Section I-108 - Money Business
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UpDates108
2011
- July
108-Related
Money Articles Speedollars:
108-
Nortel Sells Patents For
$4.5-Billion!
108-China
Owns $1.15 Trillion in U.S. Treasury
Bonds.
///
108
Top Results
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Archives
108ig - The
Virgin Mobile Sells WiTEL to Sprint (See
110i)
108ig - Can't
decide? what's the NBS1908 WiTel
Service Marks worth?
108g - Nextwave
Sells
WiTEL Spectrums to T-Mobile For $98
Million
108g - WHO'S
READY TO BE the "Real" WiTEL®
Company
108g
- The
Funding of Future FCC
Auctions
108g - 2008
- 100th ANNIVERSARY OF THE Wireless
Telephone®
108g - "FINDING
THE TRICK PONY"
108g - The
Crash of 2008 . . . and the Bail Outs
2009
108g - 10a
- One Satisfaction Rule Payoff Game -
Q&A
108g - How
much foreclosure relief will Borrowers get
from bailout
plan?
108g - 10b
FICO The Credit Rating Agencies -
Fraudulent FICO
SCORES
108g - 10c
- Flipping Real Estate Is
Illegal.
108g -
10d
- BackDatingFraud.
Former McAfee,
Inc.
108g - MAY
6, 2009 AT&T Forced To Buy
Verizon WiTEL
$2.3-Billion.
108g - JUNE-2009
Pres Obama Demands Credit Relief -
SPEEDOLLARS
108g - May
1, 2009 - Jockey Club-MGM CityCenter Deal
Saved by Dubai
World
108g - Jockey
Club MGM Loan Default Mar
2009.
108g - Dubai
sues MGM Mirage over Jockey Club City
Center
April
2009
108g - Jockey
Club MGM, Deutshe Bank City Walk Project
2009
108g - MGM
CEO, Terry Lanni, stepped aside in Nov
2008
108g - Flipping
Houses
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Amazon offers Pay to Quit
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108-
Bill Gates on the move to erase
global
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108
- AOL Buys Huffington Post-$315
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108
- Money: The Trick Ponies of the
Red Flag Rules - 2007 to 2010
108
- The
Trick Pony in the world of
WiTEL®©.
108 - What's
he VALUE OF
WiTEL®©
Effects
108 - Money -
CASH
FOR FUTURE INVOICED
SECURITIES.
108
- Patent Suit Johnson &
Johnson Wins Stint
Claims
108
- Google's Larry Page and
Sergey Brin sells 5 million
shares - @
$B-5.5.
108
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buy toxic Wall Street
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Reject Stimulus
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108ig -The
Virgin Mobile Sells to
Sprin
108ig - What's
the NBS1908 WiTel Service
Marks Value?
108g - Nextwave
Sells
WiTEL Spectrums to T-Mobile - $98
Million
The
"Real" WiTEL®
Company
| The
Funding of Future FCC
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108g -
"TRICK
PONY"
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The
Crash of
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2011-1stQuarterJanuaryFebruaryMarch
2011
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108-S90
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GoogleSelectsLarryPage-as CEO
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ChinaNowOwns $1.15Trillion U.S.
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SpeedDollars, WUG4.com. Webs For
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SpeedDollars, WUG4.com. Webs For
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Speedollars.com. Wug - Web
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WUG4.com. Web Engines Storing of
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108
- AOL Buys Huffington Post-$315
Million.
2011
- July
108-Related
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108-
Nortel Sells Patents For
$4.5-Billion!
108-China
Owns $1.15 Trillion in U.S.
Treasury Bonds.
///
Television International
Magazine
|
Paramount
and Skydance merger signals end
of a Redstone family reign in
Hollywood and the rise of new
power
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.
It also signals the rise of a new
power player, David Ellison, the
founder of Skydance and son of
billionaire Larry Ellison, the
founder of the software company
Oracle.
Shari Redstone's National
Amusements has owned more than
three-quarters of Paramount's
Class A voting shares through the
estate of her late father, Sumner
Redstone. She had battled to
maintain control of the company
that owns CBS, which is behind
blockbuster films such as "The
Godfather." and "Top Gun."
As one of Hollywood's first
studios, 112-year-old Paramount
Pictures is the crown jewel of
the company. That's certainly how
Sumner Redstone, Shari's late
father, saw it.
The on-again, off-again merger
arrives at tumultuous time for
Paramount, which has struggled to
find its footing for years and
its cable business.
Skydance, based in Santa Monica,
California, has helped produce
some major Paramount hits in
recent years, including Tom
Cruise films like "Top Gun:
Maverick" and installments of the
"Mission Impossible."
