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	<title>BoomTown &#187; Sumner Redstone</title>
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		<title>More CEO Choices for Yahoo: Freston, Jordan, Bonnie and Two Rosenblatts!</title>
		<link>http://kara.allthingsd.com/20081119/more-ceo-choices-for-yahoo-freston-jordan-bonnie-and-two-rosenblatts/</link>
		<comments>http://kara.allthingsd.com/20081119/more-ceo-choices-for-yahoo-freston-jordan-bonnie-and-two-rosenblatts/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kara Swisher</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=6705</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[BoomTown might have been remiss in my post yesterday on top candidates for the Yahoo CEO job, in the wake of news that Jerry Yang was stepping down, by leaving out several key possibilities.

Yesterday's roster included News Corp.'s Peter Chernin, Google's Tim Armstrong, Kevin Johnson of Juniper Networks and also two Yahoo board members, among others.

So here is an addendum to my initial list--all of whom are Yahoo outsiders, the likely choice versus more tarnished insiders.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/11/hiring.gif"><img src="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/11/hiring.gif" alt="" title="hiring" width="250" height="200" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-6713" /></a></p>
<p>BoomTown might have been remiss in <a href="http://kara.allthingsd.com/20081118/yahoos-peter-chernin-principle-and-other-ceo-choices/">my post yesterday on top candidates for the Yahoo CEO job</a>, after the news Monday that Jerry Yang is stepping down, by leaving out several key possibilities.</p>
<p>Yesterday&#8217;s roster included News Corp.&#8217;s Peter Chernin, Google&#8217;s Tim Armstrong, Kevin Johnson of Juniper Networks (JNPR) and also two Yahoo board members, among others. (The main internal candidate, Yahoo President Sue Decker, seems unlikely to get the nod.)</p>
<p>So here is an addendum to my initial list&#8211;all of whom are Yahoo (YHOO) outsiders.</p>
<p><strong>Tom Freston:</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/11/freston.jpg"><img src="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/11/freston.jpg" alt="" title="freston" width="115" height="125" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-6712" /></a></p>
<p>Chernin is not the only media mogul whose name is being bandied about&#8211;the other prominent one is former Viacom head Tom Freston.</p>
<p>Freston apparently got shafted by the&#8211;let&#8217;s be polite here&#8211;disturbingly <em>volatile</em> founder of Viacom (VIA), Sumner Redstone, for not buying MySpace. In fact, News Corp. (NWS), which also owns this Web site, did. But Freston remains a well-respected and creative exec and has been dabbling in the Internet space since leaving Viacom.</p>
<p>Also, Oprah and Arianna love Freston&#8211;which is all I need to know.</p>
<p><strong>Jeff Jordan:</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/11/jeff_jordan.jpg"><img src="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/11/jeff_jordan.jpg" alt="" title="jeff_jordan" width="107" height="115" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-6711" /></a></p>
<p>Jeff Jordan, the former top eBay (EBAY) exec who is now the CEO of OpenTable, was also on the short list for COO at Facebook, a job that went to former Google exec Sheryl Sandberg.</p>
