There are very good odds that there are going to be some very big deals happening in the media world in the next year or so. So this move makes a lot of sense: Former Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons is joining up with Providence Equity Partners, the private equity firm with a hankering for media investments.
How do you sell a business magazine that lost $43 million last year? Convince buyers that they could fire 20 percent of the staff without missing a beat.
That’s part of the pitch Evercore Partners has been making to investors on behalf of McGraw-Hill, which wants to dump BusinessWeek. Look out, copy editors!
Call me a crusty skeptic, but I think it’d be hard for entertainers to get Washington to help them out in the best of times. So my gut is that there’s little chance that Congress will pass something called “The Performance Rights Act,” which would force radio stations to pay musicians–or at least, music labels–whenever they play one of their recordings.
A lot of people couldn’t understand why Guy Hands, the private equity guy who bought EMI in the summer of 2007, was willing to pay so much for the music company. Now he says he agrees with them–his Terra Firma buyout firm has written off half the $3.2 billion he paid for the company. He may have to write off more before he’s done.
A rare bit of good news for the embattled music label CEO: A New York court says he doesn’t owe former Simon & Schuster boss Richard Snyder for helping him figure out how to buy Warner Music a few years ago.
Peter Kafka has been covering media and technology since 1997, when he joined the staff of Forbes magazine. Most recently, he has been the managing editor of the tech and media Web site, Silicon Alley Insider. Read more »
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
D is unlike any other executive conference. Since its debut in 2003, D has brought to life the energy and excitement of the digital revolution in an unscripted, upfront and unparalleled way. Read more »
Don't miss a post! Sign up for our Daily Email and get AllThingsD.com delivered each day.
Get columns, blogs and video from D and All Things Digital on your iPhone. Download now »