Skydance was founded in 2010 by
David Ellison and it quickly
formed a production partnership
with Paramount that same year. If
the deal is approved, Ellison
will become chairman and chief
executive officer of what's being
called New Paramount.
The new combined company is
valued at around $28 billion. In
connection with the proposed
transaction, which is expected to
close in September 2025 pending
regulatory approval, a consortium
led by the Ellison family and
RedBird Capital will be investing
$8 billion.
Ellison stressed that the company
needs to transition into a "tech
hybrid" to stay competitive in
today's evolving media landscape.
He added that it was "essential"
for New Paramount to chart a
similar course going
forward.
The foray into the streaming
business has been a costly one
for Paramount. The company was
late to join the so-called
streaming wars, lagging behind
competitors Netflix and even
Disney, and then spent heavily on
the
service.
That includes plans to "rebuild"
the Paramount+ streaming service,
Ellison noted -- pointing to the
company's aims to transition to
more cloud-based production and
continue the use of generative
artificial intelligence to boost
efficiency.
Ellison
laid out a plan for tech upgrades
to the Paramount+ service,
including improved ad technology
and a better algorithmic
recommendation engine that could
help reduce subscriber churn and
increase users' time on the
platform.
The new
combined company is valued at
around $28 billion. In connection
with the proposed transaction,
which is expected to close in
September 2025 pending regulatory
approval.
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tvi
Stroy-108-
Paramount and Skydance
Merger
///
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.
Click
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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
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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."
Click
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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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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.
Click
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.
Click
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.
|
|
Return
To
Top
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.
More
Genie
FastPay
Click
for
More
EasyTel
- The World is Your
Office
Click
for More
tviStory
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.
Click
for More
tviStory
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.
Click
More
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.
Click
More
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.
Click More
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
$peedollar concept of 1968, could
someday overtake cash and checks
as the primary way individuals
pay each other
Click
More
tviStory
108-s90-$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."
Click
More
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
For More
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.
Click
For More
tviStory
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.
Click
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.
Click
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.
Click
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
Click
For More tviStory
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.
Click
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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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For More tviStory
108-s90-
Comcast Buys Out
GE
///
108-WiTELSolarEnergyFinancing
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
Click
For More tviStory
108-s90-
WiTELSolarEnergyFinancing
///
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.
Click
For More tviStory
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.
Click
For More tviStory
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.
Click
For More tviStory
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
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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
RETURN
TO TOP - Click for More
tviNews
|
108iiis - The
Trick Ponies in the world of
WiTEL®©.
What's
the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office . . .
for ?
"Finding
The Trick Pony" to Monetize the Certified
USPTO ®, -- and the ©
Symbol should be
simple.
The
PTO or USPTO is the acronym for the
government agency assigned to the U.S.
Department of Commerce. The USPTO acts not
only as a fiduciary agent for Congress and
other government agencies, but for the
inventor and other individuals granted
Marks pertaining to patents, trademarks,
and to the copyrightable effects and
elements arising
therefrom.
"A federally
registered mark is presumed valid." The
PTO;s mission is to oversee and implement
those certain federal laws relating to
valid patents, trademarks, and service
rights, they've became
signatory.
By law, when
a Patent, Trademark, and/or a Servicemark
is granted to an individual, it is
considered to be a Certified NOTICE. This
Notice of ownership gives everyone living
and doing business in the U.S.A. -- to
take Notice of
propriety.
This Notice
is also applied to anywhere else in the
world where the U.S. has a Treaty or
International Bureau, i.e., the Berne or
Geneva Convention. It is presumed those
signatory members are aware about your use
and ownership of the invention, copyright
and/or trademark and the meaning of the
Mark, ® / / ©.
108iiis - CLICK
FOR MORE 1808 ABOUT SERVICE
MARKS.
108ig
- Can't
decide what the NBS1908 Wireless
Telephone Patent is worth
1408
108is
- Can't
decide what the NBS1908 Wireless
Telephone Patent is worth 1408?
Here's the deal! The new crop of
WiTEL's arising from the world of
Teléph-on-délgreen,
Kentucky, are dizzying. But more dizzying
is why, when and who owns the NBS1908
Wireless Telephone patent,
and
copyrights?"
108is
- CLICK
FOR MORE 1408
STORY
| 108is
- CLICK
FOR MORE 5800-04 STORY
108s - Nextwave
Sells
WiTEL Spectrums to T-Mobile For $98
Million
- T-mobile,
U.S.A.'s No. 4 U.S. wireless carrier
T-Mobile just picked up some more airwaves
to use as it builds out its 3G wireless
network across the States. The carrier
just bought a chunk of spectrum from
Nextwave Wireless for $98 million, RCR
Wireless News reports. MORE
T-Mobile Story
108s - WHO'S
READY TO BE the "Real" WIRELESS
TELEPHONE® Company - Since
1908 . . . How Does $30-Billion Sound?
