AllThingsD » interview http://allthingsd.com Sat, 26 May 2012 19:52:25 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://allthingsd.com/theme/images/logo-rss.jpg All Things Digital http://allthingsd.com/ 144 22 Former CEO Thompson Might Be Gone, But Internal Investigation Into ResuMess Still a Hot Potato at Yahoo http://allthingsd.com/20120522/former-ceo-thompson-might-be-gone-but-investigation-into-resumess-still-a-hot-potato-at-yahoo/ http://allthingsd.com/20120522/former-ceo-thompson-might-be-gone-but-investigation-into-resumess-still-a-hot-potato-at-yahoo/#comments Tue, 22 May 2012 16:03:16 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=210917

While former Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson fades from the tech scene — besides getting jacked from the top job at the Silicon Valley Internet giant, he’s also just come off two tech boards he had served on — the investigation over his hiring and how a fake computer science degree got into the company’s regulatory filings continues.

While the quick-fire controversy burned Thompson, as well as now former Yahoo director Patti Hart, the special committee of independent board members is still at work trying to figure out how such a mess was made in the first place.

And, more importantly, who knew what when and told whom.

At the time the committee was announced, Yahoo said it would “conduct a thorough review of CEO Scott Thompson’s academic credentials, as well as the facts and circumstances related to the review and disclosure of those credentials in connection with Thompson’s appointment as CEO.”

The special committee is chaired by Yahoo’s new Chairman Fred Amoroso and includes John Hayes and Thomas McInerney, two independent directors who joined the board in April.

Yahoo also hired independent counsel Terry Bird of the law firm Bird, Marella, Boxer, Wolpert, Nessim, Drooks and Licenberg in Los Angeles to handle the inquiry.

The company also noted at the time that “the special committee and the entire Board appreciate the urgency of the situation and the special committee will therefore conduct the review in an independent, thorough and expeditious manner. The Board intends to make the appropriate disclosures to shareholders promptly upon completion of the review.”

Gripped by urgency myself, I have grown weary waiting by the phone for some official answers, which sources said will not be forthcoming for some time.

But since I am the most curious of cats — uh-oh! — I started dialing around on my own to find out what’s what.

And, according to sources — especially since Thompson has settled with Yahoo and will not get severance due to the academic falsehood — the big focus is now centering on if the company’s staff screwed up the background check of his academic credentials, thus allowing it to get into its official filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and also on Yahoo’s corporate Web site.

When Thompson was hired from eBay, where he was president of its PayPal payments division, the online commerce company had the correct bio information in its SEC filings, although not on its Web site or in its PR materials.

The question is: Did someone from Yahoo simply rely on Web bios and not check eBay filings and did anyone ever re-check Thompson’s college records? (Note: It took me 15 minutes flat to find out he did not have such a degree at Stonehill College in the Boston area.)

If lazy checking was the case, it spells rank incompetence on the part of staffers, as well as Hart, who headed the search after Yahoo fired its previous CEO Carol Bartz last fall.

A much more troubling line of inquiry taking place is aimed at the possibility that someone at Yahoo did discover the discrepancy in Thompson’s resume and either did not report it up the chain of command or did and it was either lost or ignored or, well, worse.

While this certainly ain’t Watergate, such a situation would be very hard for Yahoo to explain away as easily to shareholders, especially potentially litigious ones. As it is always said, the coverup can often be more damaging than the crime itself.

And, if it is determined by the special committee that certain employees knew of Thompson’s resume inaccuracy, it will most certainly result in dismissals of Yahoo employees.

The focus on the committee — which truly cannot sweep this under the rug, if it occurred in this much more serious scenario — is most obviously the legal department of Yahoo, which is responsible for making certain filings are accurate.

Also under scrutiny is the quickness of the hiring of Thompson.

Among the questions is how much vetting was done and whether adequate questions about him were asked among a variety of possible sources.

When he was picked in January, Thompson was a dark-horse candidate for many, including some Yahoo board members.

In fact, he was not on the initial headhunting lists prepared by outside talent search firm Heidrick & Struggles.

That’s because Heidrick had placed Thompson at eBay in mid-2000 and could not then recommend him to Yahoo. As it turned out, Thompson took it upon himself to cold email Yahoo board member and Intuit CEO Brad Smith about the job, who then passed Thompson’s interest to Hart.

Heidrick had no involvement in the checking of Thompson, although he later blamed the firm in a public meeting with Yahoo employees for putting the error in his bio in the first place from when he was hired at eBay. Heidrick quickly called the accusation “verifiably not true” in a memo to its own employees.

Sources said that meant that the firm had a resume that Thompson had submitted to it that also contained the error.

But the central mystery of how that mistake appeared on his bio will likely remain just that without further explanation from Thompson.

In a radio interview in 2009, he did not correct a specific question about the twin degrees he appeared to have held and seemed to even agree with the show’s host, Moira Gunn, about them.

Later, she told me in a video interview that Thompson had clearly indicated to her in the prep for that interview that he indeed had a computer science degree.

Still, it is still not clear — and may never be — who put the faux computer science credential on his resume in the first place.

So, with all apologies to Winston Churchill: It might remain a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120522/former-ceo-thompson-might-be-gone-but-investigation-into-resumess-still-a-hot-potato-at-yahoo/feed/ 0 Meet the Man I Call "The Hair": The Video Stylings of Yahoo's Newest CEO Ross Levinsohn http://allthingsd.com/20120513/meet-the-man-i-call-the-hair-the-video-stylings-of-yahoos-newest-ceo-ross-levinsohn/ http://allthingsd.com/20120513/meet-the-man-i-call-the-hair-the-video-stylings-of-yahoos-newest-ceo-ross-levinsohn/#comments Sun, 13 May 2012 19:03:01 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=207366

Over the many years I have covered Yahoo’s expected new interim CEO Ross Levinsohn, I have done several video interviews with him.

And, for my own amusement, I also have nicknamed him “The Hair,” due to his very impressive mane.

We’ll see how impressive the longtime digital media exec will be now that Levinsohn has become the latest head of the Silicon Valley Internet giant.

His job is only interim for now, but in selecting him, the Yahoo board is opting for a more media-centric approach.

Among his claims to fame: He was president of News Corp.’s Fox Interactive Media, where he bought the then-soaring Myspace social networking site. Levinsohn managed to get Google to fork over more than double its price in advertising guarantees and luckily left the company before it went off the rails.

He was also an exec at AltaVista, an early search pioneer, and was head of content and development at CBS Sportsline. Levinsohn also dabbled in investing at Fuse Capital, with current News Corp. digital head Jon Miller focused on digital media and communications companies.

When he was at Fuse, ironically, Levinsohn and Miller were also raised as possible board members by Carl Icahn, who has conducting a different proxy fight against Yahoo.

In the latest fighting, at least, Levinsohn appears the victor.

To assess him, here are two videos I did with him — one in 2007 when he was at Fuse and one from last year at our D: All Things Digital conference (I ask about his hair-care product at the very end).

I also added a recent mockumentary video that Levinsohn for Yahoo’s recent Newfront media presentations in New York, which is pretty funny (and, in Carol Bartz channeling, Levinson curses at the end!):


[ See post to watch video ]


[ See post to watch video ]

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120513/meet-the-man-i-call-the-hair-the-video-stylings-of-yahoos-newest-ceo-ross-levinsohn/feed/ 0 Is He In or Is He Out? Crunchtime for Scott Thompson at Yahoo. http://allthingsd.com/20120511/is-he-in-or-is-he-out-crunchtime-for-scott-thompson-at-yahoo/ http://allthingsd.com/20120511/is-he-in-or-is-he-out-crunchtime-for-scott-thompson-at-yahoo/#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 15:15:28 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=206889

While he has only been CEO of Yahoo for less than five months, in the next several days Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson is facing perhaps the most critical moment of his short tenure.

According to sources with knowledge of the situation, the board of Yahoo is not likely to take long in assessing whether he will stay or if he will be let go, due to a controversy around how a non-existent computer science degree got on his bio and also in Yahoo regulatory filings.

