film, television
and streaming. As part of an exclusive 5-year agreement,
Warner Bros. Discovery will finance Emmerich's venture
and have distribution rights to films and series.
••••
Under Emmerich's leadership,
Warner Bros. Pictures Group had its most successful year
ever in 2018, with a global box office of $5.57 billion.
This success was fueled by a diverse lineup of hit films,
including "Aquaman"-- the most successful DC Superhero
film ever and Warner Bros.' second-biggest title of all
time, "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,"
"Ready Player One," "The Meg," "Rampage," "A Star is
Born," "The Nun," and "Crazy Rich Asians." In 2019, the
Studio released the highest-grossing R-rated film of all
time, DC's "Joker," which earned $1.08 billion at the
global box office and won two Academy Awards, as well as
the hugely successful horror sequel "IT Chapter Two."
•
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for More tviStory-
108-s90-
Warner film chief Toby Emmerich, steps
down;
Michael De
Luca and Pam Abdy Named New Co-Chairpersons and Chief
Executive Officers of Warner Bros. Pictures
Group
///
•
108-
CNN+ to shut down
service
••••
CNN+ has become a major casualty
of the streaming video business.
••••
Just weeks after the completion of
the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, new management
announced it is pulling the plug on CNN's streaming
service.
••••
CNN staffers were informed that
CNN+, which launched on March 29, will be shut down on
April 30.
••••
"This decision is in line with
WBD's broader direct-to-consumer strategy," CNN President
Chris Licht said. "In a complex streaming market,
consumers want simplicity and an all-in service, which
provides a better experience and more value than
stand-alone offerings."
••••
The decision to pull the plug on
CNN+ so quickly comes on the heels of the disastrous
earnings for streaming giant Netflix, which lost billions
in stock value after failing to meet expectations for
subscriber growth.
••••
The decline of Netfilx subscribers
demonstrated how much consumers are willing to spend on
streaming services.
••••
Licht said the decision was not a
judgment on the content of the service. He said some of
the programming and on-air talent hired will be absorbed
into the company's other networks.
••••
CNN+ launched with major
promotional campaigns, hiring a number of well known
names including Chris Wallace from Fox News and Audie
Cornish from NPR. It is expected they will be joining the
TV side.
••••
Wallace's one-on-one interview
program has included sit-downs with high profile figures
as "The 1619 Project" author Nikole-Hannah Jones and
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki that were certainly
worthy of airing on the cable network.
••••
But with 400 employees hired for
the endeavor, there is the likelyhood of cuts.
••••
Still, CNN staffers were shocked
by the announcement of a total shutdown of CNN+. Many
anticipated a freeze in hiring and spending as the new
executive team decided on a new path forward.
They also expected some version of a CNN streaming
product to be folded into HBO Max.
••••
Warner Bros. Discovery leadership
likely preferred to take a short term hit of a shutdown
rather than continuing to invest in a service they did
not believe in.
•
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for More
tviStory- 108-s90-#108- CNN+shuts down
service
///
•
108-
Axel Springer has acquired another U.S.
outpost.
The
German publishing giant announced that it would be
acquiring Politico, the political news site launched in
2007, in a deal valued at over $1 billion marking the
latest step in the German media
giant's recently
fortified
growth plans.
Photo: Bernd Von Jutrczenka--PictureAlliance/Getty
Images
••••
In addition to gaining the remaining 50% ownership stake
in Politico, Springer will also take ownership of
Politico Europe and Protocol, the tech-focused sister
site of Politico that launched last February.
••••
Politico will join Insider (formerly Business Insider)
and Morning Brew in Springer's growing stable of U.S.
media companies.
••••
The announcement comes amid a massive realignment of the
media ecosystem as publishers scramble to merge, go
public or conduct other maneuvers to take advantage of
the fluid post-pandemic business landscape.
••••Politico
is the latest in a string of deals for U.S. media
companies in the past several years. In 2014, Axel
Springer set up a joint venture with Politico to launch
the European edition of the website. In 2015,
it bought Business Insider, and, last year,
Axel Springer acquired a majority stake in the newsletter
publisher Morning Brew Inc.
••••Founded
in 2007, Politico was a pioneer in granular scoop-driven
coverage of politics and policy in Washington, D.C. While
much of its coverage is free, it publishes news and
analysis for paying subscribers under the banner Politico
Pro.
••••The
digital media industry has been consolidating as
advertisers move their budgets to tech giants such as
Facebook Inc. and Google. Last year,
BuzzFeed bought HuffPost from Verizon
Communications Inc. In 2019, Vice
Media acquired Refinery29
and Vox Media bought New York Media, parent of New York
Magazine.
•
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for More
tviStory- 108-s90- Axel Springer Buys
Politico
///
• 108-AT&T
out of the Pay-TV
space - By
TC Stubblefield, NBS100.com
••••
After AT&T aquired DirectTV in 2015 with high
reaching plans to modernate the satellite TV business it
now returns DirecTV to its roots as a stand-alone
company.
••••
On August 2, AT&T completed its spinoff of DirecTV,
taking $7.1 billion in cash and 70% interest in the new
DirecTV. Private equity giant TPG, which contributed $1.8
billion, owns 30% of the new privately held
•company.
••••
The new DirecTV is made up of
AT&T's three TV distribution businesses: the namesake
satellite TV service, the legacy U-verse and the
streaming offer AT&T TV.
•••••
AT&T's ownership of DirecTV
proved a dire enterprise. The Dallas company paid $49
billion to acquire El Segundo-based DirecTV (and absorbed
another $18 billion in debt) with the goal of selling its
customers a bundle of TV and phone services. When that
deal closed, in 2015, AT&T became the nation's
largest pay-TV provider with 26 million customers.
••••
Now the three former AT&T
television platforms -- DirecTV, U-Verse and the
streaming service AT&T TV -- have about 15.4 million
subscribers, according to the company. In six years,
AT&T lost nearly 40% of its TV subscriber base,
resulting in one of the highest levels of so-called
"churn" in the industry.
•••••
In late 2019 AT&T hired Bill
Morrow, a former CEO of Pacific Gas & Electric in San
Francisco, when the company was under pressure from an
activist investor that demanded that AT&T pay down
its debt and get rid of non-core
assets.•••
••••
Although AT&T starts with a
70% stake in DirecTV, they will likely wind down their
investment over time, being now out of the pay-TV
space.
••••
DirecTV will have a five-member
board: two representatives of AT&T and two
representatives of TPG, as well as Morrow, who plans to
bring a different focus to DirecTV.
••••
The new company will be based in
El Segundo and in Denver.
••••
The spinoff comes as AT&T
tries to streamline its holdings. It also has been under
pressure to get rid of assets to generate cash to pay
down its debt from its buying spree, which included the
$85-billion purchase of WarnerMedia, parent of HBO, CNN,
Turner and the Warner Bros. studio, three years ago. This
spring, AT&T announced that it would sell WarnerMedia
to smaller rival Discovery.
••••
The company's DirecTV foray was
plagued from the start.
••••
After the takeover in 2015,
AT&T offered rich severance packages to much of
DirecTV's senior leadership, who then rushed out the
door.
••••
DirecTV had long been known for
sterling customer service, but AT&T moved
customer-related functions into
its "shared services" unit that was geared toward dealing
with phone service issues.
••••
"After a year or two, AT&T
probably realized the acquisition was a huge mistake."
••••
•••• Customer
defections began accelerating within a couple years of
AT&T's purchase and the company turned its attention
to building a streaming service that it could pair with
its broadband offer. It launched various versions of a
streaming service -- DirecTV Now, AT&T Now and
AT&T TV, all of which splintered in the market.
••••There
is untapped potential in the AT&T TV product, which
will be relaunched as DirecTV Stream to capture the
so-called cord-cutters.
••••
Traditional television is still a
huge part of the ecosystem, but long-term might not be a
sustainable business model because
people are continuing to migrate away.
•
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for More
tviStory- 108-s90- AT&T Out Of Pay-TV after returning
DirecTV
///
•
108-
TELEVISION
INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE receives
2019 Best of Toluca Lake
Award
TOLUCA
LAKE, December 17, 2019 -- TELEVISION INTERNATIONAL
MAGAZINE has been selected for the 2019 Best of Toluca
Lake Award in the Magazine Publishers since 1956 category
by the Toluca Lake Award Program.
••••
Each year, the Toluca Lake Award Program identifies
companies that we believe have achieved exceptional
marketing success in their local community and business
category. These are local companies that enhance the
positive image of small business through service to their
customers and our community. These exceptional companies
help make the Toluca Lake area a great place to live,
work and play.
••••
Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed
to choose the winners in each category. The 2019 Toluca
Lake Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity.
Winners are determined based on the information gathered
both internally by the Toluca Lake Award Program and data
provided by third parties.
•
About Toluca Lake Award
Program
••••
The Toluca Lake Award Program is an annual awards program
honoring the achievements and accomplishments of local
businesses throughout the Toluca Lake area. Recognition
is given to those companies that have shown the ability
to use their best practices and implemented programs to
generate competitive advantages and long-term value.
••••
The Toluca Lake Award Program was established to
recognize the best of local businesses in our community.
Our organization works exclusively with local business
owners, trade groups, professional associations and other
business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is
to recognize the small business community's contributions
to the U.S. economy.
///
|
|
|
©
|
|
®
|
|
|
- History:
Founded in 1956 by ABC's
Sam
Donaldson
and his partner Al
Preiss
and acquired by the Cory's in
1987.
In
April 1956 TVI debuted it's first edition
with offices at 1580 Crossroad of the World,
Hollywood, CA.
In
March,
1963, TVI hosted the first "Annual Festival
of World TV Classics Award " at the
Huntington Hartford Theater. Since 1956 TVI
grew to command the print readership of
television network executives in 142
countries on six continents, covering the
industry of television, film,
telecommunication and WiTEL. In the mid-90s
Television International Magazine (TVI
Magazine) went online as: tvimagazine.com
Publisher/Editor:
JosieCory.com
• iPublisher: TroyCory.com
  
. . .
"People read what
they want," says tviNews. "There is no master
plan what people are interested in." The
question is, how can we partner with people to
have a symbiotic realationship?
 
••••
Television
Internatinal Magazine Founder, Sam
Donaldson.
Samuel Andrew
Donaldson became interested in broadcasting at
an early age and, after graduating from New
Mexico Military institute, majored in
telecommunications at Texas Western. He
immediately began working at local stations as a
disc jockey, announcer and interviewer. While
still in El Paso, he had his first taste of
television, working as an announcer in the
region's first television station.
••••
While attending graduate school at the
University of Southern California, Donaldson met
publisher Al Preiss, and they both formed
TELEvisionFILM Magazine. Both seeing where the
international television market was heading, the
name was changed to Television International
Magazine.
••••
In his book "Hold On Mr. President"
Donaldson writes .... After getting my B.A., I
went to the University of Southern California
for a year of postgraduate work. This time I
worked hard but didn't stick to it. Instead, I
started a magazine in Hollywood all with five
thousand dollars and a friend named al Preiss.
We went first-class, letter press printing
instead of offset, four-color ads instead of
black and white. It soon became evident that we
needed fifty thousand dollars, not five."
Eventually Donaldson sold out to Al Preiss who
continued publishing the magazine until his
death in 1986. In 1987 The Cory's purchased the
Magazine fro,m Al's widow Sylvia Preiss.
•
SamDonaldson
•
Click
for More Sam
Donaldson
Television
International Magazine Co-Founder, Al
Preiss.
Born in Waseca,
Minnesota, Preiss began his career in the
newsroom at WCCO-TV in Minneapolis as a
sportscaster. He later moved to Los Angeles,
where he began teaching television courses at
the University of Southern California.
•••
It was there, in 1955 when Al Preiss had a
vision -- a vision that materialized in 1956,
when he and his colleague Sam Donaldson launched
TELEvisionFilm Magazine.
•••
Both Al and Sam had an honest conviction that,
"the television film industry had reached a
stage where it needed a national publication
that would analyze and put into focus -- the
news, issues and problems which particularly
concern the production and distribution of film
for television.
•••
When Al Preiss died in August 1986, the
television industry lost an untiring advocate
and a giant of a good friend. The tall,
wonderfully amiable publisher truly seemed to do
it all -- attending nearly every press
conference, speech, convention and reception,
and was never seen without his trademark clear
plastic briefcase. You turned around at these
functions and there was Preiss, taking notes,
talking animatedly, telling stories, doing his
job. One that he not only loved, but felt was
necessary and important. He did it all with the
help of his charming wife of 25 years, Sylvia,
who was editor of the magazine during the years
of 1985 and 1986.
•••
The controlling interest of the magazine, with
all of its archival history was purchased in
1987 by the Cory's.
•
Contributing
Journalists:
Josie Cory, Gary
Sunkin, Byan Lukas, Donna Jeffries, Valerie
Milano, Peter Allman, Don Butler, Troy
Cory-Stubblefield, Barry Seybert, Victor
Caballero, Mike Lipman, Gordon Talbott, William
Adrian, Ginger Adams, Larry Leverett, Bernard
Schwartz, Bob Fisher, Dr. Frank Iezzi, Ph.D.,
Kurt Sigl, Robin Strausberg, Mark Schaefer, Brad
Ashton, Jim Baker, Anika Michalowska, Theo
Pirard, Richard Mahler, Bill McCloskey, Bill
Peterson, John Chittock, Tony Chiaveillo, Moira
Burnett, John Sanders, Mark Trost, Gillian
Davies, Jonathan Ames, Peter Knight, Anton van
Casteren, Jim Hodgetts, Martin Jackson, Jack
Loftus, Peter Warner, Christian Williams, Alex
Ben Block, Bob Foster, Seth Goldstein, Bob
Marisch, Jefferson Graham, Jack Anderson.
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•
108-
Genie Gateway - Pay with your own phone
number
Some
customers still like to use traditional checks, but to
save time and money new technology has allowed those
paper checks to be converted into a digital version known
as Check21. This is a fast, secure, and efficient way to
offer an additional payment option to merchants while
saving on transaction fees that are higher when accepting
debit and credit cards.