#NBSWitelMay2008
/
108s - MORE
NBS LEGAL STORY
108s
- The Funding of Future FCC Bids - to
repurchase the seized RF-300 assets once
owned by NBS1908, is a major concern for
both the FCC and USPTO. That's why the
Wireless Telephone® organization
through it's NBS Family Trust aims to sell
four blocks of its effects linked to its
WiFi-187 Legacy assets holdings, now
valued at over $30-Billion.
CLICK
FOR MORE fcc bids STROY
108s - The
Year 2008 -
THE
100th ANNIVERSARY OF THE Wireless
Telephone®
Click
For More wirelesstelephone.org
108s - What
would Yahoo/Microsoft, Verizon or AT&T
pay for the NBS1908 Wireless
Telephone. (See Patent
-Trademark-Copyright, and 1905 Patent
Laws!
- CLICK
FOR MORE 1808 STORY
108s -
"FINDING
THE TRICK PONY"
Some of these organizations have not only
monetized their respective companies by
issuing paper certificates represented by
stocks, bonds, notes, deeds, and licenses,
listed on various STOCK EXCHANGES, but
have licensed others to use the Effects of
their ® / / © -- as a
commodity. CLICK
FOR More 1808 "Finding The Trick Pony" to
Monetize the Certified USPTO Symbol ®
/ /
©
|
108s - MORE
NBS LEGAL.net
STORY
108s - What
is the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office .
. . for?
The
PTO or USPTO is the acronym for the
government agency assigned to the U.S.
Department of Commerce. The USPTO acts not
only as a fiduciary agent for Congress and
other government agencies pertaining to
patent trademarks, and copyrights, but for
the inventor and individuals granted
Marks.
CLICK
FOR MORE1808 STORY
108s -
The
Crash of 2008 . . . and the Bail Outs
2009
108-10aOneSatisfaction
108s - 10a
- One Satisfaction Rule Payoff Game -
Q&A
108s - How
much foreclosure relief will Borrowers get
from bailout plan?
It
all depends on the "IF" answere: WAS AN
INSURANCE COMPANY INVOLVED. Was insurance
$$ part of the Payoff. - CLICK FOR
MORE BAIL-OUT
GAMES.
108s - 10b
FICO The Credit Rating Agencies -
Fraudulent FICO
SCORES
In
D.C., a few
congressmen blame Benchmark firms for
financial crisis
Congress had a big hand in oversight
failures and deregulation, in part through
a philosophy of reducing government's
role. Rep. Waxman begins hearings
today.
108s - MORE
FICO STORY.
108s -
10c
- Flipping Real Estate Is Illegal.
ScamMers
of Deeds of Trusts in California were
involved high-end house flips on Wall
Sreet usesing Deeds of Trust.
Lehman
Bros. Bank, which last month spiraled into
bankruptcy amid the nation's deepening
financial crisis, and another lender, RBC
Mortgage Co., lost about $42 million on
the loans.
108s - MORE
FLIPPING STORY.
108g -
10d
- BackDatingFraud.
Former McAfee,
Inc.
108s - 10d
-
BackDatingFraud.
Former McAfee, Inc.
lawyer is
acquitted in stock options backdating
trial
Kent
Roberts, who served as the software
maker's general counsel until he was fired
in 2006, was accused of tampering with
grants to increase his shares' value by
$200,000.
108s - CLICK
FOR MORE BACKDATING
STORY.
108s -
10a /
108s - 10b
- Short Selling, The One Satisfaction Rule
Payoff Game - on Wall
Street.
Short Selling, Insurance and
credit swaps Elements of Fraud
/Credit-default swaps, conceived by
bondholders, allow investors to buy
protection against a company defaulting.
As the market expanded, speculators
started using them to bet on a company's
creditworthiness. The contracts pay the
holder face value for the underlying
securities or the cash equivalent should a
company fail to repay its debt.
Though it grew a hundredfold in the last
seven years, total outstanding contracts
in credit-default swaps are dwarfed by
other derivative markets, including those
that bet on interest rates. Those markets
had contracts linked to about $465
trillion as of June 30, the International
Swaps and Derivatives Assn. said.
The joint probe announced Monday will also
examine allegations of insider trading,
market manipulation and other forms of
fraud, according to a second person.
Cuomo and US probe credit-default swaps.