<p>While the restaurant reservations Web start-up has been headed for a public offering, that event has obviously been pushed out indefinitely by the econalypse, which might be just the impetus to convince Jordan that bussing tables all day is too dull.</p>
<p>Some speculate that Yahoo could buy OpenTable and get Jordan in the process.</p>
<p><strong>Richard Rosenblatt:</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/11/richard.jpg"><img src="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/11/richard.jpg" alt="" title="richard" width="118" height="146" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-6748" /></a></p>
<p>Another interesting idea is Richard Rosenblatt of Demand Media, a <a href="http://kara.allthingsd.com/20080709/demand-medias-richard-rosenblatt-speaks-and-says-hes-not-for-sale-to-yahoo-for-now/">company that Yahoo was sniffing around not too long ago</a>. </p>
<p>The network of social-networking sites and apps maker is an innovative play in the space and might give Yahoo some much needed Web 2.0 DNA. Demand could still be bought by Yahoo, in order to put Rosenblatt into place.</p>
<p>(Rosenblatt, for those who do not remember, ran the company that owned MySpace, and he was key to selling it to News Corp.)</p>
<p>Also, Lance Armstrong likes Rosenblatt.</p>
<p><strong>Shelby Bonnie:</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/11/277execshelbyjpg_150.jpg"><img src="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/11/277execshelbyjpg_150.jpg" alt="" title="277execshelbyjpg_150" width="110" height="118" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-6709" /></a></p>
<p>A reader actually made the excellent suggestion of former CNET head Shelby Bonnie, who is now investing in start-ups. Bonnie is another steady exec&#8211;despite leaving CNET, now owned by CBS (CBS), under an options backdating controversy&#8211;and is well-liked in the Internet industry.</p>
<p>Yahoo would be a much bigger job than he has ever held, although he certainly has both tech and advertising experience online.</p>
<p><strong>David Rosenblatt:</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/11/drosenblatt_bio-thumb.jpg"><img src="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/11/drosenblatt_bio-thumb.jpg" alt="" title="drosenblatt_bio-thumb" width="140" height="157" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-6708" /></a></p>
<p>Lastly, especially if Yahoo is interested in an exec who has turnaround talent, there is probably no better a choice than DoubleClick CEO David Rosenblatt. An experienced online advertising exec, he is also sharply outspoken and knows how to get companies in line and fast. </p>
<p>He is also impossibly rich after Google (GOOG) bought DoubleClick out from under&#8211;<em>wait for it</em>&#8211;Yahoo recently. While he is still running the show for Google, after having decided to stay, Yahoo might present an interesting challenge for the very savvy Rosenblatt.</p>
<p><em>Please see <a href="http://allthingsd.com/about/kara-swisher/ethics/">this disclosure</a> related to me and Google.</em></p>
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		<title>Veoh's Dmitry Shapiro Speaks!</title>
		<link>http://kara.allthingsd.com/20080623/veohs-dmitry-shapiro-speaks/</link>
		<comments>http://kara.allthingsd.com/20080623/veohs-dmitry-shapiro-speaks/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:30:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kara Swisher</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=2210</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Recently, while I was at a conference in Los Angeles, I caught up with Veoh Founder Dmitry Shapiro.