A special committee of independent directors is now investigating the matter, including trying to assess the damage has had on Thompson’s ability to lead the Silicon Valley Internet giant.

How quickly the board moves is likely to be a sign of their intent. If within the next days, it is likely to let the former president of eBay’s PayPal payments unit go and replace him with a current company exec; if it waits longer and shows some public support of him — which the board has not done since the scandal erupted — Thompson’s chances are better that he will only be given some sort of censure.

One important task is also closely considering the impact of possible legal problems related to Thompson and others signing documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission that were not accurate.

One thing is clear from interviews with multiple sources, many members of the board have not been happy with how Thompson has handled the matter since activist shareholder Daniel Loeb of Third Point uncovered the problem a week ago.

While first tossing the borked bio as an “inadvertent error,” Thompson was then largely silent about the issue with staff, despite being in close meetings with them, which caused stress among key execs.

Then, he made a public announcement in which he apologized for only the “distraction” caused by the incident and not the error itself as some had hoped he would.

Yesterday, apparently feeling it was time to try to explain things face-to-face, Thompson made another attempt to explain what happened in two separate meetings with his direct reports and then his senior staff, apparently trying to get through to employees that he did not fake his resume nor did he give an inaccurate bio to Yahoo when he was being hired for the job earlier this year.

Thompson thought it was time — now that the board investigation was underway — to answer questions directly, said a source.

Among other things, Thompson gave a somewhat convoluted explanation that it appeared in his bio due to a misunderstanding during an interview with a headhunting firm. And that he never noticed it once it proliferated And that when an NPR interviewer asked him directly about his CS degree, he did not want to correct her in mid-discussion — although others report he said he did not hear the question fully.

Sources said Thompson — who is on the midst of initiating changes across a large and troubled organization, after laying off 2,000 employees — thought the sessions went well, that he clearly communicated that he was taking blame for the problem and its repercussions. Those sources also noted that he received support for doing so after the talks.

But, more than a dozen others I interviewed who were listening remotely — some of whom I sought out and some who contacted me directly — thought Thompson’s complex explanation was deeply problematic and that he tried to foist the blame on others rather than on himself.

Every one of these people expressed the need for him to step down to allow Yahoo to move forward.

What the board thought about the performance is still not clear, said sources, but things are coming down to two distinct scenarios.

The first is a quick parting of the ways with Thompson, within days, either for cause or via a negotiated settlement. Others at Yahoo involved with perpetuating the mistake in the bio are also at risk.

This option is perhaps the more likely at this moment, unless the scandal dissipates and employees continued rancor over the situation can be assuaged soon.

In this case, sources said, Thompson will be replaced by a current board member or a member of the top staff. When directors fired Carol Bartz last fall, CFO Tim Morse became interim CEO and he is one of the likely candidates for the job again.

The second scenario centers on needing Thompson to complete a number of complex transactions related to the sale of Yahoo’s Chinese assets and its re-negotiations with Microsoft over its troubled search partnership, among other things.

In that case, Thompson will be censured in some manner by the board and will also probably have to endure some punishment for allowing false regulatory documents to be filed by Yahoo. Others at Yahoo will also be subject to the same treatment in such an outcome.

How will it turn out?

Only board member Patti Hart has so far paid for her faulty vetting of Thompson, stepping down from the board earlier this week.

But whether she will be the only shoe to drop in what has turned out to be a bizarre wildfire that as raged across Yahoo’s troubled landscape remains to be seen.

Thus, most definitely watch this space this weekend.

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120511/is-he-in-or-is-he-out-crunchtime-for-scott-thompson-at-yahoo/feed/ 0 Not So Scott Free? Yahoo's Other Big Shareholder -- Cap Re -- Leaning Toward Supporting Loeb Over Thompson ResuMess. http://allthingsd.com/20120510/not-so-scott-free-yahoos-other-big-shareholder-cap-re-leaning-toward-supporting-loeb-over-thompson-resumess/ http://allthingsd.com/20120510/not-so-scott-free-yahoos-other-big-shareholder-cap-re-leaning-toward-supporting-loeb-over-thompson-resumess/#comments Thu, 10 May 2012 22:56:57 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=206788

One of Yahoo’s biggest long-term investors, Capital Research and Management, which owns more than 10 percent of the company in two different funds, is leaning toward voting for the slate proposed by activist shareholder Daniel Loeb of Third Point, in the wake of the controversy around the botched bio of its new CEO Scott Thompson.

“Having a CEO with that hanging over his head is really a problem going forward,” said one person with knowledge of the situation. “It’s hard to pretend this is not a problem.”

While sources said Yahoo’s longtime institutional investor — which currently holds large stakes via its Capital Research Global Investors and Capital World Investors funds — is not likely to go public with their voting choice until close to the annual meeting, which will take place sometime this summer.

But its fund managers have told key Yahoo board members of their grave concerns over the situation.

Ironically, in the last proxy fight showdown with Carl Icahn, Capital removed its support of Yahoo’s slate too and was an important influence to many major changes at the company.

Such a move is problematic for Thompson, since the rejection of another big shareholder at its upcoming annual meeting will keep the unusual issue and right in the middle of a noisy proxy fight.

A special committee of the Yahoo board is investigating the situation — in which a fake computer science degree somehow got on the resume of the former president of eBay’s PayPal payments unit and later into official Yahoo regulatory filings.

The problem was uncovered last week — unfortunately for the Silicon Valley Internet giant — by Loeb, who has been banging away on Yahoo since.

A trio of independent Yahoo directors is looking into the mess, with a focus on how that happened, whether anyone at Yahoo knew of the inaccurate bio and how it got there in the first place.

Also of great concern, is how Thompson could have not seen the error in the many years it was on the Web site of eBay and also how he approved a bio that had the inaccuracy in it when he was hired by Yahoo in January.

Worse still, in a 2009 interview, he clearly did not say he did not have such a degree in with a radio show host when directly asked about it.

“It’s a little hard believe an executive of this level would have missed such a thing, when he had so many opportunities to fix it,” said one source. “And, if he did overlook it that many times, that’s a problem too.”

In fact, according to a report earlier today by Business Insider that I also confirmed, Thompson told employees today in two separate meetings that he did miss the error since it was placed there — inexplicably — in 2004. In the meeting, he blamed a low-level headhunting staffer who added it incorrectly, an error that then proliferated.

Thompson also said he did not provide a resume to the company in his hiring process — say whaaaat, but true — although this still does not absolve him from the original error.

As to the interview: Thompson said he did not want to be rude and correct the host of TechNation, Moira Gunn, after she clearly asserted to him he had a computer science degree as part of a question on his qualifications. Others present at the meetings said he said he did not hear the question.

But, in an video interview with me yesterday, though, Gunn said she and Thompson discussed a computer science education in a way that left the clear impression that he had obtained one.

While Thompson’s excuse may beggar the imagination of some, it’s his story and he’s sticking to it. In all seriousness, his complete lack of willingness to take responsibility for the error — even if it was not his fault — itself is a little startling.

Because what’s not clear is how the bio was miraculously correct in eBay’s official filings and also if it is plausible that he never saw the mistake.

Numerous communications execs at Internet companies told me that it was unusual for a high-level exec not to pay close attention to information that went out about them, especially in legal filings. In addition, just as many execs are made to check and swear on their bios that go into such documents.

In fact, it was Thompson’s job to make sure the things written about him were correct at all times. As CEO, as a major Silicon Valley player pointed out, he is required by federal law to personally certify Yahoo’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Violations of these rules carry financial and also potential criminal penalties.

Sources said the board is worried about that credibility issue too and it puts Thompson in an ever-dicier position. Noticeably, the board has yet to make a public statement of support for him on the issue.

Also a major worry for the directors is the mostly negative response to the situation from Yahoo employees, who are deeply upset that Thompson’s error was not caught and that he might not be treated in the same way as anyone else who turned in a false resume, whether it was by accident or not.

A Yahoo spokeswoman told me last week that there was also support internally for Thompson, but in many dozens of interviews I have done with Yahoo employees and a continued monitoring of internal bulletin board, the tone is not in his favor by any means.

Like I said, it’s a dicey time to be Scott Thompson right now.