The probe seeks to "determine whether any
federal laws have ... an earlier inquiry
by Cuomo's office, US Atty. ... Cuomo has
been probing alleged manipulation of
credit Business | October 21st, 2008.
108s -
10a |
108s - CLICK
FOR MORE 10b - Short Selling, The One
Satisfaction Rule Payoff Game - on Wall
Street.
108s -
CLICK
FOR MORE - May 6, 2009
AT&T
Forced To Buy Verizon
WiTEL
$2.3 Billion Dollars.
NBS WiTel announced during the
Hollywood Digital that AT&T was being
forced to purchase Verizon WiTEL assets,
because Verizon's Alltel phone system was
incompatible with the at&t's WiTEL
network.
On May 9th 2009 the LATimes,
(Associated Press) confirmed the
$2.35-billion assignment deal -- that will
affect 1.5 million WiTEL subscribers in 79
franchises, in 18 states, including
California.
The areas are mainly within the
Verizon-Alltel, Sprint-Clearwire deal
completed and approved
by the FCC last year. Most
of the Alltel territories overlaped and
competed with Verizon's more well-known
faster WiMax187 connections. They also
include some Verizon territories and areas
covered by Rural Cellular, another carrier
that Verizon bought last year.
Troy Cory-Stubblefield of NBS
WiTEL, and ePublisher of TVInews, stated
to Yahools Lucas Mast during an interview
on May 6th, that, "it appears that Verizon
Wireless, one of NBS WiTEL potentials, was
forced to sell its NBS WiMax187,
to satisfy FCC
regulatory conditions of several WiTEL
deals Verizon made last year by and
between Alltel, and
Sprint-Clearwire."
108s - CLICK
FOR MORE About NBS's WiTEL offer to
YAHOO.
Because AT&T's network isn't
compatible with Alltel or Verizon phones,
the WiTEL© phone numbers would
have affected over 1.5 million WiTEL
subscribers. All would have needed new
phones to use the Dallas-based 2005
AT&T - SBC - Yahoo priorities.
108s - CLICK
FOR MORY About the 2008 Verizon, Sprint -
AllTEL 2008 DEAL.
The States with the 79 franchised
areas included in the deal are Alabama,
Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa,
Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana,
Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North
Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah,
Virginia and Wyoming.
The deal is expected to be finished
by the fourth quarter. Verizon Wireless is
a joint venture of Verizon Communications
Inc. of New York and Vodafone Group of
Britain.
108s - CLICK
MORE ABOUT Ivan Seidenberg - TVI's
POM-
108s - JUNE
- 2009 President Obama Demands Credit Card
Relief . . . and Gets It. TeleKey Signet -
SPEEDOLLAR FINANCIAL
RECAPS
- To avoid the Repeating of the
financial scenarios of the 30s, 80s and
90s -- Pres. Obama gives aid to those 2009
holders of CreditCards, Guns get a few
more Privileges.
"Finally, after 10 years of
creating money backed by promisory notes,
we get a break from the monetizers of
comodities," says Troy Cory. Troy is the
co-founder, and former head of the Signet
Credit Card system, founded in the
mid-60s. "An updated credit card law was
finially in the making, but the "trick
pony" in the law, included in a gun
control priviledge allowing people to
bring loaded guns into national parks and
wildlife refuges.
During a May 2009, signing ceremony
in the Rose Garden, the president warns
that both consumers and card issuers need
to act responsibly.
On the 22nd of May signing,
President Obama warned overeager shoppers
and greedy credit card companies alike
Friday to act responsibly as he signed
into law a bill designed to protect
debt-ridden consumers from surprise
charges. / CLICK
FOR MORE ABOUT TeleKey Group's "SIGNET
CASHLESS SOCIETY OF THE 1960 - to
2006.
The SIGNET CREDIT CARD
Kickoff
NOTES: 1968 - When the TeleKey Group
was Formed -- its Cashless Society began.
Signet Credit Card Systems and NorthStar
TeleKey Group was formed for local and
international wireless telephonic
numbering system, and numbered Telex
banking transactions. What is the
Relevancy of the wired/wireless
telephone/TV -- to the Internet? -- First
stations set to approve trade credit
exchanges over the telephone, using
dial-tone key pad entry. Main offices, Los
Angeles, Switzerland, Munich.
*NBSWiTel© AFact.
108s - CLICK
FOR TVInews 1960
TIMELINE
/
Go Back to Top of -JUNE - 2009
Article
/
108s -
PacSun - Debt Ficilitators
"pacific
sunrise.org
108s - 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
It was reported by Associated Press
that the Jockey Club - MGM Mirage, Dubai
World Project that started several years
ago as the Jockey Club Alliance CHINA
EXPO2000 Project, will be partually
completed by December this year. The
$8.5-billion Las Vegas Strip finananced by
the investment arm of the Dubai
government, will drop a suit against the
company.