BoomTown will be focusing a lot on online video this year and Veoh is one of the several online video sharing sites--a group of smaller players that includes sites like Joost, Hulu, Dailymotion, Vimeo and others that I like to call not-YouTube.

Still, it is making progress.

Today, the Los Angeles-based Veoh announced that the ABC television network would put full episodes of its hot primetime shows--such as "Ugly Betty" (love it) and "Desperate Housewives" (not so much)--up on the site.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/06/veohlogo1.jpg"><img src="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/06/veohlogo1.jpg" alt="" title="veohlogo1" width="200" height="74" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-2211" /></a></p>
<p>Recently, while I was at a conference in Los Angeles, I caught up with <a href="http://www.veoh.com">Veoh</a> Founder Dmitry Shapiro.</p>
<p>BoomTown will be focusing a lot on online video this year and Veoh is one of the several online video-sharing sites&#8211;a group of smaller players that includes sites like Joost, Hulu, Dailymotion, Vimeo and others that I like to call <em>not-YouTube</em>.</p>
<p>But there are pluses to not being the Google-owned (GOOG) video behemoth, in that major entertainment companies who want to figure out how to put their content online aren&#8217;t wondering all day long whether to hug or sue you (or both if you are Sumner Redstone).</p>
<p>Today, for example, the Los Angeles-based Veoh announced that the ABC (DIS) television network would put full episodes of its hot prime-time shows&#8211;such as &#8220;Ugly Betty&#8221; (love it) and &#8220;Desperate Housewives&#8221; (not so much)&#8211;up on the site on a non-exclusive basis.</p>
<p>While Veoh has a lot of short, user-generated material, it has also made a push to get more professional material from big media companies like CBS (CBS)&#8211;which wins kudos for being the most promiscuous of networks&#8211;on its service.</p>
<p>Interestingly in this deal, media connections seem at play here: Disney-owned ABC is giving over content to Veoh, which has former Disney poobah Michael Eisner as one of its principal investors.</p>
<p>The traffic-type deal is typical&#8211;Veoh gets paid to send audience to ABC&#8217;s site or gets it to use ABC&#8217;s really nice player, and ABC tries to monetize it. Veoh currently says it has 28 million unique monthly visitors.</p>
<p>Of course, Veoh is also trying to figure out that nettlesome monetization issue that all online video sites face, which centers on building audience with the attractive big media content and then getting them to watch other ad-supported fare on its site.</p>
<p>But, as with all video sites, it is still in the early stages and, thus, Veoh got another tidy pile of new funding just two weeks ago to help it muddle through. </p>
<p>That would be $30 million more to add to the kitty of about $40 million previously raised. </p>
<p>Along with existing investors&#8211;Shelter Capital Partners, Spark Capital, Goldman Sachs (GS), Eisner&#8217;s Tornante Company, Tom Freston&#8217;s Firefly3, Time Warner (TWX) Investments and Jonathan Dolgen&#8211;Veoh&#8217;s latest round included Intel Capital, Adobe Systems (ADBE) and also media and tech investor Gordon Crawford.</p>
<p>I talked to Shapiro, who now serves as Veoh&#8217;s chief innovation officer, about the money and more here:</p>
<div class="video-wsj"><embed src="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/microPlayer.swf" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoGUID={1612819791}&playerid=4001&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://wsj.vo.llnwd.net/o28/players/&autoStart=false" base="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/" name="microflashPlayer" width="320" height="240" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed><br />[ See post to watch video ]</div> 
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		<title>MicroHoo: The Not-So-Bored Meeting!</title>
		<link>http://kara.allthingsd.com/20080411/microhoo-the-not-so-bored-meeting/</link>
		<comments>http://kara.allthingsd.com/20080411/microhoo-the-not-so-bored-meeting/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:16:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kara Swisher</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[Yes, the board of Yahoo is meeting today to try to devise new and more dastardly ways of wringing more money out of Microsoft. 

For viewers just tuning in, so far this week on "As the Tiny-Incestuous-Petty-Juvenile-Digital World Turns," Yahoo has been plenty busy:

An AOL mashup deal!

A Google search-ad partnership!

Even--cue the trumpets!!!--the late entrance of that man-about-Silicon-Valley from Web 1.0, Frank Quattrone, working for Google, which is helping Yahoo on AOL (and, fun, snake-eating-itself fact: as a banker, Quattrone worked for Yahoo when it was contemplating buying eBay).