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120510/not-so-scott-free-yahoos-other-big-shareholder-cap-re-leaning-toward-supporting-loeb-over-thompson-resumess/feed/ 0 Tech Nation's Gunn Says She and Yahoo CEO Discussed Their CS Degrees Before 2009 Show (Video and Audio) http://allthingsd.com/20120509/technations-gunn-says-she-and-yahoo-ceo-talked-about-their-cs-degrees-before-2009-show-video-and-audio/ http://allthingsd.com/20120509/technations-gunn-says-she-and-yahoo-ceo-talked-about-their-cs-degrees-before-2009-show-video-and-audio/#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 18:20:16 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=205800

Last week, I posted an audio recording of Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson, from a radio interview he did in early 2009, in which he did not deny he had a computer science degree when the host of the show stated it as a fact as a key part of her question.

Thompson did not have such an academic credential.

The host of Tech Nation, Moira Gunn, sat down with me yesterday to further explain in the video interview below why she asked the question that particular way of Thompson.

In the video and in emails to me, Gunn firmly asserts that she did so because Thompson and she had a conversation about their CS degrees leading up to the interview and also kibitzed about the importance of such an education in the pre-roll of the interview.

(That audio is also embedded below, along with the part of the interview itself in which he does not correct Gunn’s assertion that he has a CS degree.)

At the time of the interview, Thompson was president of eBay’s PayPal payments unit and was there to talk about its growth.

As I previously wrote:

At the end of the largely charming interview, Moira Gunn asked him a direct question about his college degrees, specifically noting they were in accounting and computer science.

“Your bachelor’s degree is in accounting and computer science. Now, from both of those, I mean that’s, that’s pretty obvious that’s PayPal,” said Gunn. “What are the most important things you learned?”

“Yeah,” begins Thompson, failing to correct her at all on the fact that he does not actually have a computer science degree — only one in accounting.

He then went even further, touting his early tech training at Stonehill College, near Boston, which did not offer a computer science degree and had only one basic computer course at the time he went there, from 1975 to 1979.

“And that’s really the background that I have, and it started back in my college days, and I think that’s really the wonderful part of being an engineer is you think that way,” said Thompson.

In the most generous interpretation, it’s not quite clear whether Thompson was saying “Yeah” to her statement of his academic credentials, or if he was not actually listening.

But it’s a careless oversight on his part not to have corrected her about the degrees, which could also be said about a computer science degree being present on his bio for more than a half-dozen years at eBay and later at Yahoo without some notice by him.

Because while Thompson has had a long career as a tech exec, as well as a stint as a CIO, academically speaking, a computer science degree did not happen in his college days nor did he graduate as an engineer.

While it is entirely possible that Thompson did not correctly grok what Gunn was saying, it seems pretty clear that he implied his college background was in tech and he was an engineer.

It is true that Thompson did take some computer science classes at Stonehill. And it is entirely possible that he thinks of himself as an engineer by work training and not by college degree.

But Gunn claims that Thompson put himself out to her in the time before and during the interview as someone who did have such a degree and never corrected her assumption about that or her direct statement about it.

Here are excerpts from several emails she sent to me this week before we did the video:

My recollection is that they sent me some talking points (they had a message they wanted to get out) and a bio — I always insist on an official bio from the PR folks — the PR folks would have booked him. I didn’t seek him out — they approached me — I would have gotten it from them. I would have done more research, but likely not confirming his degrees.

And:

I could swear I talked to him about the bachelors in CS before we did the interview. Maybe in the elevator before the tape rolled — you see, *I* have a bachelors in computer science. I thought it was opportune and important. I always mention it to people who have the same degrees I have or went to the same schools. I would have thought it was important. (I have a bachelors in CS, a masters in CS and a PhD in mechanical engineering). I mentioned it to the google boys when they first came in 2001, and everyone before and everyone since — whether it enters the interview or not.

And:

FYI the entire time I was conducting the interview, I was under the impression that Scott had a degree in Computer Science and considered himself to be an engineer. I wouldn’t have asked many of these questions as such if I had known he didn’t have that degree — in CS you learn about “architecture” which is what he was discussing in the pre-interview which you will hear. I would have instead asked “How does a guy with an accounting degree get the technology right? How does he possibly understand it? How can he possibly have the technology vision?”

In this case, it was sufficiently important that I had it in my written interview questions — it was not an afterthought.

And:

As a professor in a business school — who has also taught in computer science — I knew it was highly unusual to have someone with degrees in both accounting and computer science. Typically, these are two very different kinds of people — it would be a very unusual credential to have, and I immediately noticed it.

This multiple major combination would also lift a person above other resumes immediately, as you don’t see the combination. It would be a highly [sought] after combo-combination in any high-tech field which relates to finance and which requires that new technology be developed to uniquely create the business opportunity. It follows Scott’s career path, including CIO. One presumes a chief information officer to know about technology architectures and software risk — something he would definitely have background in with a computer science degree … but he doesn’t have one. (Remember in the run-up to the interview, even Scott was talking about the difficulty of finding people who could imagine the architecture?)

And, lastly:

I’m always a stickler about a person’s biography — here’s from my “Media Information” section on technation.com.

Under “Basic Steps to Booking Tech Nation Guests:”

“Essential in the materials to be submitted is a detailed biography of the proposed guest or guests, identifying relevant experience and education.”

Here’s the complete link: http://www.technation.com/pages/media.html

“A detailed biography of the guest is essential. Traceable credentials are a must.”

I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and it’s always relevant — especially in tech and science. It affects perspective, insight, depth of understanding, basic skills, etc. I also want to know what *they* say is relevant in the person’s official biography.

Yahoo confirmed last week that it included inaccurate information about Thompson’s academic background on its Web site and in its regulatory filings.

The admission came after activist shareholder Dan Loeb of Third Point correctly asserted that Thompson’s resume was overstated related to his education.

Yahoo first called the inclusion of the computer science degree on his bio an “inadvertent error,” but has given no other explanation as yet. Later, the Yahoo board said it was reviewing the matter and would then make appropriate disclosures afterward.

There is now an official board probe taking place.

I sent the Gunn email quotes, which are similar to the video interview I did, to a Yahoo spokeswoman. She declined comment.

Here’s Gunn talking about the circumstances of her interview with Thompson, as well as the new audio segment of them talking about computer science education, which she said flowed out of an earlier non-recorded bonding over their CS degrees. I also included the part in the actual interview where he does not deny her assertion that he had a CS degree.

Here is video interview with Gunn:


[ See post to watch video ]

Here is new audio of Gunn and Thompson discussing CS education, just before the formal interview:

Here is the actual interview, where Thompson does not refute Gunn’s clear assertion he has a CS degree:

And here are Gunn’s interview notes from the time, too, in which she goes into why she asked Thompson the CS question directly:

_Interview-Scott Thompson

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120509/technations-gunn-says-she-and-yahoo-ceo-talked-about-their-cs-degrees-before-2009-show-video-and-audio/feed/ 0 Buffett Comments on Trust Issue in Yahoo CEO BioGate: "You've Got a Problem" http://allthingsd.com/20120507/buffett-comments-on-yahoo-ceo-biogate-calling-trust-issue-a-problem/ http://allthingsd.com/20120507/buffett-comments-on-yahoo-ceo-biogate-calling-trust-issue-a-problem/#comments Mon, 07 May 2012 16:44:06 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=204521

Activist shareholder Daniel Loeb of Third Point just got an unlikely and powerful ally in his proxy fight against Yahoo: Berkshire Hathaway’s famed Warren Buffett.

In a wide-ranging interview on CNBC this morning, when asked about the controversy, Buffett said about the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s excuse that the addition of a false computer science degree to Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson’s bio was an “inadvertent error”:

“It doesn’t sound like an inadvertent error … If I thought as a director, if I thought that an officer had consistently misstated some fact to me, I think I’d probably do something about it,” said the legendary investor, in part, who also noted he did not know all the facts.

Still, said Buffett: “If you can’t trust the people you’re working with, you’ve got a problem.”

Ziiiiing, because if the sage of Omaha thinks it’s bad, it has moved to worse.