••••
Check21 is the new
way for you to receive payments for all your goods and
services! Get Real-Time processing AND payment, 24x7x365,
from any customer with a valid US checking account
&endash; whether they buy in person, online, or by cell
phone.
••••
Genie Gateway
holds the Key to Unlocking a Wide-Open Opportunity by
using its patented technology to create a unique
environment where customers can communicate and send and
receive payments, globally, in real-time through
Telecommunications, eCommerce, Cable TV, and High Speed
Internet, integrated on one platform into One Unified
Solution.
•
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Genie
FastPay
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•
EasyTel
- The World is Your
Office
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108-s90- 2019
Genie
Gateway - Pay with your own phone
number
///
•
108-Gannet
and GateHouse to form a
Giant
••••
Two of the country's largest newspaper companies have
agreed to combine, creating a new industry giant that
hopes to steer through the crisis of print's decline
through sheer size.
••••
The merged company would have more than 260 daily papers
in the United States, along with more than 300 weeklies.
It would be the largest U.S. newspaper company by far,
with a print circulation of 8.7 million -- 7 million more
than the new No. 2, McClatchy, according to media expert
Ken Doctor.ds
••••
GateHouse Media, a fast-growing chain backed by an
investment firm, is buying USA Today owner Gannett Co.
for $12.06 a share in cash and stock, or about $1.4
billion, promising to speed up a digital transformation
as readers shift online. The companies say they are
committed to "journalistic excellence" -- while also
planning to cut $300 million in yearly costs.
••••
Local papers, faced with the complex and expensive
process of building digital businesses to replace
declines in print ads and circulation, have been
consolidating madly in recent years. Although papers with
national readership such as the New York Times and the
Washington Post have had success adding digital
subscribers, local papers with local readerships are
having a difficult time. Hundreds of such papers have
closed, and newsrooms have slashed jobs.
••••The
U.S. has lost almost 1,800 local newspapers since 2004.
Newsroom employment fell by a quarter from 2008
to 2018, according to Pew Research, and layoffs have
continued this year.
••••
"We've been hearing for years and years about the glories
of cost efficiencies," said Northeastern University
professor Dan Kennedy, a proponent of local ownership for
media outlets. But it's unclear, based on past media
mergers, whether those savings will benefit the papers,
its employees or their readers, he said. He wonders
whether combined companies make more or fewer cuts than
they would have if they had remained separate.
••••
But it's no panacea. "I don't think, just by these
companies merging, they're going to somehow magically
find a new business model, make everything all right and
produce robust journalism at a local level," Butler
University journalism professor Nancy Whitmore said.
Still, she said, a bigger, combined newspaper company
could sell more national ads and boost ad revenue.
••••
GateHouse's owner, New Media, is taking on new debt to
get the deal done -- a $1.8-billion loan from private
equity firm Apollo Global Management. That will have to
be paid back.
••••
Consolidation is nothing new to either company. Gannett's
last big U.S. print purchase was in 2016, when it bought
papers in the Journal Media Group chain for $280 million,
including the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the
Commercial Appeal in Memphis. Gannett also owns dailies
in major cities such as the Detroit Free Press and
Arizona Republic.
••••
Several experts said they do not expect the Justice
Department to have an issue with the deal, as the two
companies have papers in different markets. The companies
expect it to close this year.
••••
The combined company would take the Gannett name and keep
its headquarters in Gannett's current home of McLean,
Va.
•
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108-
Gannet
and GateHouse to form a
Giant
///
•
115-Comcast
Beats Out Fox to Acquire Sky
TV
Comcast Corp. won out over
21st Century Fox and the Walt Disney Co. in the battle
for Sky television by offering nearly $40 billion for the
satellite-TV service that boasts 23 million customers in
five European countries.
••••
Winning Sky is a huge boost for
Comcast and its chief executive, Brian Roberts. His
company, which started as a small Tupelo, Miss., cable
system a half-century ago, has steadily grown through
acquisitions and should soon boast more than 50 million
customers worldwide. Comcast will have a presence in some
of the most prosperous countries in Europe -- Britain,
Ireland, Germany, Austria and Italy.
••••
" This acquisition will allow us
to quickly, efficiently and meaningfully increase our
customer base and expand internationally," said
Roberts.
••••
The Sky victory is a relief for
Roberts, who was twice spurned by Rupert Murdoch when
Roberts tried to buy much of 21st Century Fox. Instead,
Murdoch made it clear that he wanted most of his
entertainment empire to go to Burbank-based Disney.
••••
Comcast's repeated presentations
forced Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger to spend nearly
$18 billion more than he initially planned, or $71.3
billion, to purchase the Fox assets. But with help from
Fox, Iger succeeded in driving up the price that Comcast
ended up paying for Sky.
••••
For the 87-year-old Murdoch, the
sale of Sky to Comcast brings an end to his broadcasting
ambitions in Britain. Murdoch co-founded the satellite TV
service in 1989 to compete with the venerable British
Broadcasting Corp., and Sky grew into a beloved service
with original programming and popular soccer matches.
••••
The Murdoch company had previously
attempted to buy all of Sky but, in 2011, it was forced
to retreat amid an embarrassing cellphone hacking scandal
at its now-defunct London tabloid, News of the
World. Again in December 2016, Fox tried to buy the
61% of Sky that it currently does not own. But that sale
became bogged down as various regulators in Britain
picked on the deal and raised questions about Murdoch's
control.
••••
The Australian-born media magnate
has long been influential in British politics, and he is
not a popular figure among Britain's Labor Party.
Activists complained that Murdoch already has too much
sway over Britain's media because the family's publishing
company, News Corp., controls several newspapers.
••••
During the regulatory slog,
Murdoch last year decided to unload much of his
U.S.-based Fox businesses. Among them: the prolific 20th
Century Fox television and movie studios in west Los
Angeles, cable channel FX, regional sports networks and
its stakes in Sky and the streaming service Hulu. The
Murdochs will keep Fox News Channel, national sports
networks and television stations, including KTTV-TV
Channel 11 and KCOP-TV Channel 13 in Los Angeles.
••••
Sky is one of the most popular TV
brands in Europe. Last year, the satellite TV broadcaster
produced $18.5 billion in revenue. It creates its own
original programs, runs the popular Sky News channel and
maintains exclusive partnerships in Europe with HBO,
Showtime and Warner Bros. studio.
•
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tviStory 115-
Comcast Beats Out
Fox to Acquire Sky TV
///
•
108-AT&T
is raising fee
••••
AT&T is raising an obscure fee to make an extra $970
million a year, analyst says.
••••
Arguing for the Time Warner merger deal against the
Justice Department in court this year, attorneys for
AT&T claimed that prices for AT&T's pay-TV
service, DirecTV, were likely to go down.
••••
AT&T Inc.'s wireless customers are expected to pay
almost $1 billion more every year to the company after
AT&T increased a monthly "administrative fee" this
spring in a move that went largely unnoticed, according
to an industry analyst.
••••
The analyst, Walt Piecyk of BTIG, initially estimated
that AT&T could pocket about $800 million more per
year from the higher fee, before revising that
figure upward to $970 million once
he learned that the fee hike also will affect tablets and
smartwatches on AT&T's network, not just
cellphones.
••••"Some
people might not get hit till next cycle," Piecyk
said.
••••
The higher fee reflects a 58% increase over its previous
level of $1.26 per line. The fee is now more than three
times what it was when AT&T first introduced it in
2013. It does not apply to prepaid customers but affects
the vast majority of AT&T's approximately 65 million
postpaid subscribers, Piecyk said.
••••Presumably
the Administrative Fee is another way to help AT&T
fund its network build and Time Warner acquisition.
••••AT&T
said in a statement that the fee is a standard practice
across the industry, and that it "helps cover costs we
incur for items like cell site maintenance and
interconnection between carriers."
••••A
page on AT&T's website also says that the fee is "not
limited" to covering cell site maintenance and
interconnection.
••••Like
the country's other wireless carriers, AT&T is moving
aggressively to build out a nationwide successor to its
4G LTE data network, an endeavor that is likely to cost
billions of dollars. It is also spending $40 billion --
and could receive more than $30 billion from the federal
government -- to construct a new wireless network for
first-responders.
••••AT&T
is changing rapidly in other ways too. This month, it
closed its landmark $85-billion merger with Time Warner,
becoming an entertainment and media giant overnight. It
is moving quickly to capitalize on the acquisition,
renaming Time Warner as WarnerMedia and launching a new
streaming video service, WatchTV, that contains some of
the programming it now owns. It also acquired AppNexus, a
digital advertising firm that could help AT&T
monetize WarnerMedia's video content.
••••It
is unclear whether price hikes could be coming to other
AT&T services.
•
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tviStory
108-
AT&T is raising
fee
///
•
108-KCET
and KCOP to merge in changing
market
••••
KCETLink Media Group (KCET) and
PBS SoCal (KOCE), the flagship PBS outlet for Southern
California, have agreed to merge the companies. The name
of the new organization will be announced with the
closing of the merger, which is expected to be completed
in the first half of 2018.
••••
"This merger has been in the works
for many, many years," said Dick Cook, chairman of KCET's
board, who will become chairman of the combined entity
when the deal closes this summer.
••••
The Corporation for Public
Broadcasting, which allocates federal dollars to public
stations, long had persued the two stations to unite.
That goal made more essential in an era in which
President Trump and some members of Congress have
threatened to slash funding for public broadcasting.
••••
Merger talks began three years ago
but were put on hold because of the Federal
Communications Commission's spectrum auction last year.
More than half of the $19.8 billion generated in the
auction went to broadcasters that were willing to
relinquish some of their spectrum.
••••
KCET, based in Burbank, received
about $65 million from the auction, while KOCE collected
about $49 million. That money allowed the organizations
to fortify their finances and establish endowments for
programming.
••••
The two stations will fold
together their separate assets, with neither side making
any payments to the other, the officials said. Andrew
Russell, president and chief executive of PBS SoCal
(KOCE) will run the combined entity, which will have
about 130 employees. No layoffs are immediately planned.
KCET has been without a chief executive since February,
when Michael Riley joined Ellen DeGeneres' company.
•
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tviStory
108-KCET and KCOP to merge in changing
market
///
2017
•
108-
$peedollars, The Digital Pay
Game
••••
As millennials
'Venmo' each other money online tools and apps could
someday overtake cash and checks as the primary way
individuals pay each other.
••••
These systems will get a lift later this year when a
coalition of the nation's biggest banks roll out Zelle, a
mobile and online money-transfer network that will let
any customer of nearly every U.S. bank send money to
customers of any other bank using only a phone number or
email address.
••••
Online and mobile peer-to-peer or p2p payment systems
have grown rapidly over the last few years, and that is
expected to continue. In a report published this month,
finance industry research firm Aite Group estimated that
Americans made about $147 billion in digital p2p
transfers last year, up from $100 billion the year
before.
••••
Later this year, a company owned by some of the nation's
largest banks, will release Zelle, a payment system built
to compete with Venmo and others.
••••
Zelle traces it
roots back to 2011, when Bank of America, Wells Fargo and
JPMorgan Chase set out to build a system -- initially
called ClearXchange -- that would allow their customers
to send money to each other using only phone numbers and
email addresses. Before, customers could only transfer
money to friends and family by entering account and
routing numbers -- information customers often didn't
know and might be concerned about sharing.
••••
The biggest
players in the market are still the banks, though they
didn't do great job of explaining that ClearXchange would
allow customers to send money to customers of other
banks. And part of the problem was that every bank has
its own name for its ClearXchange-powered p2p system,
including Chase QuickPay, Wells Fargo SurePay and Capital
One P2P Payments.
••••
Facebook and Google, too, allow users to send money to
friends. Google has Google Wallet, which started as a
mobile wallet app but became a p2p payment tool in 2015,
and Facebook users have been able to send money through
Facebook Messenger since 2015.
•••••Though
Venmo and other non-bank payment systems are still a
small part of the p2p market, banks hope, to make
digital p2p payments more mainstream, but want to make
sure they keep their place in the financial order and
keep their customers.
••••
Venmo is arguably the biggest name in peer-to-peer
transfers and like like Google, Uber is in the process of
becoming a verb -- as in "Venmo me."
••••
Founded in 2009, the company was acquired in 2012 by
payment services provider Braintree, which was acquired
the following year by online payments giant PayPal --
which offers p2p payments under its own name too.
•••The
$peedollar concept of 1968, could someday overtake cash
and checks as the primary way individuals pay each
other
•
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108-s90-$Speedollars
•
108-
AT&T Buys Time Warner for
$86Billion
••••
In a mega-deal a of such enormity
to not only the TV and entertainment industry but also
politically, AT&T has bought media and entertainment
giant Time Warner.
••••Under
the terms of the takeover, Time Warner shareholders will
receive $107.50 per share, implying a total equity value
of $85.4 billion and a total transaction value of $108.7
billion, including Time Warner's net debt. Not
surprisingly the acquisition -- approved unanimously by
the boards of directors of both companies and expected to
close before year-end 2017 -- will be subject to a
multitude of regulatory requirements. AT&T and Time
Warner are currently determining which licences subject
to rule by US regulator the FCC will be transferred to
AT&T in connection with the transaction.
••••
If it does go through, the transaction will leave the
communications giant with a market-leading portfolio of
infrastructure assets in telecoms, internet and satellite
assets (through its previous acquisition of DIRECTV) and
also some of the leading global TV and film brands. These
include HBO, which consists of US premium pay-TV and
streaming services; Warner Bros. Entertainment, which
consists of television, feature film, home video and
videogame production and distribution; Warner Bros. film
franchises include Harry Potter and DC Comics, and its
produced TV series include Big Bang Theory and Gotham;
Turner consists of US and international basic cable
networks, including TNT, TBS, CNN and Cartoon
Network/Adult Swim.
••••Explaining
the rationale for the mega-deal, AT&T said the newly
merged company would have the complementary strengths to
lead the next wave of innovation in converging media and
communications industry positioned to create new customer
choices -- from content creation and distribution to a
mobile-first experience that's personal and social. It
added that the new company will offer more relevant and
valuable addressable advertising; innovate with
ad-supported content models; better inform content
creation; and make over the top (OTT) and TV everywhere
products smarter and more personalised.