This is so deliciously sweet, in terms of geek soap opera, that I fear I may get a major cavity soon.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Yes, the board of Yahoo is meeting today to try to devise new and more dastardly ways of wringing more money out of Microsoft. </p>
<p>For viewers just tuning in, so far this week on &#8220;As the Tiny-Incestuous-Petty-Juvenile-Digital World Turns,&#8221; Yahoo (YHOO) has been plenty busy:</p>
<p>An AOL (TWX) mashup deal!</p>
<p>A Google (GOOG) search-ad partnership!</p>
<p>Even&#8211;<em>cue the trumpets!!!</em>&#8211;<a href="http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20080411/quattrone-google/">the late entrance of that man-about-Silicon-Valley from Web 1.0, Frank Quattrone, working for Google</a>, which is helping Yahoo on AOL (and, fun, snake-eating-itself fact: as a banker, Quattrone worked for Yahoo when it was contemplating buying eBay).</p>
<p>This is so deliciously sweet, in terms of geek soap opera, that I fear I may get a major cavity soon.</p>
<p>But like any hungry viewer, I want more! What, what, <em>what</em> could be the next twist and turn?</p>
<p>Here are three of my more creative brainstorms:<br />
<img src='http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/04/_700730_jackson150.thumbnail.jpg' alt='jackson' /><img src='http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/04/mdf137090.thumbnail.jpg' alt='boies' /></p>
<p>1. Reunite the dream team in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft">United States v. Microsoft</a> to scare the living daylights out of Steve Ballmer.</p>
<p>It will be like an antitrust version of &#8220;I Know What You Did Last Summer.&#8221; I am almost certain that Joel Klein, Janet Reno, David Boies and the ever-irascible Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson (the latter two pictured here) still are capable of giving Microsoft (MSFT) the willies.</p>
<p><img src='http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/04/bp515030-best-je.thumbnail.jpg' alt='redstone' class='alignleft' /><img src='http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/04/the-hills-400a-082207.thumbnail.jpg' alt='hills' class='alignleft' /></p>
<p>2. If you want make former Yahoo merger partner and now Microsoft merger parter News Corp.&#8217;s (NWS) Rupert Murdoch squirm, there&#8217;s nothing like adding yet another wizened media mogul to the mix. My No. 1 choice would be some kind of hopelessly complex mashup with the properties of Sumner Redstone (pictured here), who controls both CBS (CBS) and Viacom (VIA). I am thinking something that includes SpongeBob SquarePants and those irksome girls from &#8220;The Hills&#8221; (also pictured here) and, say, Katie Couric. </p>
<p><img src='http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/04/markzuckerberg.thumbnail.jpg' alt='zuckerberg' /></p>
<p>3. Of course, the most surefire way to get more money from Microsoft: Hire Mark Zuckerberg (pictured here). So far, the 23-year-old wunderkind and his team at Facebook (well played, Owen Van Natta, <em>well played</em>!) have been the only ones able to get Microsoft to fork over an ungodly amount of money for a chance to own a small part of a hope and a dream and not-a-very-impressive bottom line.</p>
<p>If Zuckerberg can get a $15 billion valuation by putting up only SuperPokes and news feeds as collateral, I would find what he is drinking and get me some for myself.</p>
<p><em>Please see <a href="http://allthingsd.com/about/kara-swisher/ethics/">this disclosure</a> related to me and Google.</em></p>
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		<title>Cartman Pirated No Longer? OK, a Little Longer, but by Viacom, Too!</title>
		<link>http://kara.allthingsd.com/20070827/cartman-pirated-no-longer-ok-a-little-longer-but-by-viacom-too/</link>
		<comments>http://kara.allthingsd.com/20070827/cartman-pirated-no-longer-ok-a-little-longer-but-by-viacom-too/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:15:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kara Swisher</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[Let's start with the fact that right now, I can pretty much get, say, the entire and relatively recent "Cartman Sucks" episode (in several pieces) from "South Park" on YouTube anytime.

Also, I might add that these parody videos posted below--a mashup of the ribald animated series and the Apple ads and another with "Harry Potter"--are chock full of jacked material!

Oh yes, I just grabbed this fine picture of the "South Park" character right off the Web without a problem.