And, indeed it has — earlier today, Loeb lobbed a legal demand for information about Thompson’s hiring and more.

Yahoo’s board is conducting an investigation into the matter, led by independent director Fred Amoroso.

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120507/buffett-comments-on-yahoo-ceo-biogate-calling-trust-issue-a-problem/feed/ 0 In 2009 Interview, Yahoo CEO Does Not Deny He Has a CS Degree, and Calls Himself an "Engineer" (Audio) http://allthingsd.com/20120503/in-2009-interview-yahoo-ceo-does-not-deny-he-has-a-cs-degree-and-calls-himself-an-engineer/ http://allthingsd.com/20120503/in-2009-interview-yahoo-ceo-does-not-deny-he-has-a-cs-degree-and-calls-himself-an-engineer/#comments Fri, 04 May 2012 06:22:41 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=203636

On March 25, 2009, Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson — when he was then president of PayPal — appeared on the TechNation radio show to talk about the revival of the eBay payments unit.

At the end of the largely charming interview, Moira Gunn asked him a direct question about his college degrees, specifically noting they were in accounting and computer science.

“Your bachelor’s degree is in accounting and computer science. Now, from both of those, I mean that’s, that’s pretty obvious that’s PayPal,” said Gunn. “What are the most important things you learned?”

“Yeah,” begins Thompson, failing to correct her at all on the fact that he does not actually have a computer science degree — only one in accounting.

He then went even further, touting his early tech training at Stonehill College, near Boston, which did not offer a computer science degree at the time he went there, from 1975 to 1979.

“And that’s really the background that I have, and it started back in my college days, and I think that’s really the wonderful part of being an engineer is you think that way,” said Thompson.

In the most generous interpretation, it’s not quite clear whether Thompson was saying “Yeah” to her statement of his academic credentials, or if he was not actually listening.

But it’s a careless oversight on his part not to have corrected her about the degrees, which could also be said about a computer science degree being present on his bio for more than a half-dozen years at eBay and later at Yahoo without some notice by him.

Because while Thompson has had a long career as a tech exec, as well as a stint as a CIO, academically speaking, a computer science degree did not happen in his college days nor did he graduate as an engineer.

That became apparent earlier today, when Yahoo confirmed that it included inaccurate information about Thompson’s academic background on its Web site and in its regulatory filings.

The admission came after activist shareholder Dan Loeb of Third Point correctly asserted that Thompson’s resume was overstated related to his education.

Yahoo called the inclusion of the computer science degree on his bio an “inadvertent error,” but gave no other explanation as yet. Tonight, the Yahoo board said it was reviewing the matter and would then make appropriate disclosures afterward.

While it is entirely possible that Thompson did not correctly grok what Gunn was saying, it seems pretty clear that he implied his college background was in tech and he was an engineer.

It is true that Thompson did take some computer science classes at Stonehill. And it is entirely possible that he thinks of himself as an engineer by work training and not by college degree.

I am awaiting comment from Yahoo PR, which has its hands full today (welcome to the circus, Amanda!).

Until then, here is the actual audio of that part of the interview and the pertinent part of the transcript, which began at the 26:33 time on the audio, to judge for yourself:

Gunn: Your bachelor’s degree is in accounting and computer science. Now, from both of those, I mean that’s, that’s pretty obvious that’s Paypal. What are the most important things you learned?

Thompson: Yeah. You know, I think and I, I mention this to young kids when I’m on campus, and my son who I was just talking about at Santa Clara, what I’m happiest about in my background is if you work in technology you’re trained to solve problems.

And that’s really it, you’re trained to pull apart very complex things and think about okay, how can I do this or how can I do that or how can I make it better?

And that’s really the background that I have and it started back in my college days, and I think that’s really the wonderful part of being an engineer is you think that way.

RELATED POSTS:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120503/in-2009-interview-yahoo-ceo-does-not-deny-he-has-a-cs-degree-and-calls-himself-an-engineer/feed/ 0 Silver Lake Grabs Large Minority Stake of WME to Push Digital Initiatives http://allthingsd.com/20120502/silver-lake-grabs-large-minority-stake-of-wme-to-push-digital-initiatives/ http://allthingsd.com/20120502/silver-lake-grabs-large-minority-stake-of-wme-to-push-digital-initiatives/#comments Wed, 02 May 2012 17:59:41 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=202614

Large private equity firm Silver Lake is buying a large stake in powerful Hollywood talent agency William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, which is being described as a way to turbocharge its digital efforts.

While the pair would not disclose any financial details of the deal, which they are calling a “strategic partnership,” sources said Silver Lake is acquiring 31 percent of WME.

“Over the years, we have been brick-building, as we have been doing more and more digitally,” said Patrick Whitesell, co-CEO of WME with Ari Emanuel, in an interview today. “But the opportunities are so vast, there is a need for more capital to do more.”

Whitesell and Emanuel said they had been considering a range of investors, especially among media entities, but that they wanted to work with Silver Lake since it had more digital experience as an active investor in technology.

Skype, for example, was the driver of the sale of Internet telephony giant Skype to Microsoft for $8.5 billion, while WME reps stars such as Matt Damon and Hugh Jackman, among others.

“In addition to capital, we really wanted a partner that to help us build it out that had more technology expertise,” said Emanuel. “We are good with brands and creative and talent, but there are many more Silicon Valley opportunities.”

In fact, WME has long tried to up its digital portfolio to respond to the needs of its clients and the changing nature of entertainment distribution as consumer Internet use has exploded. That’s included a digital advertising effort, as well as one in online gaming.

Silver Lake, which has most recently looked at investing in Yahoo, it was a chance to get closer to a trove of premium entertainment content.

“You have two forces at play, ubiquitous distribution and four billion people connected,” said Silver Lake’s Egon Durban. “As that distribution has been commoditized, the only way to differentiate is through A-plus content.”

Along with the core investment, WME and Silver Lake said they will also be considering other possible deals together as they move forward.

“There is nothing we like more than handing our best partners more money,” said Durban, who will join WME executive committee and also help create a technology advisory counsel at the firm.

Calling Marc Andreessen! Actually, in an interesting factoid, it was the well-known tech investor and entrepreneur who introduced Durban to Emanuel.

But this movie has been shown before and is not the first Hollywood-tech hookup to happen. A variety of efforts have waxed and waned over the years — most of which have largely been underwhelming.

Last year, for example, Accel Partners invested $40 million in Legendary Pictures and, back in 2008, Accel, the then William Morris Agency and AT&T formed an investment consortium to focus on Southern California start-ups.

Most closely related was the 2010 deal, in which TPG Capital took a 35 percent stake in Creative Artists Agency.

Here is the official press release on the Silver Lake-WME deal:

WME Press Release_5 02 12_FINAL

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120502/silver-lake-grabs-large-minority-stake-of-wme-to-push-digital-initiatives/feed/ 0 Confirmed: Schultz and Efrusy to Leave Groupon Board; "Accounting Types" Joining http://allthingsd.com/20120430/exclusive-schultz-and-efrusy-to-leave-groupon-board-accounting-types-joining/ http://allthingsd.com/20120430/exclusive-schultz-and-efrusy-to-leave-groupon-board-accounting-types-joining/#comments Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:40:37 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=201483
Spencer Platt | Getty Images News

According to sources close to the situation, Starbucks Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz and Accel Partners’ Kevin Efrusy will be stepping down from the board of Groupon.

Schultz’s departure will be effective today, but Efrusy — who was critical to the initial funding around the Chicago-based daily deals site — will not be standing for re-election at the company’s annual meeting in June.

The departures are voluntary, but sources said the pair will be replaced by two new directors with significantly more fiscal oversight experience, whom one source characterized as “accounting types.”

(Update: Groupon just posted a press release noting the board departures, with the names of the new board pencil pushers: Daniel Henry, CFO of American Express, and Deloitte Vice Chairman Robert Bass. Henry joins immediately in Schultz’s place. Full press release below.)

It is a move that is critical, given Groupon’s recent series of missteps around its financial reporting that have hurt both its reputation and, more importantly, its stock.