The pact secures MGM Mirage's
payment obligations for construction costs
with its Circus Circus Las Vegas casino
and adjacent land. The company said
CityCenter is now on track to fully open
by December.
The Jockey Club Alliance Group
confirmed the report that Casino operator
MGM Mirage, had confired on April 29th,
that it had agreed with partner Dubai
World and the pair's lenders to finish an
$8.5-billion casino complex on the Las
Vegas Strip.
MGM Mirage Chief Executive Jim
Murren said the extension gave the company
"more than enough time" to come up with a
comprehensive plan to fix its balance
sheet.
108s - CLICK
FOR MORE 2007 JOCKEY CLUB
STORY.
108s - 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.
  
Auditors raised "substantial doubt"
about MGM Mirage's ability to continue,
the largest casino owner on the Strip said
on March 17th 2009, in a regulatory
filing. The company also reported a
$1.15-billion fourth-quarter loss after
writing down properties because of
shrinking gambling revenue.
Casino Operator MGM Mirage who's
in charge of the Jockey Club - Las Vegas
City Walk project, won a two-month bank
court reprieve to restructure its
debts.
The auditors' comments increase the
likelihood that MGM Mirage will seek
bankruptcy protection. Banks granted
waivers on the $7-billion bank-loan
facility until May 15. The company said
March 3 that it was in talks to avert a
potential breach of covenants.
In exchange for the temporary
covenant waivers, MGM Mirage is prohibited
from prepaying or repurchasing other
long-term debt or selling assets. The
company will also repay $300 million of
the fully drawn revolving loan, and it
accepted a 100-basis-point increase in the
interest rate.
MGM Mirage, controlled by
billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, can also fund
construction of its Las Vegas City Center
- Jockey Club project only if partner
Dubai World also finances its half of the
costs, the company said in the filing. The
casino company reiterated Tuesday that it
would finish the project on schedule.
108s - Dubai
partner sues MGM Mirage over Jockey Club -
City Center in Vegas
April
(2307).
March
24, 2009 Las Vegas -- The Dubai developer
building an $8.6-billion complex on the
Las Vegas Strip with casino company MGM
Mirage Inc. is suing MGM Mirage because
it's worried about the project's
viability.
"What
we are attempting to do is complete this
project," Dalton said.
Dalton
said the state-owned company "had no
choice" but to file suit.
"We're
not saying MGM won't be involved," Dalton
added. "We're anxious to work with
them, but we need to see them come out of
their financial problems."
"If
MGM can't manage its bank debt, how is MGM
going to make more equity contributions?"
Cohen said. "Maybe the answer is, well,
that gives Dubai World leverage, and they
want to control much more than half of
this joint venture when it's all over."
108s - CLICK
FOR MORE 2307 DUBAI
SUIT
108s - Jockey
Club MGM, Deutshe Bank City Walk Project
2009 - MGM, Deutsche talks said to
fail
-
March - 2009
MGM Mirage and Dubai World failed to reach
agreement with Deutsche Bank and talks on
a $1.2-billion loan to complete the Las
Vegas CityCenter project collapsed,
according to five people with knowledge of
the matter.
Deutsche Bank
was seeking equity and debt stakes in the
$11.2-billion development on the Las Vegas
Strip in return for the loan. MGM Mirage
and Dubai World are now holding talks with
other parties, one of the people said. --
times wire reports
108 - MGM
CEO, Terry Lanni, stepped aside in Nov
2008, just as questions continued to swirl
about his resume
(Kirk).
"It's time for a younger generation
to take over," Lanni said in a telephone
interview. He also cited a desire to spend
more time with his family.
108 - CLICK
FOR MORE 0807 CITY WALK JOCKEY CLUB
NEWS
/ CLICK
Construction outside the Jockey Club in
Las
Vegas
/ MORE
2005 TCS China STORY
108g-
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108 - China
Getting Ready For the Olympics and the
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108 - Warehousing
Oil in South China. November 14, 2004 -
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108 - 01. Yahoo
Settles Browser
Case
108 - 02 - Oil
-- Who's Buying and Who's Selling Oil in
IRAQ
108 - 01. Oil
-- Who's Buying and Who's Selling Oil and
What Price - Libya
108 - 02. Venezuelan
may sell some parts of Citgo Petroleum
Corp.
108 - Gower
Studios Is Sold
*
108g
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