••••"This
is a perfect match of two companies with complementary
strengths who can bring a fresh approach to how the media
and communications industry works for customers, content
creators, distributors and advertisers," said Randall
Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO. "Premium
content always wins. It has been true on the big screen,
the TV screen and now it's proving true on the mobile
screen. We'll have the world's best premium content with
the networks to deliver it to every screen. A big
customer pain point is paying for content once but not
being able to access it on any device, anywhere. Our goal
is to solve that. We intend to give customers unmatched
choice, quality, value and experiences that will define
the future of media and communications."
••••Added
Time Warner chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes: "This is a
great day for Time Warner and its shareholders. Combining
with AT&T dramatically accelerates our ability to
deliver our great brands and premium content to consumers
on a multi-platform basis and to capitalise on the
tremendous opportunities created by the growing demand
for video content… Joining forces with AT&T will
allow us to innovate even more quickly and create more
value for consumers along with all our distribution and
marketing partners, and allow us to build on a track
record of creative and financial excellence that is
second to none in our industry… This is a natural
fit between two companies with great legacies of
innovation that have shaped the modern media and
communications landscape."
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tviStory
108-
AT&T Mega-deal Merger with Time
Warner
///
•
108
Green Light for AT&T's purchase of
DirecTV
••••
The Federal Communications Commission to vote on
proposed order to approve AT&T's purchase of
satellite service Direc TV, a $49-billion deal that would
place the phone giant as the nation's largest
pay-television operator.
••••
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler
recommended that the deal be approved with conditions,
while the Justice Department said it would not attept to
block the merger becaue id did not appear to be
anti-competivitve.After a year-long review proces,
approval could come within a matter of days.
••••
The combined company would have
1.5 million pay-TV customers in the Los Angeles region,
with DirecTV contributing more than 1.2 million.
••••
The merger, would transform
AT&T into a television powerhouse that is less
reliant on its wireless phone business, which has been
subject to price wars among the leading
providers.
•••••Consumer
rights advocates had lobbied the FCC to deny the
deal, saying
"The deal will reduce the number
of pay-TV competitors from four to three for nearly a
quarter of the country." AT&T is also the nation's
second-largest home Internet access provider, and it now
has new power and incentives to curb online video
competition."
••••••••
The company will be based in
Dallas, where AT&T maintains its headquarters. The
move would leave the Los Angeles region with one fewer
Fortune 500 company after El Segundo-based DirecTV is
absorbed into the telecommunications giant.
••••AT&T,
however, has said that DirecTV's operations would
continue to be managed locally. About 3,000 DirecTV
employees work at its headquarters and broadcast centers
in Long Beach and Marina del Rey.
••••AT&T,
which traces its origins to the invention of the
telephone more than 130 years ago by Alexander Graham
Bell, pursued DirecTV as a way to remain competitive in
the digital age. The combination was also motivated, in
part, by a recognition that consumers increasingly are
getting news and entertainment on smartphones and other
devices.
///
2014
•
108-
AT&T fined $105 million for cramming charges
• 108-
Buffett Greases Burger King "Inversion"
Deal
• 108-
TVI's person of the month bids for Time
Warner
•
108-
Amazon offers Pay to Quit
program
• 108-
Bill Gates on the move to erase global
poverty.
•
108-
AT&T fined $105 million for cramming charges in
customer
bills
••••
As part of a $105 million
settlement with federal and state law enforcement
officials, AT&T Mobility LLC will pay $80 million to
the Federal Trade Commission to provide refunds to
consumers the company unlawfully billed for unauthorized
third-party charges, a practice known as mobile cramming.
The refunds are part of a multi-agency settlement that
also includes $20 million in penalties and fees paid to
50 states
• AT&T billed its customers for hundreds of
millions of dollars in charges
originated by other companies, usually in amounts of
$9.99 per month, for subscriptions for ringtones and text
messages containing love tips, horoscopes, and "fun
facts," as alleged in the FTC complaint against
AT&T.
••••
"This settlement will put tens of
millions of dollars back in the pockets of consumers
harmed by AT&T's cramming of its mobile customers,"
said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez. "This case underscores
the important fact that basic consumer protections --
including that consumers should not be billed for charges
they did not authorize -- are fully applicable in the
mobile environment."
••••
Beginning October
8th, consumers who believe they
were charged by AT&T without their authorization can
visit www.ftc.gov/att to submit a refund claim and find
out more about the FTC's refund program under the
settlement. If consumers are unsure about whether they
are eligible for a refund, they can visit the claims
website or contact
the settlement administrator at 1-877-819-9692 for more
information.
• The FTC's 7th cramming case since 2013-
This case is part of a larger FTC
effort to clamp down on mobile cramming. This is the
FTC's seventh mobile cramming case since 2013, and its
second against a mobile phone carrier this year. The FTC
filed a complaint against T-Mobile in July, and that case
is ongoing. The Commission also issued a staff report on
mobile cramming in July. The FTC mobile cramming cases
build on the FTC's extensive law enforcement work over
the last decade to combat cramming on landline phone
bills.
••••
The FTC's investigation into
AT&T showed that the company received very high
volumes of consumer complaints related to the
unauthorized third-party charges placed on consumer's
phone bills. For some third-party content providers,
complaints reached as high as 40 percent of subscriptions
charged to AT&T consumers in a given month.
In 2011
alone,
the FTC's complaint states,
AT&T received more than 1.3 million calls to its
customer service department about the charges.
••••
According to the complaint, in
October 2011, AT&T altered its refund policy so that
customer service representatives could only offer to
refund two months' worth of charges to consumers who
sought a refund, no matter how long the company had been
billing customers for the unauthorized charges. Prior to
that time, AT&T had offered refunds of up to three
months' worth of charges. At that time, AT&T
characterized its change in policy as designed to "help
lower refunds."
•
In February 2012-
one AT&T employee said in an e-mail that
"Cramming/Spamming has increased to a new level that
cannot be tolerated from an AT&T or industry
perspective," but according to the complaint, the company
did not act to determine whether third parties had in
fact gotten authorization from consumers for the charges
placed on their bills. In fact, the company denied
refunds to many consumers, and in other cases referred
the consumers to third-parties to seek refunds for the
money consumers paid to AT&T.
• Click
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tviStory
108-s90- AT&T Settlement to Pay Cramming Charges
Refunds
///
•
108-MGM
buys 55% in Popular Production
Companies
•••
The Webusersguild, wwwWUG4.com,
reported that the Culver City Studio, MGM, announced it
had acquired a majority stake in Mark Burnett's
production company, One Three Media, which holds rights
to reality hits like "The Voice," "Survivor," "The
Apprentice" and "Shark Tank." Mr. Burnett will run the
operation as CEO of a new MGM unit called United Artists
Media Group.
• United Artists has a storied history-
••••
in the movie business. The company was founded by Charlie
Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W.
Griffith in 1919. It became part of MGM in 1981. MGM and
Tom Cruse restarted United Arists in the mid-2000s, but
the venture foundered releasing just two pictures "Limbs
for Lambs and "Valkyrie."
businesses.
••••
Under Burnett, United Artists will foucs on development,
production and financing for television programs, films
and digital content. Roma Downey, best know for starring
on the TV program "Touched by an Angel,will serve as
president of LightWorkers, now the faith and family unit
of United Artists.
worldwide," Gary Barber, MGM's chairman and chief
executive, said in a statement.
• Financial terms were not disclosed.
••••
The Hearst Corporation will continue to own a minority
stake in the One Three Media and LightWorkers
businesses.
••••
"Mark and Roma are without a doubt the most successful
and dominant players in unscripted television and
faith-based content, and we are excited to be
distributing United Artists Media Group content
worldwide," Gary Barber, MGM's chairman and chief
executive, said in a statement.
••••
Mr. Barber also announced the creation of a LightWorkers
on-demand Internet channel. "We look forward to growing
our television, film and digital business while also
creating a whole new platform," Mr. Burnett said in a
statement.
• MGM very nearly capsized --
•••more
than once -- in the 2000s, as the collapse of the DVD
market and a revolving set of owners left the company
choking on $4 billion in debt. A bankruptcy and new
managers, most notably Mr. Barber, have since turned the
operation around, with a new scripted television division
contributing significantly.
••••
MGM's recent television efforts include "Vikings," "Teen
Wolf," and the critically acclaimed "Fargo" on FX.
• Among the shows in the works-
••••
from Mr. Burnett and Ms. Downey: "A.D.," a biblical
mini-series for NBC, "The Dovekeepers" mini-series for
CBS and "On the Menu," a cooking show for TNT. They are
also helping to produce a remake of "Ben-Hur" in
partnership with MGM and Paramount Pictures.
•
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108-s90-MGM buys 55% in Popular Production
Firms
///
•
108-
Using Stock-Bonds As Collateral
-
Larry
Ellison Upgrades Oracle Credit Line to $9.9
Billion
••••
Like most Wall Street financial firms . . . billionaire
Larry Ellision, has increased the amount of Oracle Corp.
stock he's pledged against personal indebtedness and
lines of credit to 9.9 billion dollars.
••••
Ellison, 70, holds 250 million shares of the Redwood
City, Calif.-based software maker as collateral,
according to the company's proxy statement. That compares
with 215 million shares last year and 139 million in
2012.
••••
"With interest rates on loans so low right now, would I
rather sell some investments I have and give up the
return on those, or would I rather get a loan?" Tim
Steffen, director of financial planning at Robert W.
Baird & Co., said in a phone interview. "And he's not
going to sell his vacation home to go and make another
investment."
••••
Elison, who has a net worth of 43.1 billion, according to
the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, is known for his lavish
lifestyle.
••••
He built a sprawling Japanese-inspired home in Silicon
Valley, scooped up swaths of land in Malibu, and, in 2012
purchased Lanai, the sixth-largest Hawaiian Island.
••••
He also sponsors the U.S.'s America's Cup team, which won
the sailing competition last year. The catamarans for the
race cost about $8 million to build, and Oracle Team USA
and its three challengers this year could've spent more
than $100 million each on their boats, crew, facilities
and support staff, Gary
••••
Ellison is stepping down as Oracle chief executive
officer to become chairman and chief technology officer.
The company named Mark Hurd and Safra Catz, who were
previously co-presidents, co-CEOs on Sept. 18.
• Deborah Hellinger, a spokeswoman for
••••
Oracle, declined to comment on Ellison's
collateralized shares.
••••
"Banks know he's a good risk, so they're willing to lend
him the money," Steffen said. "Even though the size of
the loan seems big, this is $10 billion on $43 billion.
That's less than 25 percent -- less than your average
investor. Is your mortgage less than 25 percent of your
net worth?"
••••
Billionaires including Sumner Redstone, the chairman of
Viacom Inc., and Tesla Motors Inc. co-founder Elon Musk
also use shares to secure personal debt. Musk has pledged
at least 10 million Tesla shares as collateral, valued at
$2.53 billion as of yesterday's closing price, according
to the company's proxy statement.
on Ellison's collateralized shares.
••••
Redstone controls some CBS Corp.
and Viacom shares through National Amusements Inc., which
owns Showcase Cinemas. Some of those shares are pledged
to lenders of a National Amusements subsidiary, according
to filings from the two New York-based companies.
• Ellison "isn't doing anything unusual-
••••
and he wouldn't have done this if the company was
concerned about it," Steffen said.
••••
Oracle paid Ellison $67.3 million in fiscal 2014,
including an option award valued at $65 million,
according to the proxy. The company will cut Ellison's
stock-option grant from 7 million shares to 2.25 million
in its next fiscal year, according to the filing. The
reduction follows two consecutive shareholder rejections
of Oracle's executive pay plan in annual non-binding
votes.
••••
Ellison has collected at least $2.1 billion exercising
options since 1994, according to data compiled by
compensation expert Graef Crystal. In the 20 years ended
May 31 this year, Oracle has posted a total return of
more than 2,500 percent, almost 2,000 percentage points
more than the Standard & Poor's 500 Index during the
same period.
••••
Oracle also is introducing performance-stock units
beginning in fiscal 2015. The awards are granted based on
the company's relative revenue and cash-flow growth
versus a set of peers that includes International
Business Machines Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co.
•
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For More tviStory
108-s90- Using Stock-Bonds As Collateral . . . Larry
Ellison
///
•
108-
Buffett + $Bill = Burger King- "INVERSION"
Deal
••••
TVI's
Person of theWeek, Warren Buffett greases $3 Billion to
make the Burger King Inversion deal
happen
••••
The $11.4 billion dollar transaction for Canadian
coffee-and-doughnut
chain Tim Hortons Inc., with headquarter in Canada is the
latest company to undergo an inversion, which happens
when an American company uses a merger to reincorporate
as a foreign one.
••••
In such a maneuver, which is legal, a U.S. company buys a
foreign competitor in a nation with a lower corporate tax
rate and shifts its headquarters to that country.
••••
As inversions have gained in popularity in recent years,
the US administration has been pushing for new
restrictions. The latest in a series of corporate
offshore tax-reducing moves, also puts the Obama
administration in a difficult spot as it tries to stem
the flow of U.S. companies moving to foreign countries.
with lower tax rates..
••••
Burger King's purchase of Tim Hortons, creating the
world's third-largest fast-food company,-
is one of the highest-profile tax inversions so
far.
••••
Some have suggested
boycotting the fast food chain, while others have
directed their criticism and anger toward the billionaire
investor Warren Buffett, whose company Berkshire Hathaway
is partly financing the deal with investing $3
billion.
••••
Industry experts said Burger King is especially
vulnerable to a backlash because it is a popular consumer
brand, unlike some of the pharmaceutical companies that
have undertaken other recent high-profile inversions.
••••
But a backlash against
Burger King will be short-lived because most people will
not be thinking about their patriotism when they are
pulling through the drive-through at Burger King, to get
a Whooper.
••••
Buffett is famous for arguing-
that our tax code should be fairer and that the rich
and powerful should not get more breaks than
middle-income Americans -- views that some say are
incongruous with his involvement in.