Interestingly, several sources noted that Schultz almost left the board right before Groupon’s public offering last fall, after several ongoing disputes with its management, but stayed on so as not to scuttle its IPO.

The board of the company has not involved itself as prominently in the accounting messes at the company, but it appears as if they will begin to now.

It must, given Groupon shares have been trading at a low of $11. Its stock has dipped to $10.98 today.

As Tricia Duryee wrote recently about the fall:

At that price, it is now worth just over $7 billion, down 57 percent since the company went public last November and well off the more than $10 billion it was valued at as tech’s hottest start-up of 2011.

Ironically, Groupon’s current market valuation is actually not much more than the $6 billion offered for it by search giant Google in late 2010.

The fall of Groupon has been swift, from the honorific of being the fastest-growing company ever to one that cannot keep control of that runaway growth.

That’s perhaps no surprise.

Perhaps most significantly, Groupon went public in just four years, delivering the biggest tech IPO since Google.

The quicksilver move was typical for it. In just two years’ time, the company ballooned from 37 employees to 9,625 and from serving five markets in the U.S. to 175 in North America alone. And that’s leaving out massive expansion abroad. In the past year, Groupon has acquired roughly 17 companies, including many international copycats.

The company also has entered many new segments, expanding from selling lower-priced and simpler deals on restaurants and spas to more complex and pricey arenas, including travel, physical goods and luxury items.

But Groupon is now learning that its original business does not work across just any segment, especially to more discerning customers of its higher-level and more expensive offerings.

In fact, it was those newer and potentially more lucrative markets that forced the company recently to revise the company’s fourth-quarter report after returns skyrocketed on luxury items, such as Lasik eye surgery.

The problems forced Groupon to lower revenue in the period by $14.3 million and net income by $22.6 million. It is now reporting a wider net loss of $64.9 million on revenue of $492 million, pushing it further away from its goal of profitability.

The company also disclosed at the time that independent auditors had noted “material weakness” in its financial controls. In addition, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission was examining Groupon’s revision. 

With many companies, investors might have shrugged off such accounting issues, but the impact on the stock has been greater since they are only the latest in a string of similar mistakes at Groupon.

In its pre-IPO period, for example, Groupon was forced to restate revenues after counting both its portion of the revenue and the revenue that goes to the merchant together. It also had to dump a controversial accounting metric that made the company look more profitable than it was, because it did not include important costs, such as critical online marketing expenses to attract new customers.

Those came after the company retracted a statement by Eric Lefkofsky, Groupon’s co-founder and executive chairman, who told Bloomberg in an interview that Groupon would be “wildly profitable.”

At least the wild part was accurate.

Much of the blame for these missteps by Wall Street is being aimed at CEO and co-founder Andrew Mason, the iconoclastic 31-year-old entrepreneur who is largely responsible for defining the company’s culture, as well as Jason Child and Joe Del Preto, the chief financial and accounting officers, respectively.

Child joined the company in December 2010, coming from Amazon, where he held several roles over a 10-year period — including VP of finance, international, and director of investors relations. Prior to joining Amazon, he worked at Arthur Andersen as a certified public accountant.

Del Preto has been Groupon’s chief accounting officer for the past year and, before that, he was the company’s global controller for three months. Before Groupon, he was controller and VP of finance at Echo Global Logistics and also served as controller at InnerWorkings, the same company where Mason was a computer programmer in his early career.

Mason, of course, is the best known and the person most responsible for establishing the company’s whimsical culture and managing — or mismanaging, depending on how you look at it — Groupon’s hard-charging growth.

It will also be up to him to turn it all around, as the company sinks in both value and investor regard. Since the restatement, Mason has said little about how he intends to do that. In February, when Mason concluded Groupon’s first-ever earnings call, he said: “Thanks, guys, this was a lot of fun, and I look forward to many more of these.”

It’s not clear fun will be on the agenda at his next outing on Groupon’s first-quarter call in mid-May.

Here is the official press release from Groupon on the board changes:

Groupon Appoints Two Directors to Board Daniel Henry, CFO of American Express, and Robert Bass, Vice Chair of Deloitte

CHICAGO — (BUSINESS WIRE) — Groupon, Inc (http://www.groupon.com) (NASDAQ:GRPN) today announced that Daniel Henry, the chief financial officer of American Express Company and Robert Bass, a vice chairman of Deloitte LLP will join its Board of Directors. Both will serve on the Audit Committee with Audit Chair, Ted Leonsis. Daniel Henry was appointed to the Board on April 26, replacing Howard Schultz, who has stepped down from the Board. Robert Bass will stand for election at the annual stockholder meeting to be held on June 19 following his retirement from Deloitte, replacing Kevin Efrusy, who will not stand for reelection at that time. “With their deep financial, accounting and operational experience, Dan and Bob will provide invaluable expertise to the Board going forward,” said Eric Lefkofsky, Groupon Chairman.

Daniel Henry, 62, has been the Chief Financial Officer of American Express Company since October 2007. Henry is responsible for leading American Express Company’s finance organization and representing American Express to investors, lenders and rating agencies. He has also served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of U.S. Consumer, Small Business and Merchant Services and joined American Express as Comptroller in 1990. Prior to joining American Express, Henry was a partner with Ernst & Young.

Robert Bass, 62, has been a vice chairman of Deloitte LLP since 2006, and a partner in Deloitte since 1982. He will retire from Deloitte on June 2, 2012. Bass has specialized in e-commerce, mergers and acquisitions and SEC filings. At Deloitte, Bass is responsible for all services provided to Forstmann Little and its portfolio companies and is the advisory partner for Blackstone, DIRECTV, McKesson, IMG and CSC. He has also previously been the advisory partner for priceline.com, RR Donnelley, Automatic Data Processing, Community Health Systems and Avis Budget. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the New York and Connecticut State Societies of Certified Public Accountants.

“I’m thrilled to have been a part of Groupon’s development,” said Kevin Efrusy. “The Company is well on its way to becoming the operating system for all local commerce.”

“Howard and Kevin helped guide us on our journey to becoming a public company and I want to thank them and acknowledge their contributions,” said Groupon CEO Andrew Mason.

“During my tenure on the Board, I was impressed by the game-changing opportunities that Groupon has delivered for both merchants and customers on a global scale,” said Howard Schultz. “Groupon has a strong sense of mission and purpose, and as I move on to focus on my other time commitments, I wish them the very best.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120430/exclusive-schultz-and-efrusy-to-leave-groupon-board-accounting-types-joining/feed/ 0 Yahoo's Ad Platform Is in Limbo, but Right Media Dude Brian Silver Is Moving Forward (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20120412/yahoos-ad-platform-is-in-limbo-but-right-media-dude-brian-silver-is-moving-forward-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20120412/yahoos-ad-platform-is-in-limbo-but-right-media-dude-brian-silver-is-moving-forward-video/#comments Thu, 12 Apr 2012 17:24:05 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=195623

Last week, during the ad:tech gathering in San Francisco, I sat down to do a video interview with Brian Silver, who runs Yahoo’s Right Media advertising exchange.

Silver only got the gig in January, which is when new CEO Scott Thompson also came on board, and it’s already been a wild ride, especially due to all the layoffs and restructuring at the company.

That includes the possible sale or spinoff of Right Media, which Yahoo has been contemplating, along with other parts of its advertising technology platform.

Yahoo bought Right Media for $700 million in 2007.

The concept behind such a sale, according to several sources inside and outside the company, is to turn a cost center into a revenue source, with Yahoo essentially outsourcing a business that was a cornerstone of its strategy. A negotiable number of employees affiliated with those units would then move over to the new owner.

Among the possible buyers: Microsoft and Google, which has put the pressure on Right Media with its aggressive DoubleClick unit.

Silver is trying not to pay attention, focusing on improving the customer experience and also rolling out a new logo, a revamped Web site and promise to excel again.