I await Viacom owner Sumner Redstone's wrath and expect his legions of lawyers to come raining down on me asap.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Let&#8217;s start with the fact that right now, I can pretty much get, say, the entire and relatively recent &#8220;Cartman Sucks&#8221; episode (in several pieces) from &#8220;South Park&#8221; on YouTube anytime.</p>
<p>Also, I might add that these parody videos posted below&#8211;a mashup of the ribald animated series and the Apple ads and another with &#8220;Harry Potter&#8221;&#8211;are chock full of jacked material!</p>
<p>Oh yes, I just grabbed this fine picture of the &#8220;South Park&#8221; character right off the Web without a problem.</p>
<p><img src='http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2007/08/cartman.jpg' alt='cartman' class='centered'/></p>
<p>I await Viacom owner Sumner Redstone&#8217;s wrath and expect his legions of lawyers to come raining down on me asap. </p>
<p>Herein lies the problem and the impetus for a new&#8211;and I would say not insignificant&#8211;deal just signed by the creators of &#8220;South Park&#8221; with its principal distributor, Viacom&#8217;s Comedy Central, which a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/27/business/media/27south.html">New York Times report outlined in today&#8217;s paper</a>.  </p>
<p>According to the story, &#8220;South Park&#8221; creators and executive producers Matt Stone and Trey Parker, sick of seeing their valuable content ripped off pretty much everywhere it can be digitally ripped off, have decided to get into the viral video game themselves, which should have occurred to them, oh, many, many moons ago.</p>
<p>“If I’m overseas and have to get an episode right away,” Stone said to the Times, &#8220;you literally have to go to an illegal download site.” </p>
<p>I cannot imagine what a &#8220;South Park&#8221; character would do with an obviously obvious statement like that, but it would surely involve a bodily function.</p>
<p><span id="more-575"></span></p>
<p>Under terms of the deal, in which it appears Comedy Central (a division of MTV, which is a division of Viacom, which is a division of owner Sumner Redstone&#8217;s increasingly pissed-off-about-YouTube brain) will be footing the bill, they will create a Web hub to get &#8220;South Park&#8221; material out there before all the piraters can (and will still continue to, by the way).</p>
<p>To combat that too, the new unit will try to create new material well beyond the show. New television concepts, perhaps even bigger than the massive &#8220;South Park&#8221; franchise, could even emerge.</p>
<p>As part of the arrangement, they&#8217;ll all apparently split any ad revenue from SouthParkStudios.com, which should tell you all you need to know about the mood of Hollywood right now.</p>
<p>Studios are justifiably scared of the digital onslaught and actually have started to imagine funding talented people to create material to compete and to share in the ventures&#8217; success might be a good idea. </p>
<p>While that&#8217;s business-as-usual in tech funding, the idea is an anathema to the entertainment industry, which likes to keep its talent happily overpaid with pap (though giant) salaries, all while keeping the really good and lucrative stuff&#8211;the actual ownership of the creative product&#8211;to itself. </p>
<p>The artists are no better, accepting the pricey pay-off in exchange for their work. Or as Stone said in an interview with the Times: &#8220;People always ask us, &#8216;You own it, right? No? Why&#8217;d you sign that deal?&#8217; And I have to say, &#8216;Because I was sleeping on my friend’s couch.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
<p>Thus, the Google twins are billionaires many times over and the &#8220;South Park&#8221; dudes are merely really rich.  </p>
<p>That&#8217;s achingly typical, and Hollywood execs argue that it&#8217;s because they take all the risk by funding, distributing and marketing the various entertainment projects. But with the advent of digital distribution and creation, it obviously all needs a bit of retooling. </p>
<p>Not that Viacom has not tried everything, in a panic after the not-buying of MySpace, which has definitely been a flash point for the company. Another, of course, is the $1 billion lawsuit it is waging against Google over copyright infringement on YouTube.</p>
<p><img src='http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2007/08/images6.jpeg' alt='redstone' /></p>
<p>But I like this kind of move a lot better, even if it is a big flop and even if it is only reserved for giant rainmakers like Stone and Parker. While Hollywood powers like Viacom surely won&#8217;t allow others in on the game quite yet, it is an encouraging and even bold direction to the usual picture of Redstone (pictured here) harrumphing about digital piracy of its material.</p>
<p>While I agree that that is a problem that tech companies like Google need to address and have been arrogant about not addressing quickly enough, new <a href="http://kara.allthingsd.com/20070822/philippe-dauman-the-entire-d5-interview-with-kara-swisher/">CEO Philippe Dauman</a> (whom I interviewed at <a href="http://d5.allthingsd.com"><strong>D5</strong></a> in May) is obviously a good influence.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a move that should be replicated to make Web content as important as it could be. Hollywood needs to make more smart moves like this or else they are cooked. </p>
<p>Or maybe they are already, in the words of Cartman:</p>
<blockquote><p>Stan: Dude, dolphins are intelligent and friendly.<br />
Cartman: Intelligent and friendly on rye bread with some mayonnaise.</p></blockquote>
<p>Now that&#8217;s funny, as are these two parody videos:</p>
<p><object width="380" height="313"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Id_kGL3M5Cg"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Id_kGL3M5Cg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="380" height="313"></embed></object></p>
<p><object width="380" height="313"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/n4yvY6vqFO0"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/n4yvY6vqFO0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="380" height="313"></embed></object></p>
<p><em>Please see <a href="http://allthingsd.com/about/kara-swisher/ethics/">this disclosure</a> related to me and Google (owner of YouTube).</em></p>
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