••••
He has been a staunch advocate of companies and citizens
paying their fair share of taxes &emdash; so much so that
the administration's proposal to force millionaires to
pay the same share of their income in taxes as
middle-class families is known as the Buffett Rule.
••••
"How can you hammer a deal for tax policies when the very
person your signature tax policy -- the Buffett Rule --
is named after is involved and argues that [the
deal] is not tax-motivated?"
••••
Buffett said it made sense-
for the combined company's headquarters to be in
Canada. The companies are roughly equal in market value,
and Tim Hortons had sales of $3.2 billion last year,
compared with $1.1 billion for Burger King.
••••
"Tim Hortons earns more money than Burger King does,"
Buffett told the Financial Times. "I just don't know how
the Canadians would feel about Tim Hortons moving to
Florida. The main thing here is to make the Canadians
happy."
••••
Anger toward Warren Buffett is misdirected. He cannot
close loopholes that allow Burger King to claim Canadian
citizenship any more than he can close the loophole that
allows him and fund managers to pay a smaller percentage
of their income in taxes than their secretaries.
••••
The real culprits are members of Congress-
who have failed to close these loopholes and have
allowed Burger King to claim that it is becoming a
foreign corporation for tax purposes even when common
sense tells us it is as American as any company could
be..
••••
You see, Burger King will
continue to serve U.S. customers. It will not undergo
much change in ownership. And it will likely continue to
have its managers based in the United States. But when
it's time to pay taxes, it will claim to be a newly
restructured company based in Canada, which has a lower
corporate tax rate.
••••
Burger King Worldwide Inc. executives said the move to
create a corporate holding company in Canada was not a
tax dodge. Instead, they said, it was justified because
Canada would be the new company's largest market. They
noted that Burger King would remain a stand-alone brand
with its headquarters still in Miami.
••••
Proposed restriction curbs probably wouldn't apply to the
Burger King-Tim Hortons deal. A House bill has an
exception when a company has "substantial business
activities," such as 25% of its employees or assets, in
the country where it plans to place its
headquarters..
••••
Burger King Executive Chairman Alex Behring, who would
hold the same role for the combined company, insisted
that the deal was "not driven by tax rates."
••••
Burger King, which is controlled by Brazilian investment
firm 3G Capital, saw an opportunity to expand Tim Hortons
globally, he said..
••••
The headquarters for the new
firm will be in Canada, which would be its "natural
home," Behring said. Two-thirds of the new company's
revenue will come from Canada, with 20% from the U.S. and
13% from the rest of the world.
••••
The combined federal, provincial and local corporate tax
rate in Canada is 26.3%; The combined U.S. corporate rate
is 39.1%..
••••
Burger King's overall effective tax rate last year was
27.5%, according to its annual report. Tim Hortons'
effective tax rate for the same year was 26.8%.
••••
"We don't expect there to be meaningful tax savings, nor
do we expect there to be a meaningful change in our tax
rate," Burger King Chief Executive Daniel Schwartz told
reporters.
•
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For More tviStory
108-s90- Buffett greases Burger King inversion
deal
///
Universal
City (TVI)
•
108-
TVI's person of the month bids for Time
Warner
•••Media
Mogul Rupert Murdoch's $80-billion bid to acquire Time
Warner was rejected, but he is not known for giving up
easily. In the end they could raise their bid to try to
get the deal done," media analysts say. Remember
Murdoch's pursuit of Wall Street Journal publisher Dow
Jones & Co. when initially, the owners rebuffed
Murdoch until the money, at $5.6 billion, became too
tempting to pass up.
••••
What's driving Murdoch is the rapid consolidation
of pay television distributors. The nation's largest
cable operator, Comcast Corp., is in the process of
acquiring Time Warner Cable, and AT&T is buying
satellite broadcaster DirecTV.
••••
Time Warner is the parent of HBO, CNN and Warner
Bros. Murdoch controls Fox News Channel, the Fox
broadcast network and the 20th Century Fox television and
film studios. He also controls the Wall Street Journal
through his publishing company, News Corp.
•••• If
the deal were to be finalized, Murdoch's new entity would
command a vast library of film titles, including
"Titanic," "Avatar," "Harry Potter," and classics such as
"The Sound of Music" and "Casablanca." Its TV holdings
would include "The Simpsons" and "The Big Bang
Theory."
•••• The
combination would make Fox an even bigger player in TV
sports and if Murdoch can pull off the acquisition, it
would establish Fox as the world's premier media company.
It would also score a comeback for the billionaire and
his family after a phone hacking scandal at his British
tabloids badly tarnished the Murdoch name.
••••
However, with a potential union of the nation's
two biggest cable news outlets under one roof, 21st
Century Fox would have an enormous antitrust issue for
the Justice Department to look
at.•••
••••Fox has already indicated
that it would sell CNN to make the deal more
attractive.
• Click
For More
tviStory 108-s90- Rupert
Murdoch's $80 billion bid for Time Warner
rejected
///
•
108-
Amazon offers Pay to Quit
program.
Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos'
annual letter to shareholders was full of bits of
information about the mammoth e-commerce site, including
why he offers to pay his employees to quit. It offers a
glimpse into Amazon's internal workings and what it is
aiming for in the future, including more grocery services
and the much-disccussed drone delivery.
••••
In the letter, Bezos outlined
Amazon.com Inc.'s offerings, including "Prime Fresh," its
fresh grocery business which it has offered for five
years in Seattle and now expanded to Los Angeles and San
Francisco. For $299 a year, members get same-day and
early-morning delivery on groceries and other items such
as household goods, toys, and electronics. with the goal
to expand to more cities.
••••
Back in December, Bezos in an interview with Charlie Rose
said Amazon was working on unmanned aircraft to deliver
packages. However, it would take years to advance the
technology for the Federal Aviation Administration to
create the necessary rules and regulations, Bezos
said.
•••
Amazon also offers employees money to leave the company,
through a program called Pay to Quit. Once a year, the
company offers $2,000 to quit, adding $1,000 a year, up
to a maximum of $5,000.00.
••••"The
goal is to encourage people to take a moment and think
about what they really want," Bezos said. "In the
long-run, an employeee staying somewhere they don't want
to be isn't healthy for the employee or the company."
•
Click
For More tviStory
108-s90-
Amazon
Shareholder Letter- Offers Pay to Quit
Program
///
• 108-
Bill Gates on the move to erase global
poverty.
Philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates,
founders and co-chairs of the Gates Foundation, have been
selected to be the 2014 commencement speakers at Stanford
University on June 15.
•••They are
the latest in Stanford commencement's long line of stars
in fields such as politics, business, entertainment and
law. In the past decade, speakers have included Apple CEO
Steve Jobs, media personality Oprah Winfrey, U.S. Supreme
Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy,
and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
•••
Known since the computer
revolution, Bill Gates is the former chief
executive and current chairman of Microsoft, which he
co-founded with Paul Allen.
•••• He
stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft in
January 2000. He remained as
chairman and created the position of chief software
architect for himself. In June 2006, Gates announced that
he would be transitioning from full-time work at
Microsoft to part-time work, and full-time work at the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He gradually
transferred his duties to Ray Ozzie, chief software
architect, and Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy
officer. Gates's last full-time day at Microsoft was June
27, 2008.
••
As TVI in it's last issue
noted, "It's no sin to be rich, if ..."
•••
Gates began to appreciate the expectations others
had of him when public opinion mounted suggesting that he
could give more of his wealth to charity. Gates studied
the work of Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, and
in 1994 sold some of his Microsoft stock to create the
William H. Gates Foundation. In 2000, Gates and his wife
combined three family foundations into one to create the
charitable Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, based in
Seattle and which is the largest private transparently
operated charitable foundation in the world. It is
committed to easing poverty, hunger and disease that
prevent millions of people from realizing their full
potential.
••••The
foundation allows benefactors access to information
regarding how its money is being spent, unlike other
major charitable organizations such as the Wellcome
Trust. The generosity and extensive philanthropy of David
Rockefeller has been credited as a major influence. Gates
and his father met with Rockefeller several times, and
modeled their giving in part on the Rockefeller family's
philanthropic focus, namely those global problems that
are ignored by governments and other organizations. Bill
and Melinda Gates are among the most generous
philanthropists in America, having given over
$28 billion to charity; the couple plan to
eventually donate 95% of their wealth to charity.
••••Gates's
wife urged people to learn a lesson from the
philanthropic efforts of the Salwen family, which had
sold its home and given away half of its value, as
detailed in Hanna and Kevin Salwen's book, "The Power of
Half." Gates and his wife invited Joan Salwen to Seattle
to speak about what the family had done, and on December
9, 2010, Gates, investor Warren Buffett, and Mark
Zuckerberg (Facebook's CEO) signed a promise they called
the "Gates-Buffet Giving Pledge," in which they promised
to donate to charity at least half of their wealth over
the course of time.
••••Projects,
like bringing the Internet to public libraries, sprang
from the couples' Microsoft experience. Specifically,
Bill Gates aspires to rid the world of polio, funding
immunizations that have brought the disease to the point
of eradication. Melinda Gates champions the importance of
family planning, with the goal
of
delivering contraceptives to 120 million women
in developing countries within the next six years.
•
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108-s90-
The Gate's
on a mission to erase global
poverty
•
Click
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people-
Bill
Gates
///
•
108-
Huffington Post Deutschland
launched
Will Arianna Huffington
replicate the success of her other international blog and
aggregation sites in Germany, and reach her goal of
becoming one of Germany's five biggest news sites by
2018.
••••••Her
latest international edition of The Huffington Post,
"Huffington Post Deutschland," went live October 10, in
Germany, in cooperation with Tomorrow Focus AG, a part of
the Hubert Burda Media conglomerate. Huffington Post
Deutschland aims to bring bring her mixture of
aggregation, reporting and celebrity punditry to German
readers
••••The
German media establishment, however, touts scepticism
that Huffington's business model and media strategy,
which has enabled it to surpass the New York Times'
online readership in the U.S., will be as successful
here.
•••• In
a translated blog post on the German site, Huffington
welcomed readers, claiming "The Huffington Post
represents the launch of a phase of change and disruption
of the German media landscape." She pointed to the
relatively low number of bloggers in Germany, arguing
"this represents a huge growth potential for the
HuffPost." She also wrote that she regrets never having
learned German.
••••
"Huffington Post Deutschland, will continue
covering the news, as in other countries, by repurposing
news snippets from other sites and using large numbers of
uncompensated bloggers.
••••
Similar to other existing international versions
of the site -- which include Huffington Post Canada,
Japan, Spain. France and Italy -- the site's writers
mostly contribute to the site free of charge in the hopes
of gaining notoriety and a wider readership. The German
HuffPost site is currently staffed by only 15 paid
employees.
•••• The
announcement of Huffington's German plans initially met
with considerable resistance in Germany's troubled media
landscape. Huffington had unsuccessfully approached
several German publishers, including SPIEGEL and Axel
Springer, about a possible partnership. The site
eventually found a partner in the Burda Verlag's Tomorrow
Focus AG, which runs focus.de, Germany's third largest
German news portal.
••••Some
German bloggers welcomed the new platform. Romy Mlinzk,
writer of the blog snoopsmaus, told broadcaster ARD that
she would be interested in blogging for the site because,
for her, it "isn't about making money, but about having
the biggest possible readership and being attached to the
internationally respected Huffington Post brand."
•••However,
according to some media experts, the model may face more
difficulties in Germany than it has elsewhere.
••• For one,
Germany's rules on intellectual property rights were
recently tightened. These rules require websites to pay
authors if they use more than a small quote of their work
on their site, a rule which limits the Huffington Post
Deutschland's ability to aggregate.
••••Americans
tend to underestimate the strength of Germany's existing
online journalism. German journalism is dominated by a
number of traditional, well-known publications with
strong name recognition, and readers tend to be
conservative when it comes to new arrivals.
Click
For More tviStory
108-s90-
HuffingtonPostDeutschland
Launched
///
•
108-
Washington Post Has New
Owner
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff
Bezos has agreed to buy the Washington Post Co. for $250
million.
••••
The deal is being made by Bezos alone, and is not
being done with involvement from Seattle-based Amazon.
It's an unexpected move for Bezos, a self-made
billionaire whose far-flung interests -- among them
unearthing old rocket engines from the bottom of the
ocean and inventing a futuristic clock -- haven't
included traditional print media.
••••
Donald Graham, chairman and CEO of the Washington
Post Co., said the board of directors decided to sell
"only after years of familiar newspaper-industry
challenges made us wonder if there might be another owner
who would be better for the Post." The transaction covers
The Washington Post and other publishing businesses, but
not Slate magazine, TheRoot.com or Foreign Policy.
•
Click
For More tviStory 108s90-
Jeff Bezos Buys Washington
Post
///
•108
Newsweek acquired by
IBT
IAC is selling Newsweek to publisher of
International Business Times less than a year after it
ended publication of its weekly print magazine and went
all digital. The companies did not disclose financial
terms. But they said that IBT Media has agreed to buy
Newsweek's brand and online operations, not including The
Daily Beast.
••• The
transaction is expected to close in the coming days,
after which Barry Diller's company, which bought Newsweek
in 2010, will manage the publication for the transition
period of up to 60 days
•••• IBT
co-founder and CEO Etienne Uzac, said, "We believe
in the Newsweek brand and look forward to growing it,
fully transformed to the digital age." IBT, founded in
2006, also publishes Medical Daily, Latin
Time. •••
•••• Newsweek, will return to
the URL http://www.newsweek.com in the coming weeks, will
add to IBT Media's portfolio of 10 international online
news properties.
•
Click
For More tviStory 108s90-
Newsweek Sold to IBT
///
•
108-
Media Conglomerates' new trend: Slim
down! - News Corp
Split.
New News Corp might bid for the Los Angeles Times.
As expected at
the end of June Rupert Murdoch's
News Corporation split in two. Most of its television and
film assets were scooped up into a new company, 21st
Century Fox. Over 100 newspapers (including the Times of
London and the Wall Street Journal), educational
businesses and other assets were left to form a new
company with the old name of News Corp. That begs the
question, "Why is the company splitting in
two?"
••••
In essence,
the News Corp split reflects a
broader industry trend. In recent years difficult to
manage media conglomerates have been slimming down and
becoming more focused.