Here he is talking about it with me in a video interview:


[ See post to watch video ]

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120412/yahoos-ad-platform-is-in-limbo-but-right-media-dude-brian-silver-is-moving-forward-video/feed/ 0 L.A. Stories: Scarfing Up Big Media at Gobbler (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20120411/l-a-stories-scarfing-up-big-media-at-gobbler-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20120411/l-a-stories-scarfing-up-big-media-at-gobbler-video/#comments Wed, 11 Apr 2012 19:31:58 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=195374

Another very interesting company I stumbled across in a funky building in Hollywood on my recent trip to Los Angeles is Gobbler, which bills itself as a “high-speed file transfer & backup for pro audio.”

In other words, a hopped-up version of Dropbox’s media-in-the-cloud efforts for cool music folks.

Armed with just over $3 million from angel investors like Sky Dayton, David Goldberg and others, the start-up is aiming to help media creators who need a lot more firepower, including backing up, transferring and organizing hefty music, video and photo files.

CEO Chris Kantrowitz knows whereof he speaks, as a designer of big music shows, including Coachella, the annual festival which takes place this weekend and next. He co-founded Gobbler with his sister, former Myspace exec Jamie Kantrowitz.

Here he is in a video interview with me talking about the future focus of the company, as well as where cloud storage is headed — Kantrowitz is one hep dude, so listen up:


[ See post to watch video ]

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120411/l-a-stories-scarfing-up-big-media-at-gobbler-video/feed/ 0 L.A. Stories: What's the Frequency for Web Video Discovery? (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20120409/l-a-stories-whats-the-frequency-for-web-video-discovery/ http://allthingsd.com/20120409/l-a-stories-whats-the-frequency-for-web-video-discovery/#comments Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:04:19 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=194172

Earlier this year, Peter Kafka wrote an update about Los Angeles-based Frequency, which is essentially a social TV Guide for online video.

I stopped by Frequency’s HQ — on a recent visit there to check out SoCal start-ups — to chat with its founder and CEO, Blair Harrison, who created and sold iFilm to Viacom several years ago, and to talk about how the Web video hub is doing, even in the face of a range of video-recommending competitors. That includes big-dog Google, which is both a rival and a partner via YouTube and its niche channels.

But, with a slick interface, which Harrison has compared to Flipboard for online video, Frequency is an interesting effort. Here’s the interview I did with him:


[ See post to watch video ]

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120409/l-a-stories-whats-the-frequency-for-web-video-discovery/feed/ 0 Exclusive: Yahoo's Chief Product Officer Blake Irving Resigns http://allthingsd.com/20120405/exclusive-yahoos-chief-product-officer-blake-irving-resigns/ http://allthingsd.com/20120405/exclusive-yahoos-chief-product-officer-blake-irving-resigns/#comments Fri, 06 Apr 2012 01:28:26 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=193746

According to sources close to the situation, Yahoo’s Chief Product Officer Blake Irving has turned in his resignation and it has been accepted by the company.

The process for Irving’s departure is a bit more formal since he is a top officer at the Silicon Valley Internet giant. But it is perhaps not that surprising, given that a brunt of the 2,000 employee layoffs at Yahoo yesterday were in his part of the organization.

Irving has not been at Yahoo this week during those wrenching cuts — that’s because the resignation has been in the works for some time.

In fact, in a restructuring to be announced next week, the central product organization at Yahoo he runs was essentially blown up, with the development moving back into media, sales and consumer products units being planned.

In addition, Yahoo’s new CEO Scott Thompson has been contemplating selling off large parts of the company’s advertising technology platforms, as well as its search business, also now under Irving.

Irving had largely opposed the strategy that Thompson has been aiming toward, said sources, and also strongly disagreed with laying off so many employees without a clear plan in place. Many inside and outside Yahoo agree.

He was also apparently concerned about the massive engineering and research talent exodus of late, especially in Yahoo’s vaunted Labs arm, which suffered major cuts in the layoffs.

The former Microsoft exec has no plans for another job, said sources, but has had a number of offers.

Yahoo confirmed the resignation when I called to ask about Irving’s goodbye. “Yahoo wishes him all the success in the future,” said the spokesperson.

Irving came to Yahoo in mid-2010 under former CEO Carol Bartz, who was fired last fall. Under his leadership, the product unit had focused a lot on creating a major publishing platform for Yahoo and other media companies. He debuted its Livestand content app earlier this year.

Here is a video interview I did with Irving in happier times, talking about Yahoo products, in which he sported a very handsome blue cashmere sweater:


[ See post to watch video ]

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120405/exclusive-yahoos-chief-product-officer-blake-irving-resigns/feed/ 0 L.A. Stories: Mike Jones and Peter Pham Talk About the Science of Tech Studios (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20120404/l-a-stories-mike-jones-and-peter-pham-talk-about-the-science-of-tech-studios/ http://allthingsd.com/20120404/l-a-stories-mike-jones-and-peter-pham-talk-about-the-science-of-tech-studios/#comments Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:27:00 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=193100

While swanning about Los Angeles last week, I paid a visit to a number of interesting techies, including Mike Jones and Peter Pham, who recently founded Science.

While there are a lot of incubators and accelerators out there fiddling with start-ups, the pair of well-known entrepreneurs are calling this venture a “technology studio.”

By that, they mean that Science will do a lot more, from coming up with in-house ideas to investing some of their $10 million in backing to advising on how Silicon Valley should look at investments in Southern California to even taking on restructuring of larger entities.

Science investors include Rustic Canyon, White Star Capital, the Social+Capital Partnership and Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt’s Tomorrow Ventures, and it also has relationships with private equity firms for the bigger stuff.

The focus of Science, as the pair discusses below in a video interview, will be in three arenas: The intersection of content and commerce, social and mobile, and location.

As longtime entrepreneurs and Internet execs, Jones and Pham know those arenas, both the pluses and the minuses.

Jones tried his best (and, like others, failed) with the Myspace revival and also founded and sold Specific Media, Userplane and Tsavo Media.

Pham was recently helming the high-profile and controversial Color photo-sharing start-up in Silicon Valley and did stints at both BillShrink and Photobucket (a former News Corp. property, as was Myspace. News Corp. owns this Web site.).

Here’s my chat with them about their sun-dappled dreams of SoCal tech hegemony via their Santa Monica, Calif., HQ:


[ See post to watch video ]

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120404/l-a-stories-mike-jones-and-peter-pham-talk-about-the-science-of-tech-studios/feed/ 0 Deep Diver James Cameron Talked Ocean Geekery Way Back at D8 http://allthingsd.com/20120326/deep-diver-james-cameron-talked-ocean-geekery-way-back-at-d8/ http://allthingsd.com/20120326/deep-diver-james-cameron-talked-ocean-geekery-way-back-at-d8/#comments Mon, 26 Mar 2012 17:43:48 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=189967

Famed Hollywood movie director James Cameron has always been a geek, most especially an ocean geek, so it’s no surprise that he would be the one to dive seven miles down into the Mariana Trench’s Challenger Deep.

That would be into the Earth’s deepest place, in a tiny, vertical green tube. He’s the first person to do the treacherous dive alone — technically, it is 6.8 miles or 11 kilometers — an exploration he did with National Geographic.

It took about two hours to get down and a little over an hour to come back up. When he got back to the surface, Cameron was first spotted by the helicopter owned by his friend, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen (more power-nerding!), who was also along for the adventure.

While down in the bottom of the sea, Cameron gathered samples and readings, but he also found time to tweet:

The well-known filmmaker has done two big movies related to the ocean — “Titanic” and “The Abyss,” but it is less well known that the lush landscape of “Avatar” got its color and design concepts from the sea.

I know all this and more about Cameron’s watery interests from an interview he did at the eighth D: All Things Digital conference in 2010. In it, he talked a lot about diving, including wanting to use submersibles to make sure the BP oil company was telling the truth about its spill back then.

Here’s the full video interview from D8, which is well worth a watch:


[ See post to watch video ]

And here is a fantastic animation video National Geographic did of the dive:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120326/deep-diver-james-cameron-talked-ocean-geekery-way-back-at-d8/feed/ 0 Exclusive: BermanBraun Buys Most of Shelby Bonnie's Whiskey Media http://allthingsd.com/20120315/exclusive-bermanbraun-buys-most-of-shelby-bonnies-whiskey-media/ http://allthingsd.com/20120315/exclusive-bermanbraun-buys-most-of-shelby-bonnies-whiskey-media/#comments Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:30:32 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=186692

In a deal that was just signed, longtime Silicon Valley exec Shelby Bonnie has sold his social publishing start-up, Whiskey Media, to Santa Monica-based entertainment and interactive production company BermanBraun.