••••
Viacom, which split off its
broadcast-television business as CBS Corporation in 2006,
will sell off, advertising division, Outdoor, sometime
this year.
••••
Time Warner announced in March
that it plans to spin off Time Inc, its magazines
unit.
••••
Thomson Reuters sold off its
education business in 2007 and its health-care division
in 2012.
••••
Pearson, a part-owner of The
Economist, has sold or merged various properties to
concentrate on education.
••••
French media group Vivendi, is
expected to sell its telecoms assets in order to focus on
entertainment. It has taken media companies a while to
catch up with the shift away from the conglomerate model,
which fell out of favor in other industries in the
1980s.
••••
Investors are hard to convince that there is any benefit
in housing newspapers, television networks and film
studios under the same roof, and prefer companies with a
sharper focus. And some parts of the industry are
healthier than others: the sluggish publishing industry
is in marked contrast to the far brighter prospects of
the television business, so it makes little sense to keep
them together. At the same time a new generation of media
bosses has emerged who are more pragmatic than the
flamboyant, empire-building media moguls of time
past.
••••A
break-up in particular makes sense for News Corp, which
has spent the past two years trying to ovecome the
scandal relating to allegations of phone-hacking and
police bribery at the British newspaper, News of the
World, that News Corp shut down in 2011. Separating the
"good co" (as analysts are calling 21st Century Fox) from
the newspaper business (dubbed "crap co") insulates the
profitable television divisions from the repercussions of
the scandal. The scandal so far has cost News Corp $389m
in legal and other costs.
••••
Also, the split may allow 21st
Century Fox to renew its bid for the 61% of lucrative
British satellite broadcaster BSkyB. News Corp's previous
attempt to take control of BSkyB was derailed by the
phone-hacking allegations. Although Rupertr Murdoch will
serve as chief executive and chairman of 21st Century
Fox, it will be run by Chase Carey, News Corp's current
chief operating officer.
•••
At the time rumors emerged a year
ago that Murdoch was thinking of splitting up News Corp,
investors were thrilled. In the past two years News
Corp's share price has reached all-time highs.
•••
Businesses, that benefit from
scale of the media industry's sprawling conglomerates set
the stage for a period of consolidation. Businesses that
would benefit, such as American cable operators, Time
Warner Cable and Charter Communications, are rumored to
be discussing a merger.
••••
Having recently bought Virgin
Media, a British cable firm, Liberty Global of
America--which already owns Germany's second-largest
cable operator--is competing with Vodafone to buy Kabel
Deutschland, Germany's largest.
••••
Mr. Murdoch has said that he might
buy more newspapers if the price is right, and there is
speculation that the new News Corp might bid for the Los
Angeles Times. Expect more deals on the horizon asmedia
companies, egged on by investors, slim down and get into
shape.
•
Click
For More tviStory 108s90-
Murdoch's News Corp Split
///
•
a WebUsersGuild.com
Report
•
108-Charity Investment
Tradeout.
The book itself looks beyond the glossy appeals.
•••
As tax deadline
looms, ex-NPR chief Ken Stern looks at how little donors
understand about the needs and the operations of even the
most prominent charities 'With Charity for All' looks
beyond the glossy appeals.
•••
Americans just love feeling philanthropic. In any debate
over cutting tax breaks in the income tax system, the
deduction for charitable donations is always held sacred
-- even more than that other sacred cow, the mortgage
deduction.
•••
It's a rare political leader who doesn't bow to the role
played by charitable foundations in filling gaps left by
government services to the indigent, the sick and the
elderly, here in the United States and around the globe.
The globe-trotting, tent-dwelling relief worker, the
doctor without borders, the logistics expert getting food
and medicine to camps of war refugees -- all elicit
unique reverence from us armchair empathizers in
civilized lands.
•••
So why, asks Ken Stern in his new book, "With Charity for
All," do we spend so little time thinking about the
charities we give our billions to?
• Stern is a veteran of the nonprofit world
--
having spent nine years running National Public
Radio, the nonprofit organization with which most of us
are more familiar than any other. Thanks to his
experience and a wealth of further research, "With
Charity for All" makes many important points about how
little we understand about the needs and the operations
of even the most prominent global philanthropies. The
book opens with a telling anecdote about the American Red
Cross and its response to the disaster of 9/11.
•••
In brief, its response was, well, disastrous. Material
and personnel were deployed to the wrong places.
Logistics broke down so badly that the organization was
unable to get supplies, volunteers, food or cots for
first responders quickly to the Pentagon -- which was all
of 2 miles from its national headquarters and emergency
response center.
• What did
work to perfection was the --
Red Cross' fundraising
apparatus, which collected $543 million for its Liberty
Fund to aid the attack's victims. This was far more than
could reasonably be spent on direct relief. Yet when Red
Cross President Bernadine Healy decided to divert the
excess funds to fix what 9/11 had shown was broken --
improving its relief infrastructure, telecommunications
and logistics management -- she provoked a firestorm.
Congressional hearings, threats of prosecution for fraud,
the whole instrumentality of public outrage was deployed
against the Red Cross. Healy soon resigned.
•••
"The widespread fury," Stern observes, "was both
predictable and misguided." Donors large and small don't
understand that delivering direct relief requires
investing in a sound infrastructure, yet such investments
are often derided as waste and featherbedding.
•••
Stern makes a strong case that the average American donor
has become a sucker for any charity's glossy yarn. That's
because almost no system exists for measuring a charity's
effectiveness on the ground; the few efforts that have
been made to hold charities to account have been
overwhelmed by feel-good PR and undermined by the
sector's resistance to transparency.
•••
Stern tells this story terrifically through the prism of
Third World water projects. Beats there a Western heart
that hasn't been beguiled by a glossy brochure showing a
white charity executive throwing her arms around an
African child at the site of a village's gleaming new
water pump? Billions of dollars have been thrown into the
fight for clean water. It's an inviting cause, because
it's cheap to install a brand new pump. But "drilling a
well is far easier than maintaining one," Stern rightly
observes. Once the drilling is done and the publicity
photos snapped, the charity organizers move on.
•••
As a result, the proper image of the standard Third World
water project, as an expert tells Stern, should be one of
a "woman walking slowly past a broken hand pump, bucket
at her side or on her head, on her way to (or from) that
scoop hole or dirty puddle that she once hoped would
never again be part of her life.".
•
One topic Stern explores
is the exploitation--
of tax exemptions by nonprofits that don't resemble
charities by any stretch of the imagination. Many are
hospitals, which despite their nonprofit status behave
with all the chilly inhumanity of a profit-seeking
conglomerate -- dunning indigent patients for inflated
charges, leaving emergency rooms to fall to pieces while
spending lavishly on surgical facilities for wealthy
patrons of high-profile specialties -- and, by the way,
paying their CEOs in the millions.
• Consider the New York Stock Exchange --
which until recently was a nonprofit enjoying a tax
exemption and which in 2003 awarded its chief executive,
Richard Grasso, a pay package of $140 million. Three
years later, bugged to distraction by the attentions of
charities regulators, the Big Board reorganized itself as
a profit-making corporation. As Stern observes, the
Grasso affair "stands for the proposition that some
organizations have no business being nonprofits in the
first place."
•••
Unfortunately, there's no discussion in "With Charity for
All" of the latest outrage in this category, the
tax-exempt "social welfare" organizations that funneled
millions of dollars in donations into electoral campaigns
last year.
•
American Crossroads,
founded by GOP --
operative Karl Rove, was the most prominent such outfit,
but there were similar groups across the political
spectrum. Their designation as "social welfare"
organizations under section 501(c)4 of the tax code
allowed them to keep their donor lists confidential, but
in return for offering anonymity to well-heeled
contributors they weren't supposed to engage in electoral
politics. It wasn't until June last year that federal and
state regulators began taking a look at the C4's, and
obviously the probes didn't yield results before the
election.
•
They still haven't.
"With Charity for All" --
-- also falters in its most important role: proposing
remedies. The answer to underperforming nonprofits is to
remake the tax law and empower aggressive regulators to
distinguish functional charities from those that are
exploiting the exemption for a free ride. Withdrawing the
tax break and tossing the creators of bogus "social
welfare" groups in jail might do wonders to clean up U.S.
politics. Requiring water charities to meet minimum
sustainability standards for their projects might cut
back their drill-'em-and-forget-'em habits.
•
But these are minor
flaws in a book --
that marks an important advance in educating the
donor public. Whether they're writing occasional checks
for 50 bucks or making multimillion-dollar bequests,
donors too often give to the wrong organizations and for
the wrong reasons. "With Charity for All" is a good guide
to what makes an effective charity, and how to
figure out that the one getting your money meets that
standard. •
CLICK FOR MORE @
wug4.com/news#108-CharityInvestmentTradeout
-- OR
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106-s90-
CCharity Investment
Tradeout
///
•
108-T-MobileMetroPCSMerger
Approved by the
FCC
The WebUsersGuild.com
reported that: The Federal Communications Commission has
approved the merger of T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS. (March
5th - 2013)
••••
T-Mobile, with 33.4 million
mobile customers, is the nation's fourth-largest
cellphone company; MetroPCS is the fifth with 8.9 million
customers.
••••
The combined company will
still be in the No. 4 position behind Verizon, AT&T
and
Sprint.••••Under
the terms of the agreement, MetroPCS shareholders will
receive $1.5 billion in cash and 26% ownership in the
company, which will have the T-Mobile name. Deutsche
Telekom AG, the Germany company that owns Bellevue,
Wash.-based T-Mobile, will receive a 74% stake. MetroPCS
is based in
Dallas.••••Shares
of MetroPCS fell 24 cents, or 2.3%, to $10.26 on
Tuesday.
••••
Wug4.com nalysts have said
that the merger would probably result in a more
bifurcated U.S. wireless industry, with Verizon and
AT&T competing for the post-paid customer segment,
and T-Mobile focusing on the lower-end pre-paid
segment.
••••
T-Mobile Chief Executive
John Legere said , "Our combined company will have the
products, spectrum, scale and resources to shake up this
industry and deliver an entirely new wireless
experience."
• FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel
had "expressed her concern" to the two "SmartPhone"
cariers about potential job losses as a result of the
merger.
••••
"The companies have pledged
to me that they have no plans to close any domestic call
centers, to move them offshore, to close any retail
stores, or to reduce retail positions as a result of this
deal," Rosenworcel said in a statement. "They have also
assured me that they plan to increase the overall number
of "WebUsers" they employ in the United States."
••••
The deal was applauded by
several consumer groups. John Bergmayer, senior staff
attorney at Public Knowledge, said the deal would help
"counter the power of AT&T and Verizon."
••••
"It would be better if the
wireless market was not so distorted that the loss of a
competitor is a win for competition," he said.
"Nevertheless, that is the case, and given these facts,
this particular merger is in the public interest."
••••
In 2011, AT&T announced
it had agreed to buy T-Mobile USA for $39 billion. But
the deal was called off after running into opposition
from government agencies that said it would create a less
competitive wireless industry and potentially lead to
higher prices for
consumers.
••••
"With the FCC approval,
America's mobile market continues to strengthen, moving
toward robust a,
Europe and revitalized
competitors," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a
statement.
••••
Wug4.com said the proposed
deal made in October-2012, would create a stronger
"SmartPhone" focused on value of the NBS-TeleKey#
franchise.
•
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108-s90-
MT-Mobile MetroPCS Merger Approved by the
FCC
///
•
108-
TVI Magazine Person of the Month, Carlos Slim tops Forbes
ranking of billionaires 2013, followed by Bill Gates.
• Forbes 10
Top Billionairs
1. Carlos Slim Helu (Telecoms)
$73 billion
2. Bill Gates (Microsoft) $67 billion
3. Amancio Ortega (Zara) $57 billion
4. Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway) $53.5 billion
5. Larry Ellison (Oracle) $43 billion
6. Charles Koch (Various) $34 billion
7. David Koch (Various) $34 billion
8. Li Ka-shing (Various) $31 billion
9. Lilianne Bettencourt and family (L'Oreal) $30
billion
10. Bernard Arnault (Louis Vuitton / Bulgari) $29
billion
Forbes's 2013 list of the world's
richest people includes a record number of 1,426
billionaires, with a total net worth of $5.4 trillion, up
from $4.6 trillion in the previous ranking.
There are 210 new billionaires from 42
countries, including 27 from the United States. The
average net worth of those on full list has risen to $3.8
billion from $3.7 billion. Sixty people have dropped off
the list and eight have died.
••••Mexico's
Carlos Slim, who has taken a hit from the slump in the
share price of his America Movil telecoms group since the
list was calculated as of Feb. 14, remained the richest
person with a fortune of $73 billion, and Microsoft
co-founder Bill Gates held on to the No. 2 spot with a
net worth of $67 billion.
••••Spain's
Amancio Ortega, the co-founder of the Inditex fashion
group, leapt over Warren Buffett and France's Bernard
Arnault to become the world's third richest person on
Forbes' 2013 annual ranking of billionaires, with an
estimated net worth of $57 billion.
••••Ortega's
fortune increased $19.5 billion, the biggest gain for any
of the billionaires, from the report in 2012. He jumped
two places and bumped Buffett, chairman and chief
executive of conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc with a
fortune of $53.5 billion, out of the top three to the No.
4 spot for the first time since 2000.
••••Arnault,
of the LVMH luxury goods group, dropped to 10th place
with $29 billion.
••••Slim,
73, made much of his fortune in telecommunications but
also branched out into retail, commodities, finance and
energy.
••••
"To see Carlos Slim again broaden his lead and certify
himself as the richest man in the world is a statement
that wealth truly is global and not an American monopoly
like it sometimes felt for many decades," Lane added in
an interview.
••••
Rising stock markets fueled in part by monetary stimulus
by the U.S. Federal Reserve, and robust consumer brands
fortified the fortunes of those already on the list and
drove many of the 210 new billionaires onto it.
••••
Oracle Corp's Larry Ellison, with a fortune of $43
billion, rounded out the top five in the ranking that
included a record 1,426 billionaires, with an average net
worth of $3.8 billion.
••••
Forbes' 27th annual ranking is the biggest ever and has
the largest jump in total number of people added in one
year.
••••
Brazilian mining, energy and shipping magnate Eike
Batista, whose net worth fell $19.4 billion, was the
biggest loser on the 2013 list. He dropped from No. 7 in
2012 to 100.
••••
The total net worth of the world's billionaires is $5.4
trillion, according to Forbes, up from $4.6 trillion in
the previous ranking.
AMERICA, CHINA,
RUSSIA HAVE MOST
••••
The United States led the list with 442 billionaires,
followed by 386 from Asia and the Pacific region, with
122 in China alone.
••••
Europe was close behind with 366, including 110 in
Russia. The Americas, not including the United States,
had 129 and the Middle East and Africa 103.
••••
"There will be more Asian billionaires than American
billionaires by the end of this decade, actually by the
middle of this decade," said Lane. "That is a statement
about where global growth is."
••••
Americans captured five of the top 10 spots including
brothers Charles and David Koch, owners of Koch
Industries Inc, who tied for sixth place with $34 billion
each.
••••
France's Liliane Bettencourt, of the L'Oreal cosmetics
empire, is the world's richest woman, coming in ninth
with a $30 billion fortune.
••••
Li Ka-shing, who controls the Hong Kong-based
conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa, is the wealthiest man in
Asia with a $31 billion fortune, putting him in eighth
place.
••••
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the founder of
financial data firm Bloomberg LP, a competitor of Thomson
Reuters Corp , just missed the top 10, rising to 13th
place from 20th with a net worth of $27 billion.
•
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108-s90-
FORBES Billionaires List
2013
///
•
108-AT&T$14BillionUpgrade
The Webusers Guild.com (WUG) reported that AT&T
said it will invest $14 billion improving and expanding
its wireless and broadband infrastructure, over the next
three years.
••••
The Texas-based
company said $8 billion will be used to improve its
wireless network. According to AT&T it plans to
expand its 4G LTE high-speed Internet wireless network to
cover 300 million people by the end of
2014.
••••
That means an
improvement over the company's current plan, which would
expand the network to cover 250 million people by the end
of next year.
••••
The latest plan,
which AT&T calls Project Velocity IP, dedicates the
remaining $6 billion to improving the company's
fiber-optic, broadband
networks.
••••
AT&T will
expand its high-speed U-Verse TV, Internet and VOIP
service to 8.5 million more customer locations by the end
of 2015. AT&T said the investment will boost U-Verse
speeds to 75 Mbps, or about three times faster than the
fastest service currently
offered.
••••
Julius
Genachowski, the chairman of the Federal Communications
Commission, called AT&T's investment plans proof that
there is a positive climate for investment and innovation
in the country's communications
sector.
••••
"Extending wired
and wireless broadband across America is the 'great
infrastructure challenge of the 21st century,'" he said
in a statement. "America's 21st century economy and our
global leadership depend on meeting this challenge."
•
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108-s90-
AT&T's $14Bill Wirless & Broadband
Upgrade
///
•
108-
Sales of Mobile Phones Dropped in
2012 -
for first time since 2009,
down from 1.78 billion devices sold in 2011 to 1.75 in
2012, according to research firm Gartner.
••••
"Tough economic conditions, shifting consumer preferences
and intense market competition weakened the worldwide
mobile phone market this year," the report
says.
••••
One of the reasons for the drop is the weakening demand
for feature phones, which possess some smartphone
abilities but are limited. While smartphones had record
sales and were up 38.3% for the fourth quarter of 2012,
feature phone sales fell by 19.3% -- and that decline is
expected to continue.
••••
Also the report predicts the mobile sales to reach 1.9
billion in 2013 -- with a 1 billion coming solely from
smartphones.
••••
2013 will be the year of the third ecosystem, as carriers
try to break free from the influence of Apple and Google
Android while Microsoft's Windows Phone 8, BlackBerry 10,
and others battle it out.
••••
"Alternative operating systems such as Tizen, Firefox,
Ubuntu and Jolla will try and carve out an opportunity by
positioning themselves as profitable alternatives," the
report says.
•
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108-s90-
Mobile PhoneSale Declined
2012
///
•
108-
Comcast's GE
Buyout
••••
The purchase will end GE's ownership of NBC, which dates
back more than 25 years --
••••
and will position Comcast as the nation's most valuable
media company.
Comcast is buying out General
Electric's shares of NBCUniversal for about $16.7 billion
-- taking full control of the New York media company.
••••
The purchase comes two years after the Philadelphia cable
TV operator acquired 51 percent interest in the media
company, leaving GE with a 49% stake. Comcast had an
option to buy more of GE's interest beginning in July
2014.
••••••••
Comcast also will acquire the Manhattan headquarters of
NBCUniversal at the legendary 30 Rockefeller Plaza as
well as the CNBC headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.,
for about $1.4 billion.
••••
"Our decision to acquire GE's ownership is driven by our
sense of optimism for the future prospects of
NBCUniversal and our desire to capture future value that
we hope to create for our shareholders," Comcast CEO
Brian Roberts said in a statement.
••••
The acquisition will be funded with $11.4 billion in cash
on hand, largely generated by NBCUniversal's cash flow,
proceeds from the sale of its stake in A&E networks
and Comcast's sale of wireless spectrum. The company is
also using $4 billion in senior unsecured notes and the
company will borrow an additional $2
billion.
•••• The
company's market capitalization is currently about $105
billion, and when the deal closes the NBCUniversal
entertainment assets and net income will be fully
consolidated onto Comcast's balance sheet.
••
"The whole company is healthy and interest rates are at
historic lows. We do not have to stress the balance sheet
to complete this transaction," Roberts said. "We think
this is an attractive opportunity for our
shareholders."
••••
Fifty years ago Ralph Roberts, father of Comcast CEO
Brian Roberts, made his original purchase of American
Cable Systems, a 1,200-subscriber cable TV operator in
Tupelo, Miss., for $500,000.
••••
Comcast's acquisition timing of NBCUniversal looks to be
a smart move. In the last two years, media companies'
shares have soared: Walt Disney Co. now is valued at
$99.2 billion, News Corp. is worth $65.9 billion and Time
Warner Inc. is worth $49 billion. (In 2004, Comcast
pursued a $54-billion hostile takeover bid for Disney but
was rebuffed by Disney
shareholders.) The
same year GE also engineered the
buyout of Vivendi Universal, which dramatically
strengthened the media company by diversifying its
revenue base by adding the Universal film studio, theme
parks and the hugely profitable USA and Syfy TV
networks.
••••The
deal is expected to close by the end of March, and will
put an end to GE's at times, controversial ownership of
NBC. After acquiring the company in 1986, GE was
criticized for trying to instill corporate efficiency
models that worked well in building aircraft engines and
windmills but did not apply well to the hit-and-miss
nature of the TV and movie business.
•
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108-s90-
Comcast Buys Out
GE
///
•
108-WiTEL™SolarEnergyFinancing
••••
Muni-Fed Energy engages in renewable energy development
(Solar, Wind, Waste to Energy) energy efficiency
integration, consulting and financing. It serves
federal, municipal and commercial clients and delivers
effective technologies and services to address energy
supply, energy demand, infrastructure and financing
solutions.
•
For MORE- GoDirectTo:
munifedenergy.com
•
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WiTEL™SolarEnergyFinancing
///
•
108- KCET announces merger with satellite network Link
TV
•••
KCET is in plans to merge with Link to form KCETLink, "a
powerful new independent public transmedia company that
acquires, produces and distributes provocative global
programming targeted to a national audience across
multiple media platforms." according to a news
release.
••••
KCETLink will be available in 33 million U.S. homes
through DirecTV and Dish Network; that's not including
the 5.6 million households that KCET already reaches in
Southern California.
••••
San Francisco-based Link TV started in 1999 and offers
subscribers programming from a global perspective. Its
agenda includes the Danish political drama "Borgen," and
news and documentary programming.
••••
Some of Link's programming will air on KCET in upcoming
months, however "Doc Martin" and "So Cal Connected" will
remain in place at KCET.
••••
Al Jerome, KCET's chief executive, is to run the new
entity, with Link's president, Paul S. Mason, becoming
chief strategy officer. The combined company will be
headquartered at the Pointe high-rise in the Burbank,
where KCET already has offices and studio space.
••••
Financial terms were not disclosed.
••••
"With our combined resources, we are taking a bold step
forward to become architects of a new sustainable model
for the industry to keep public media thriving as a vital
resource in the digital age," Jerome said in a
statement.
••••
KCET, formerly the Los Angeles area's PBS crown jewel has
struggled with fundraising and declining viewership since
it left the PBS network at the end of 2010. The station
saw a 41-percent drop in contribution and grant funding
in 2011. The merger with Link offers the station
opportunities to develop new programming that will catch
on with viewer audiences nationwide.
•
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108-s90-
KCET Satellite
Link TVMerger
///
•
108-
James Murdoch to Run News Corp's Fox
TV
Rupert Murdoch's second son,
James Murdoch is reportedly being lined up to run News
Corp's Fox TV business in the US, despite being sharply
criticised by British broadcasting regulator Ofcom. The
role would put him in charge of the Fox Networks Group,
which includes the Fox terrestrial TV network as well as
cable channels such as FX and National Geographic.
••••••Ofcom
declared BSkyB "fit and proper" to own broadcast
licences, but the regulator was highly critical of James
Murdoch's handling of the phone-hacking scandal.
••••
It found that Murdoch's conduct in relation to News Group
Newspapers "repeatedly fell short of the conduct to be
expected of a chief executive and chairman" and that his
lack of action in relation to phone hacking was
"difficult to comprehend and ill-judged".
••••
If Murdoch ascends to the new role, there would be a new
reporting structure at News Corp with Peter Rice, the Los
Angeles-based head of News Corp's lucrative Fox Networks,
reporting directly to him.
••••
Rice was promoted to this role in July of this year and
Murdoch had hoped his father would rubber stamp the deal
then.
••••
The move gave Rice control of all programming of the Fox
Networks Group, including Fox Sports, Fox International
and National Geographic channels. However, Fox News, run
by Roger Ailes, remains a separate business.
••••
In London, the phone-hacking scandal and its fallout will
continue to cast a shadow over News International for
some time. Lord Justice Leveson's final report on the
future of press regulation is still to come, there are
several hundred more civil damages cases to settle next
year, and the Metropolitan police investigations into
alleged criminality at the publisher and any resulting
prosecutions could continue for up to three more
years.
••••
In all, 21 journalists at the Sun have now been
arrested.
•
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108-s90-
JamesMurdochToRunNewscorp'sFoxTV
///
•
108- Warren Buffet $600 Million Dollars Birthday Present
To His Family
••••
OMAHA, Neb. -- Warren Buffett is celebrating his
82nd birthday on August 30th, by giving each of his three
children a big present: about $600 million worth of his
company's stock for their charitable foundations.
••••
Buffett announced the gifts in a letter made public
Thursday, saying he is rewarding his children for the way
they've run their foundations.
•••• The
new contributions, added to previous gifts, mean they'll
each receive about $2.1 billion in stock over time. In
2006, Buffett promised to give roughly $1.5 billion of
Class B Berkshire Hathaway stock to each of the
foundations his children run as part of a plan give the
bulk of his fortune to charity.
•••• The
biggest share of Buffett's $44.7 billion fortune will go
to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Another
sizable gift will go to the Susan Thompson Buffett
foundation that Buffett created with his first wife. He
did not change those pledges on Thursday.
••••
Buffett said he decided to increase the amount his
children will receive because of the progress they've
made.
••••
Quote- " I'm very pleased about how all three of them
have handled the contributions in the last six years,"
Buffett told The Associated Press.
••••
Buffett said he is feeling fine and this decision was not
prompted by any concern about his health. Berkshire
Hathaway's chairman and CEO has been undergoing radiation
treatment for prostate cancer this summer, but he has
said his doctors do not believe the disease is
life-threatening.
••••
Each of Buffett's three children all chose a different
focus for their foundations, based on their own
interests.
••••
Howard Buffett, 57, is helping farmers in impoverished
nations produce more to help end world hunger. Susie
Buffett, 59, is strengthening early childhood education
and looking for ways to reduce teen pregnancy. Peter
Buffett, 54, wants to empower women and girls worldwide
through education, collaboration and economic development
to end violence against women.
••••
•Quote- " They've done everything I've hoped for and
more with the original gifts," Buffett said.
•••• As
part of his giving plan, Buffett has always said that all
of his Berkshire stock -- which today includes 350,000
Class A shares and 3,770,934 Class B shares -- will
eventually go to charity.•The pledges to the five
foundations that Buffett outlined in 2006 accounted for
about 85 percent of his stock. Buffett said that
increasing the amount each of his three children will
receive now means that about 90 percent of his stock is
spoken for.•Buffett has also been making smaller
gifts of Berkshire stock to mostly unnamed charitable
foundations. He said those would continue.
••••
•Quote- " As the years go by, I will commit more and
more to get to that 100 percent," Buffett said.
•••• In
his will, Buffett has specified that any shares he hasn't
already pledged to charity at the time of his death will
go to his Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation. And he has
requested that all proceeds from his giving be spent
within 10 years after his estate is closed.
••••
Buffett has been giving each of the five foundations 5
percent of his total pledge annually since 2006
•••• The
gradual manner Buffett is giving his stock away makes it
more difficult to say how much the gifts are worth
because Berkshire's stock price changes. The $2.1 billion
estimate is based on current stock prices.
••••
Buffett said he estimates that his kids will wind up with
roughly double the amount to give away because the change
he made.
••••
Buffett said he's still never been tempted to give up his
day job and become a full-time philanthropist. Instead,
he's trusting others to distribute his wealth.
••••
•Quote- " They're doing a better job than I could,
and I've got plenty to do running Berkshire," he
said.
••••
Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is an Omaha-based
conglomerate with more than 80 subsidiaries, including
insurance, manufacturing, railroad, utility, furniture
and restaurant firms. It also holds major investments in
companies such as Wells Fargo & Co., Coca-Cola Co.,
Washington Post Co. and IBM.