As part of the deal, BermanBraun will get three key sites of San Francisco-based Whiskey, including video entertainment-focused Screened, tech-testing site Tested, and Anime Vice, which covers anime and manga comics. It will also acquire Whiskey’s content-publishing platform.

Two other sites owned by Whiskey — games-oriented Giant Bomb and comic-book database Comic Vine — will be sold to another media company, which is rumored to be CBS Interactive.

Heaped on top of the niche content, aimed at passionate fans, Whiskey mixes in a lot of social networking, as well as user-generated content, along with its professional fare.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

But the major reason for the acquisition is that BermanBraun — which also makes popular sites for large portals such as Microsoft’s MSN (the Wonderwall celebrity site and Glo, aimed at the women’s lifestyle arena) and AOL (upcoming sites on weather, men and pets) — needs to be able to scale its online content production. The Whiskey platform should be able to allow it to more easily grow and create new sites more quickly, as well as mine data across them.

“With the addition of Whiskey’s first rate team and powerful, state of the art publishing, data and social tools platform, we will be able to further enhance our user experience and engagement, and provide our advertising partners with unparalleled data insights,” said Lloyd Braun and Gail Berman, who run BermanBraun, in a statement. “One of the other great parts of this acquisition is that we will have Shelby Bonnie in our lives. We have enormous respect for Shelby personally and professionally, and his insights, relationships and acumen will be invaluable to us.”

Bonnie, who was once CEO of CNET, which he helped found, added: “I have had the pleasure of knowing both Lloyd and Gail for years and they are two incredibly high integrity people who bring passion and creativity to the interactive space. As we see a dramatic changes in the whole media landscape, success will demand new skills and talents. BermanBraun’s content skills and vision joined with the Whiskey platform will create a combination that I believe is without equal. I couldn’t be more excited for the combination.”

Here is a video interview I did with Bonnie in mid-2010 about Whiskey:


[ See post to watch video ]

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120315/exclusive-bermanbraun-buys-most-of-shelby-bonnies-whiskey-media/feed/ 0 Jason Calacanis Has One Miiiiiilllllion Dollars to Give Out to Start-Ups (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20120307/jason-calacanis-has-one-miiiiiilllllion-dollars-to-give-out-to-start-ups-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20120307/jason-calacanis-has-one-miiiiiilllllion-dollars-to-give-out-to-start-ups-video/#comments Wed, 07 Mar 2012 20:38:22 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=181271

Last night, voluble entrepreneur and tech gadfly Jason Calacanis threw a party at dim sum palace Yank Sing in San Francisco, to kick off his latest LAUNCH Festival.

Several dozen start-ups will be debuting at the event today and tomorrow, showing off their wares before judges (I am one tomorrow afternoon) for eventual prize money in the form of investments or convertible notes from venture firms, like Charles River Ventures, and angel investors, such as Kevin Rose.

LAUNCH has gotten just over $1 million in commitments, which seems to be a nice, round, brag-worthy number.

Here’s Calacanis doing just that, and talking about the start-up scene with me in a video interview:


[ See post to watch video ]

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120307/jason-calacanis-has-one-miiiiiilllllion-dollars-to-give-out-to-start-ups-video/feed/ 0 HBO Digital Head Alison Moore Talks About HBO Go and More! (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20120302/hbo-digital-head-alison-moore-talks-about-hbo-go-and-more-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20120302/hbo-digital-head-alison-moore-talks-about-hbo-go-and-more-video/#comments Fri, 02 Mar 2012 17:26:23 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=179928

Earlier this week, HBO co-Presidents Eric Kessler and Richard Plepler hosted a cocktail party in San Francisco, along with a screening of HBO’s latest original film, “Game Change.”

The idea of the event was to get the Time Warner-owned premium cable channel some much-needed cred among the tech press in Silicon Valley, as well as to talk up its slick and well-done streaming service, HBO Go.

Kessler said that HBO would soon be adding Microsoft’s Xbox 360 to the many connected devices to which HBO Go now distributes the channel’s content. So far, the HBO Go app has been downloaded six million times and is available via cable operators.

Alison Moore, SVP of digital platforms at HBO, talked about that and more in this video interview I did here:


[ See post to watch video ]

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120302/hbo-digital-head-alison-moore-talks-about-hbo-go-and-more-video/feed/ 0 Health Help: Former Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz Talks About New CareZone Start-Up (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20120214/health-help-former-sun-ceo-jonathan-schwartz-talks-about-new-carezone-start-up/ http://allthingsd.com/20120214/health-help-former-sun-ceo-jonathan-schwartz-talks-about-new-carezone-start-up/#comments Wed, 15 Feb 2012 05:01:08 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=174701 I certainly was not expecting the kind of start-up that former Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz — he of the fantastic ponytail — showed off to me at AllThingsD.com Global HQ earlier this week.

No enterprise. No servers. No software.

Instead, a very intriguing new social networking site called CareZone, aimed at helping people managing chronic health care issues, whether it be elderly parents, sick children or others.

The private site, subscription-based and without advertising, feels like Facebook for dealing with illness, creating an online community among family members, as well as others involved in the care.

Among the features: Profiles, journals, contacts, medication information and a lockbox for key files such as advance directives, to-dos and notes.

Having just endured my own health care issue, I can tell you all the things to take care of become pretty complex and confusing, and are mostly done via email, paper and phone calls.

Schwartz said the idea came from his own difficult experience with his child, who has a chronic illness, as well as a recent health crisis his father had.

He is bootstrapping the seven-person start-up, based in San Francisco, which he founded with Apple and Microsoft vet Walter Smith, who is CareZone’s CTO.

The cost is $48 a year, or a monthly fee of $5, for a each patient.

Here’s the video interview I did with Schwartz on CareZone:


[ See post to watch video ]

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120214/health-help-former-sun-ceo-jonathan-schwartz-talks-about-new-carezone-start-up/feed/ 0 CEO Tim Cadogan Talks About OpenX's First Profitable Quarter and Where Ad Tech Is Going Next (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20120213/ceo-tim-cadogan-talks-about-openxs-first-profitable-quarter-and-where-ad-tech-is-going-next-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20120213/ceo-tim-cadogan-talks-about-openxs-first-profitable-quarter-and-where-ad-tech-is-going-next-video/#comments Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:00:03 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=173865

OpenX, the online digital advertising upstart, announced this morning that it had reached profitability for the first time, as well as “exceeding an annualized revenue run rate of more than $100M” in its fourth quarter.

It’s certainly a milestone for the Los Angeles-based start-up, which competes with a little company called Google. OpenX has raised almost $51 million in funding since 2007, the latest round being $20 million last year.

CEO Tim Cadogan — a former Yahoo ad exec who arrived at OpenX in 2008 — talked about all this, and about where the online display market online is headed, in a video interview with me last week.

Here’s the chat, and the official press release from OpenX, too:


[ See post to watch video ]

OPENX ANNOUNCES FIRST FULL QUARTER OF PROFITABILITY

Leading provider of digital advertising technology achieves annual run rate exceeding $100M

LOS ANGELES, February 13, 2012 – OpenX Technologies, Inc. (OpenX), one of the world’s leading providers of digital advertising technology, today announced it achieved a profitable fourth quarter as well as exceeding an annualized revenue run rate of more than $100M. The company also announced that it expects to continue its record of profitability during 2012 with continued robust growth across all areas of the company’s business.

2011 was a year of extraordinary success for OpenX during which the company served more than one trillion ad impressions and now handles more than 200 billion ad transactions per month. OpenX Market, the company’s unique ad exchange platform, saw a particularly strong year-over-year rate of growth of nearly 700%. This massive growth in OpenX Market is due to a growing number of publishers and advertisers recognizing the precision and strength of ad exchanges with the quality of both buy-side and sell-side customers that OpenX attracts. The company also continues to operate and manage key global partnerships, including OpenX Market Japan, a partnership with cyber communications inc. (“cci”), a subsidiary of Dentsu Inc.