•••• Its
holdings also include the Omaha World-Herald newspaper,
which first published Buffett's letter outlining the
latest gifts to his children's foundation.
•
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108-s90-
Warren Buffet 600MillBDPresentToEachOf
HisKids
///
•
108-
NewsCorp Split - Wirless Vs.
Print
News
Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch details plans to split
company
News Corp.'s board of
directors voted late night, June 27, 2012, in favor of a
proposal that would separate the media conglomerate's
publishing assets from the rest of its entertainment
holdings.
••••
Publishing has become a handicap
for News Corp., in the wake of a devastating
investigation into the phone hacking scandal in
London.
••••
In a teleconference in the morning of June 28, News
Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch outlined plans to
split the the media conglomerate's publishing and
entertainment operations into two publicly traded
companies, a decision he hailed as "the next
transformative phase" in his empire's
history.
•"The
decision by
the board of directors,
culminated three years of planning," Murdoch
said. Separating the film and television assets from its
news and book publishing groups would unlock the value of
each for shareholders, and allow these disparate
businesses to continue to grow.
•••• The
breakup of the company represents a historic move for
founder Rupert Murdoch, who built the global media
powerhouse from a single newspaper in Australia. In past
years, Murdoch has firmly opposed any plans that would
separate the publishing group from the rest of the media
company.
•••• He
said the difficult choice to sever the company's news and
book publishing businesses from its film and television
operations culminates three years of planning. The
restructuring, which he hailed as a transformational
milestone for News Corp., is intended to unlock value for
shareholders, who are attracted to the company's
lucrative entertainment assets.
••••
During the teleconference, Murdoch said, "We've come a
long way in our journey that began almost 60 years ago
with a single newspaper operating out of Adelaide. I'm
convinced that each of these new companies will have the
potential to continue their journey and prosper long as
independent entities into the future."
••••
Under the plan, the media and entertainment company would
consist of 20th Century Fox film studio, the Fox
broadcast network, and the company's cable TV group,
including Fox News and FX. The online television service
Hulu (partly owned by News Corp.) would also be included,
as well as the company's home satellite operations.
•••• The
global publishing company would comprise News Corp.'s
newspaper holdings, among them the Wall Street Journal,
New York Post, the Sun in Britain, as would its
HarperCollins book publishing assets.
••••
News Corp. founder, Murdoch (81), presented a spirited
defense of News Corp's newspaper business, known to be a
longtime passion of his.
•••• He
said "the standalone publishing company would have a
strong balance sheet and be free to pursue investments to
grow the business." "The opportunity is so big its
single-minded pursuit is the best approach. Our aim is
nothing less than this: to create the most ambitious,
well-capitalized and highly motivated news and publishing
company in the world."
••••
Completing the separation could take up to a year, and
would require final board and shareholder
approval.
••••
Murdoch would serve as chairman and chief executive of
the media and entertainment company, and as chairman of
the new publishing entity. News Corp. COO, Chase Carey
would continue in that capacity for the entertainment
business.
••••
Investors have reacted positively to news of News Corp.'s
reorganization, driving up the company's stock 11% since
initial reports June 26.
••••
Wall Street for years has asked for News Corp. to shed
its newspaper holdings. •
CLICK
FOR MORE Rupert
Murdoch
•
Click
For More tviStory
108-s90-
NewscorpSplitMurdoch
///
•
SmartBriefs
108-s90 • Money - Mergers -
Finance
•
108-
Nortel Sells Patents For $4.5-Billion To
Competitors.
.
•••
•
108-
Nortel Sells Patents & Service Marks For $4.5-Billion
To
Competitors.
+ A consortium of Six Major
U.S. Firms was a neccesary protocol in order to acquire
the Canadian firm's Nortel patents package.
.•••
The Portfolio of over 6,000 were
included in the package deal. The total package will have
what has been described as a "nuclear weapon" to use
against rivals around the globe.
.•••
"With a description like that,"
says Troy Cory-Stubblefield, CEO of NBS Wireless
Telephone®™© . . . it's a 'Smart Wonder
As To Why' . . . the NBS100.com organization
shouldn't do the same thing with its own goods, products,
and service; '999,9999 WiTEL phone numbers
®™© Service Marks,' and its 2010 Patent
pending system.
• The
Stubbyte.com Facilitators
.•••
The "NBS Stubbyte System" -- is an
anti-theft theft prevention tool . . . that will parlay
itself into a user friendly guide for the prevention of
the theft of intellectually property rights.
.•••
Who Will Be the "TRUE OWNER" of
the goods; products; services, and individual names, once
owned by Nortel, and just sold to the Apple Group for
$4.5-Billion,
.•••
With this in mind," says Mark
Anderson, CEO of the Pacific Sunrise Int'l Org,
(pacificsunrise.org)."What Will It Take To
Purchase the all important NBS WiTEL Service Mark
®™© . . . the serial number package that
controls NBS Wireless Telephone®™©
devices?
• Well . . . I Telephone NorTEL --
for the answer about the Auction.. The first
Question was?.
.•••
Who was the auctioneer
mentioned in their Press Release, and the second was: Was
the $4.5 Billion amount paid for Nortel's 6,000 Service
Marks®™© . . . paid for in cash
payment?
.•••
According to the woman that
answered the Nortel's call, the auction was conducted by
the same attorneys that represented a few of the
fortunate companies that where invited to participate in
the North America -- Nortel private auction they refer to
as the -- "Stocking Horse Bidding Affair."
•
Apple
•
Microsoft
•
Research In Motion,
•
Sony
•
EMC and
•
Ericsson. - "The
Buyers"
•••
It was Apple, Microsoft and four
others who finally team-up to buy Nortel patents for $4.5
billion
.•••
Nortel Networks Corp.'s highly
coveted mobile tech patents have a new owner and it isn't
Google," reported Stubblefield.
.•••
The six companies teamed up to buy
the Nortel patents as a group, together spending $4.5
billion for a cluster of more than 6,000 patents and
patent applications that many consider crucial to the
future of mobile computing technologies.
.•••
The patents cover wireless
technologies used in phones and tablet computers,
wireless 4G data transfer, data networking, optical
technologies, voice, Internet, service provider,
semiconductors and other highly sought-after patents.
.•••
The sale of the patents is a coup
for the six-company consortium over Google, which is
known for having a weaker patent portfolio than many of
its competitors that has left its mobile operating system
Android, the world's most popular smartphone operating
system, vulnerable to lawsuits. And the lawsuits have
come for Google, some still ongoing such as Oracle
seeking billions of dollars in a dispute over
Android.
.•••
Google made a $900-million bid for
the patents that was a starting point in the multi-day
auction, which began on Monday. Information on how many
other bids were made, and by whom, was not released.
.•••
"Following a very robust auction,
NORTEL was pleased at the outcome of the auction of this
extensive patent portfolio", said George Riedel, Nortel's
chief strategy officer and president of business units,
in a statement. COMING NEXT WEEK -- The Bidding War
• Patents • ServiceMarks®™©
• What Are They Worth • NorTEL Auction headed
by Ernst & Young Law and Accounting
firm..
.•••
"The size and dollar value for
this transaction is unprecedented, as was the significant
interest in the portfolio among major companies around
the world." • CLICK
MORE ABOUT 108- Nortel Patents DEAL
.
• CLICK
FOR MORE CLICK MORE ABOUT 108- Nortel Patents DEAL t
108-S90
tviNews
/ • Click
For NorTEL
Offices
•
•
Click For More SmartBriefs 108-s90 • Money - Mergers
-
Finance
///
•
•
108-Related
Money Articles Speedollars: +
Click
For: NBS100.com
• What Are Stubbytes? - The Stubbyte 187+ Formula
® The WiTEL®™© Logo Means - The
Wireless Telephone ®™© Organization - Since
1907
.•••
• Protect the
theft of your Goods, Products, Services ID with WTQCA Red
Flags Rules.
.•••
(WiFi187.com =
187,000 mph per second - the speed of Ligh and RF
Spectrums)
.•••
RF-300.com - The
Wireless Telephone™
Organization
.•••
(RF-300.com =
300Ghz or 300 Billion RF
Spectrums)
.•••
TVInews
• WiFi 187, the WiFiMist- RFiD organization The
wireless way to connect the Internet with one or more
computers anywhere in your home, office or cafe -- is
called WiFi Hotspots. It is also known as 802.11
networking and wireless networking. The chief advantage
of a WiFi187 system over ethernet connections is: THERE
ARE NO WIRES and the VATS-data Spectrums travel 187,000
mph per second, the speed of light.. •
Click
for More -
http://smart90.com/witelglobal.com/
• www.stubbyte.com
/ Click
For: www.NBS100.com
/ www.wirelesstelephone.org/
•
SmartBriefs
108-s90 • Money - Mergers -
Finance
///
•
108 - AOL Buys Huffington
Post-$315 Million.
••• 8th Wk - FEBRURAY 2011. AOL --
Chief Executive Tim Armstrong announced in early
February, (2011), that it had purchased the OnLine
magazine/news paper -- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ for
$315-million.
•••
AOL, in purchasing the 5-year-old news and politics
website HuffingtonPost.com, a founded, and developed by
Arianna Huffington, plans to reinvent itself as a
must-read source for online news, gossip and opinion.
•••
AOL, the first Internet organization to jump into the
Hollywood scene by the purchase of Warner Bros. stock,
and the company that introduced the massive dial-up
business, is planing to reverse its mis- fortunes.
•••
AOL Chief Executive Tim Armstrong has given some AOL
investors a future into the world of Google, Facebook,"
say tviMagazine - Smart90.com editor, Josie Cory. The
latest deal could help AOL pull off a turnaround.
•••
Critics of the deal said AOL was taking a risky gamble by
agreeing to a price that was more than 30 times the
Huffington Post's annual operating cash flow of $10
million. Typically buyers pay 10 to 15 times the cash
flow, said Clayton Moran, an analyst at Benchmark Co.
•••
"The Price-Tag was quite high," say some experts.
•••
AOL expects the Huffington Post's cash flow to be closer
to $30 million by 2012 -- a figure that would put the
sale price more in line with industry norms.
•••
Armstrong, a former Google Inc. executive, is hoping
AOL's extensive advertising sales force can help the
Huffington Post attract more ad dollars. Armstrong was
charge of the U.S. ad business for Google.
•••
The Huffington Post is the latest addition to AOL's
portfolio of dozens of websites, including the recently
acquired technology news blog TechCrunch, the tech blog
Engadget, the Moviefone movie listing site and the local
news effort Patch. AOL is also affiliated with the gossip
site TMZ.
•
CLICK
FOR MORE
STORY Q08-s90
STORY
///
• 108iii-TrickPoniesOfWiTEL
108 - Money: The Trick Ponies
of the Red Flag Rules - 2007 to 2010
/
• NBS100's FTC STUDY - The Trick Ponies of the Red
Flag Rules - 2007 to 2010 "ID Theft Prevention" - for the
Goods, Products & Services Provided by the Wireless
Telephone®™© Industry" • Since
-1902. •
CLICK FOR MORE "TRICK PONIES TO SKIRT AROUND - Service
Marks ®™©
///
•••
•
108 - Money - The
VALUE OF WiTEL®™© Defined: As the name
implies, the Wireless Telephone®™©
derives its value from the
elements, effects of its Service Marks, and other assets,
i.e. foreign exchange rates, telephone number prices, and
those monthly fees, and draft securities created on
unpaid outstanding accounts.
•
• 108 - Money -
CASH
FOR FUTURE INVOICED
SECURITIES.
•••
Although the derivatives produced by the 1907 NBS
Wireless Telephone®™© can be incredibly
complex, the basic premise was simple: One party agrees
to pay another party "money" for the use of NBS Wireless
Telephone®™© numbers -- if a certain
prediction about the future NBS WiTEL®™©
was backed by a governmental regulatory agency.
••• A hog
farmer, for instance, can try to partially offset, or
hedge against, a future drop in hog bellies prices by
buying a derivative AIG policy that pays off if the price
falls. Virgin Airlines can buy jet fuel at a set price in
the future to offset a possible increase in oil
prices.
///
/// 108 MONEY - TODAY END
• 108g-
Extras:
RELATED ARTICLES
108-Patent
Suit Johnson & Johnson Wins Stint
Claims
•••
February 2, 2010 /
• LITIGATION $1.73-billion settlement in stent
suits.
Johnson &
Johnson said Boston Scientific Corp. would pay $1.73
billion to settle two suits related to patents for
medical
stents.
•••
Natick,
Mass.-based Boston Scientific faces additional court
challenges to its Promus stent products, including a
lawsuit by Cordis
Corp
•••
Stents are
mesh-wire tubes used to hold arteries open after they are
surgically cleared of blockages.
<108-
<108s-
• 108g -
US
vs Secret Swiss Bank
Accounts
• 108g - GovToxic-IOUs-Flipping.htm
•
108g -
TelecRejectStimulusMoney.htm
•
108brin&PageToSellGooglestock
.
•••
Google Inc.
co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin plan to sell 5
million shares apiece of their company stock, worth $5.5
billion combined at current
prices.
•••
According to regulatory documents, Page and Brin will
still own 47.7 million shares or 48% of the voting power,
combined after their personal stock sales. Google Chief
Executive Eric Schmidt controls nearly 10% voting power.
The trio will still continue to control the company.
•••
The sales will occur periodically during the next five
years and leave the two with 48% of the voting power
among stockholders, down from roughly 59% now. A tviNews
blog report - January 23, 2010.
•108Editor&PublisherRevived.
/ EDITOR & PUBLISHER MAGAZINE, The one hundred year
old publishing company is back in business
again.
•••
EDITOR & PUBLISHER MAGAZINE, founded in 1901 and
merged in 1907 with The Journalist, a weekly founded in
1884 is back in business again, "seamlessly" . . . says
Josie Cory, publisher of tviNews. Long the bible of the
U.S. newspaper industry, the publication has been
revived" under a new publisher just two weeks after
Nielsen Co. shut the venerable trade magazine down.
•••
Duncan McIntosh Co., an Irvine, CA-based company that
ironically publishes FishRap News, and titles such as
Boating World, has acquired it for undisclosed terms.
•••
Nielsen originally pulled the plug after selling much of
its trade magazine division, including titles such as
Adweek, Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter, to e5
Global Media.
•••
We're going to continue to be the main information
source, the main idea source for the newspaper industry,"
said Mark Fitzgerald, who was named Editor &
Publisher 's editor Thursday. "We're all very excited
around here about the news."
•••
Editor & Publisher, a magazine which has chronicled
the US newspaper industry for over a century, was sold,
exactly two weeks after being shut down by its owner, the
Nielsen Co.
•••
Duncan McIntosh, whose company also produces the Newport
Boat Show, stated that; "such a critical information
source for a newspaper industry so desperately in need of
help should not go away."
•••
"I've been a reader of Editor & Publisher over the
course of 30 years and know its incredible value to
readers and advertisers," McIntosh said.
•••
During the last several years, Newspapers have been
transforming beyond the printed page to all forms of
digital media. Imagine loosing the one place where the
industry could have a conversation with itself and
exchange ideas and best practices for navigating . . .
(networking, hypertext) navigating - Finding your way
around. Often used of the Internet, particularly the
World-Wide Web.
•••
Known as the "bible" of the news industry, Editor &
Publisher has been closely following the struggles of a
US newspaper industry grappling with declining
circulation, falling print advertising revenue and the
migration of readers to free news online.
•••
Editor & Publisher 's new owner said there would be a
February print issue of the magazine. E&P's website
immediately resumed operations upon the completion of the
sale.
•••
Nielsen announced last month it was closing Editor &
Publisher and Kirkus Reviews, a book review publication
which was founded in 1933, and selling several other
brands including the Hollywood Reporter and
Billboard.
•
108s
- TelecRejectStimulusMoney.htm / U.S. wants to help the
big FIVE WiTEL®™© Telcos expand their
Internet VoIP WiFi and WiMAX broadband service, but they
refuse to apply for $4.7-Billion
offer.
•••
Troy Cory, CEO of
NBS WiTEL®™© said, "If you want to get the
WiMax wired-wirless broadband out into your neighborhood,
you have to do it with the organization who brought you
to the dance in the first place. In this case, the man
that organized the 1902 celebration was, Nathan B.
Stubblefield, the inventor, creator, and founder of the
Wireless Telephone that registered the NBS
WiTEL®™© service marks in
1907.
•••
The founder of the
NBS Wireless Telephone®™© Organization,"
said Cory, has, and still maintains the the Service
marks. "This is not a basket weaving contest mixing
copper wire within RF spectrums. This is really complex
and intensive technical stuff that takes a fair amount of
area codes and numbering sophistication and scale to be
able to do right and to continue to upgrade."
• THE PROS AND CONS. August 14th 2009 being
the deadline to apply for $4.7 billion in broadband
grants, AT&T, Verizon and Comcast won't be going for
the stimulus money. •
108s -
CLICK
FOR MORE TelecRejectStimulusMoney
STORY
• 108g -
GovToxic-IOUs-Flipping.htm
<108g
- GovToxic-IOUs-Flipping.htm | Loophole in government
program to buy toxic securities could cost taxpayers for
the potential Wall Street IOU
scam.
'Without safeguards, traders
in the $40-billion program could use inside information
to profit -- and any losses would be largely borne by
taxpayers.
•••
"It is a conflict
by design," said Troy Cory, CEO of NBS
WiTEL®™©. "I agree with Neal Barofsky, the
special inspector general for the banking rescue
program." It was Rarofsky who has been urging tighter
controls on the nine trading firms selected to
participate for several months.
• 108s -
CLICK
FOR MORE 108g - GovToxic-IOUs-Flipping
STORY
///
•
108g - USvsSecretSwissAccounts.htm
<108g -
USvsSecretSwissAccounts.htm
• 108s -
CLICK
FOR MORE 108g - USvsSecretSwissAccounts Flipping
STORY
•••
U.S. and Swiss
reach deal over secret UBS bank accounts. The agreement
will end a legal case in which the U.S. sought names of
Americans suspected of evading
taxes.
•••
U.S. and Swiss
negotiators have initialed a settlement that averts a
legal showdown over the U.S. government's landmark
challenge to Swiss bank secrecy, a government lawyer said
Wednesday.
•••
The U.S.
government had sought a federal court ruling compelling
Switzerland's largest bank, UBS, to turn over the names
of Americans suspected of dodging taxes through the use
of 52,000 secret
accounts.•
108s - CLICK
FOR MORE 108g - US vs Secret Swiss Accounts
Flipping STORY
•
108g-
Google
KnowledgeRush
• Click
For More - •
108-GoogleKnowlegeRush
• CLICK
Below FOR MORE - Related Stories
////
•
•
2011
- 2nd Quarter: April * May *
June
•
108-S90
• Money:
Busines • Finance • Legal
•
108GoogleSelectsLarryPage-as CEO
•
108-ChinaNowOwns
$1.15Trillion U.S.
Bonds
•
108
SpeedDollars, WUG4.com. Webs For Storing USPTO
®™©
NEED STORY
• 108
SpeedDollars, WUG4.com. Webs For Storing USPTO
®™©
• Other
Title • 108
Speedollars.com. Wug - Web Engines Storing of Finacial
Info ®™©
• Other Title • 108
WUG4.com. Web Engines Storing of Intelectual Property
Rights
®™©
•
108 - AOL Buys Huffington Post-$315
Million.
•
108GoogleSelectsLarryPage-CEO
• 102 Larry Page, the CEO of Google Reorganizes its
Top Ranks
•••
SAN FRANCISCO, April 1011 -- Larry Page, who returned as
Google's chief executive officer (CEO) this 17 week of
2011, has completed a major reorganization of the
management team as part of his attempt to streamline
decision-making at the Internet giant, U.S. media
reported on Friday.
•••
Page, the 38-year-old co-founder of Google with Sergy
Brin, has been trying to run the company in the spirit
Google had as a start-up between 1998 and 2001, when he
was its founding CEO before handing the role to Eric
Schmidt, who now assumes the role of executive
chairman.
•••
• Page promoted six executives in charge of some of
Google's most important divisions, who will report to the
new CEO directly, The Wall Street Journal said in a
report.
•••
Four executives were promoted to senior vice presidents,
including YouTube head Salar Kamangar, mobile-device
software Android chief Andy Rubin, Chrome Web browser and
operating system head Sundar Pichai and Vic Gundotra, who
is in charge of Google's social-networking
initiatives.
•••
Susan Wojcicki and Alan Eustace, two current senior vice
presidents, will become heads of ads and Web search, a
person familiar with the matter was quoted as saying.
•••
Google has said that the change of CEO was aimed at
streamlining decision-making and creating clearer lines
of responsibility and accountability at the top of the
company.
•••
With the latest management shuffle after Page took charge
of Google's day-to-day operations, the promoted
executives will be able to act more autonomously and
won't have to turn to the company's powerful operating
committee on every decision, according to a report by the
Los Angeles Times.
•••
The reorganization puts Page firmly in charge of Google
and its performance in much the same way Steve Jobs runs
Apple, the newspaper noted.
•
CLICK
FOR MORE Larry Page 108 People
Section.
/ •
CLICK
FOR MORE Larry Page
108-S90
tviNews
///
•
108-China
Now Owns $1.15 trillion in U.S. Treasury
Bonds.
June 20, 2011. China announced it
purchase of more
than $7.6 billion in U.S. Treasury debt. China, the
biggest buyer of U.S. Treasury Bonds, increased its
holdings in April, the first increase after five straight
declines.
•••
The Treasury Department said China increased its holding
by $7.6 billion to $1.15 trillion.
•••
Total foreign holdings of Treasury securities rose 0.2 %
to $4.49 trillion.
•••
Japan, the second-largest buyer of U.S. debt, trimmed its
holdings slightly by $1 billion, to $906.9 billion. There
had been concerns that the March 11 earthquake and
tsunami would lead Japan to sharply cut its purchases to
use the money for reconstruction. CLICK
FOR MORE TCS CHINA
NEWS. /
•
CLICK
FOR MORE China
108-S90
tviNews
///
•
108
SpeedDollars, WUG4.com. Webs For Storing USPTO
®™©
CHANGed •
108
Speedollars.com. Web Engines Storing of Finacial Info
®™©
CHANGEd •
108
WUG4.com. Web Engines Storing of Intelectual Property
Rights
®™©
•108
SpeedDollars, WUG4.com. Web Engines For
Storing
of Intellectual Property Rights
®™©
/ •
CLICK
FOR MORE
108-S90
tviNews
GET ARTICLE///
///
///
•
108f-
Google
KnowledgeRush
• 108if
-The
Virgin Mobile Sells WiTEL to Sprint (See
110i)
•
108if - Can't
decide? what's the NBS1908 WiTel™ Service Marks
worth?
•
108f - Nextwave
Sells
WiTEL Spectrums to T-Mobile For $98
Million
•
108f - WHO'S
READY TO BE the "Real" WiTEL®™
Company
•
108f -
The
Funding of Future FCC
Auctions
•
108f - 2008
- 100th ANNIVERSARY OF THE Wireless Telephone®™
• 108f - "FINDING
THE TRICK PONY"
•
108f - The
Crash of 2008 . . . and the Bail Outs
2009
•
108f - 10a
- One Satisfaction Rule Payoff Game -
Q&A
•
108f - How
much foreclosure relief will Borrowers get from bailout
plan?
•
108f - 10b
FICO The Credit Rating Agencies - Fraudulent FICO
SCORES
•
108f - 10c
- Flipping Real Estate Is
Illegal.
•
108f - 10d
- BackDatingFraud.
Former McAfee,
Inc.
•
108f - MAY
6, 2009 • AT&T Forced To Buy Verizon WiTEL
$2.3-Billion.
•
108f - JUNE-2009
Pres Obama Demands Credit Relief -
SPEEDOLLARS
///
108JockeyClubCityCenterL5BillionOpens
- The
Forbidden Ciy Project.
•• •
"The only names retained by
the Chinese 'Forebidden City' project are the the words
"City" and Mandarin Oriental," says Troy Cory, of the
Jockey Club Alliance Group,
•••
Thanks to MGM,
Dubai World, the massive CityCenter walk, formerly knows
as the the 1993 China Expo Las Vegas Jockey Club
Forbidden City Boardwalk Project, opend its door on
December 17, 1009.
•••
TVI's Pete Allman, and the associated press reported Las
Vegas "visitors by the thousands" streamed into the
newest casino-resort on the Las Vegas Strip on
Thursday.
•••
Fireworks and fanfare greeted the official opening of the
Aria Resort & Casino, the 4,000-room, 61-story
centerpiece of the $8.5-billion CityCenter complex.
Crowds began swarming through the doors around
midnight.
•
MGM Mirage Chief Executive Jim Murren said that while
many experts thought CityCenter would never open, its
employees drove the company to make sure it carried
through on its grand design.
•••
"It was because of [the employees] that we got
here, and the promise of 12,000 people that wanted to
work hard to provide for their families," Murren said.
"It was that promise -- that we didn't want to let them
down -- that got us here."
••••
Aria's rooms, along with those at CityCenter's Mandarin
Oriental and Vdara hotels, increase room capacity on the
Las Vegas strip 8.5%, UBS Investment Research analyst
Robin Farley said.
•
MGM Mirage owns the most casinos on the Strip, but Murren
believes CityCenter will help, not hurt, the company's
other resorts.
••••
Competitors worry that CityCenter will force them to
lower rates to keep rooms filled. But Murren and other
MGM Mirage officials predict CityCenter will help Las
Vegas as a whole, spurring visitation and providing a
catalyst for long-term prosperity.
•••
"This is really 21st century Las Vegas," said architect
Cesar Pelli, whose team designed Aria. "This is really
setting up very high standards that will be very hard to
match -- but I hope they will try."
•• •
December 11, 2009
/ The LA TIMES REPORT ON THE -- massive CityCenter
complex on the Las Vegas Strip, set to open officially
next week, is a blast from the very recent past.
•• •
Costing over $8.5
billion, designers including Daniel Libeskind, Norman
Foster, David Rockwell, Cesar Pelli and Rafael Vinoly and
a staggering 18 million square feet of space inside six
towers and a Strip-front shopping mall, the development
is a fitting coda to the decade of celebrity architecture
and overextended real-estate mania from which we've just
emerged.
•
CityCenter's true
theme is leverage. Ranking as the largest private
development in American history, big enough to fill the
tallest building in Los Angeles, the U.S. Bank Tower,
roughly a dozen times over, the complex is a palace -- a
series of connected palaces, actually -- for the age of
towering debt and easy credit. They should have put Alan
Greenspan's face on the poker chips.
•
CLICK
FOR MORE JOCKEY CLUB Alliance
-LV.COM.
•
108f - May
1, 2009 - Jockey
Club-MGM CityCenter Deal Saved by Dubai
World
•
108f - Jockey
Club MGM Loan Default Mar
2009.
•
108f - Dubai
sues MGM Mirage over Jockey Club City Center
April
2009
•
108f - Jockey
Club MGM, Deutshe Bank City Walk Project
2009
•
108f - MGM
CEO, Terry Lanni, stepped aside in Nov
2008
•
108f - Flipping
Houses
•
108iiif -
The
Trick Pony in the world of
WiTEL®™©.
•
108f-
Extras:
RELATED ARTICLES
Jockey
Club MGM Loan Default Mar 2009. - MGM Mirage Auditors on
March 17th 2009 raise doubts about the casino
operator ability to pay off JockeyClub MGM Loan Default,
which had a $1.15-billion 2008 loss.
•
NEW - UpDATE / May 1, 2009 / Las Vegas --
Jockey
Club-MGM CityCenter Deal Saved By Bell. Jockey Club - MGM
Mirage, Dubai World reach deal to finish City
Center
NEW
YORK -- Oracle founder Larry Ellison's son, David
Ellison, announced he had reached terms to acquire a
controlling stake in Paramount. The entertainment giant
Paramount will merge with Skydance, closing out a
decades-long run by the Redstone family in Hollywood and
injecting needed cash into a legacy studio that has
struggled to adapt to a shifting entertainment industry
landscape.