The company’s advertising technology services, which include OpenX Enterprise, achieved a Q4 year-over-year growth rate of 100% compared with the same period in 2010, due to the acceleration of OpenX Enterprise, the company’s Software as a Service ad serving platform. OpenX has made significant progress over the last year in terms of both product adoption and revenue, proving its paradigm-shifting revenue serving capabilities are not only capable of driving revenue for publishers but can also do so at scale.

“2011 was a breakthrough year for OpenX with huge growth in global adoption of OpenX Enterprise and the phenomenal expansion of OpenX Market,” said Tim Cadogan, chief executive officer, OpenX. “Providing a comprehensive revenue serving solution for publishers to make them more money is the heart of what we are building and we are clearly demonstrating that we are able to do this at massive, global scale. The quality of the OpenX team and the growth levels we’re seeing put us in an incredibly strong position for 2012.”

With the launch in early 2011 of OpenX Enterprise, the Company offered the online advertising market the first true total revenue serving platform to make publishers more money. Since OpenX Enterprise combines an ad server with an ad exchange, it enables publishers to manage exclusive, guaranteed, non-guaranteed and real-time revenue sources all in one unified platform. As a result, for the first time publishers can maximize yield across all their ad revenue channels in real-time in one place.

Adoption of OpenX by major publishers, advertisers and partners has grown rapidly and is now used by thousands of customers across the world, including Groupon, cci, TheStreet.com, Turn, Invite Media, MediaMath, and [x+1].

“Reaching profitability is an important milestone in OpenX’s story,” said Rick Gombos, chief financial officer, OpenX. “What’s even more important is that we have achieved profitability by any measure of financial performance — EBITDA, cash flow and net income.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120213/ceo-tim-cadogan-talks-about-openxs-first-profitable-quarter-and-where-ad-tech-is-going-next-video/feed/ 0 GigaOM Buys paidContent (Like Peter Kafka Said) http://allthingsd.com/20120208/gigaom-buys-paidcontent-like-peter-kafka-said/ http://allthingsd.com/20120208/gigaom-buys-paidcontent-like-peter-kafka-said/#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:19:06 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=172658

GigaOM finally fessed up and said that it had bought tech and media news site paidContent, as AllThingsD.com media ninja Peter Kafka had reported earlier this week it would.

The price is reportedly low, according to sources, but we’ll find out for you, since neither GigaOM nor the former paidContent owner, Britain’s Guardian News & Media, is talking. As part of the deal, though, the Guardian has gotten some sort of stake in GigaOM, and someone there is joining its board as an observer.

PaidContent founder Rafat Ali left his company a couple years after selling to the Guardian in 2008. The Guardian put it up for sale in the fall.

Malik has sold off chunks of his own business — one of the pioneering tech and media news blogs — to venture capitalists such as True Ventures (where he is now a venture partner) and Reed Elsevier Ventures, who have invested a total of $15 million.

In a blast from the past, here is a video interview I did with Ali in mid-2007 in Santa Monica, Calif., at what was then its new offices, talking about the bright future ahead for paidContent (sorry about the quality, but whatevs!):


[ See post to watch video ]

Here is Om Malik’s blog post on the subject, which goes into all (or almost all) the deets:

First the news: Yes, the rumors are true. We are indeed buying the assets of ContentNext Media from Guardian News & Media Limited. And no, we are not disclosing the terms of the deal, except that we are buying the entire group of properties — paidContent.org, mocoNews.net, contentSutra and paidContent:UK and that a representative of Guardian News & Media will join our board of directors as an observer.

A few weeks ago when Paul Walborsky, CEO of GigaOM, came to the board and suggested that we should try and acquire paidContent, my fellow board members — Jon Callaghan (True Ventures), Ammar Hanafi (Alloy Ventures) and Kevin Brown (Reed Elsevier Ventures) — didn’t hesitate for a minute. The ethos of paidContent and our company are in sync. GigaOM’s core belief is that as connectivity becomes ubiquitous, it changes everything from society to business to we the people. paidContent from the very beginning has been built on the idea that connectedness is and will change media. It makes perfect sense for us to team up. Since then, Paul and his team worked tirelessly to make it happen.

OK, now you know what. Let me tell you why.

Now, why are we doing this deal, clearly the biggest of our five-and-a-half-year history? Two simple but equally powerful reasons — the first and perhaps most important reason: people. I have been an admirer of paidContent’s editorial team from the very beginning of its journey. Rafat Ali and Staci Kramer were two of my favorite writers in the early days of professional blogging. And while Rafat (who is on our board of advisers) has moved on to new things, I am glad to have Staci join us. She has been instrumental in building ContentNext from the ground up, and in addition to writing, she has been building the company’s event business. I am thrilled to announce that she will remain the editor of paidContent.

Ernie Sander who spearheads the ContentNext editorial operations is the kind of veteran everyone on our team, including me, can learn from. And for that precise reason, Ernie is going to become the executive editor of our sprawling online editorial operations. Our managing editor, Nicole Solis, is being promoted to VP of Editorial Operations. And then there is the most awesome team of journalists — Robert Andrews, Tom Krazit, Daniel Frankel, Laura Hazard Owen, Jeff Roberts and Amanda Natividad. In addition there are a wonderful group of technology, business and sales people who are joining our company. I welcome them all to our growing family and can’t wait to break bread with them in weeks to come.

Location, location, location

These fine folks are actually going to help bolster our presence in New York and help increase our footprint in Europe, a region of key strategic focus for GigaOM. (We will be hosting Structure:Europe in Amsterdam, October 16-17.) With this deal, we are really pleased that one of the most forward-looking media outlets around, Guardian News & Media, will become a shareholder in our business.

As you all know, I am (and will always be) a displaced New Yorker; New York City is my spiritual home. By increasing our footprint in the capital of the world, I would get a chance to go back more often. But it’s not an emotional tug that is driving us to this decision. New York is fast becoming a major technology hub, as Ryan Kim outlined in his recent post. And we want to expand our coverage to Boston — thanks to Barb Darrow who joined us several months ago — and the Washington DC corridor as well. paidContent’s New York City offices are now GigaOM East.

Media is the new Wild West

We are quite strategic about our acquisitions — we acquire media entities only if we love the people and believe that we are at the starting phase of a trend. In 2008, we acquired jkOnTheRun as our tip of the hat to the growing demand for mobile devices and the changes it would bring into society. Later that year, we brought in The Apple Blog because we knew the best was yet to come for Apple. Both of those acquisitions have helped GigaOM cover the issues that matter most to our ultimate customers — you, the reader — in a smart, sensible fashion.

“The question that mass amateurization poses to traditional media is ‘What happens when the costs of reproduction and distribution go away? What happens when there is nothing unique about publishing anymore because users can do it for themselves?” We are now starting to see that question being answered.” — Clay Shirky

Shirky’s observation means that we are in a time of chaos where the very idea of media is being questioned. And as a Chinese proverb says, from chaos emerges opportunity. I believe the best is yet to come for media.

Over the past few years we have started to see the transformation of media by new technologies, new methods of distribution and newer ways to consume information. Mathew Ingram has been writing about these disruptions on a regular basis, and now we are going to double down on what we think is a great new chapter in the media industry.

I have always believed that we’ve got to stop thinking of media as what it was and focus on more of what it could be. In the world of plenty, the only currency is attention and attention is what defines “media.” Zynga is fighting Hollywood for attention (and winning). Instagram is taking moments away from other media. They have attention. There are old companies that are dying and new ones that are being invented. We’re eager to expand our coverage of social and digital media editorially, in our research and at our events. paidContent is the best chronicler of the media industry, and by blending their coverage with ours, we hope to watch this fast-changing industry ever more closely.

Please join me in welcoming the ContentNext team!

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120208/gigaom-buys-paidcontent-like-peter-kafka-said/feed/ 0 During the IPO Quiet Period, Please Enjoy the D Stylings of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20120202/during-the-ipo-quiet-period-please-enjoy-the-d-stylings-of-facebooks-mark-zuckerberg-and-sheryl-sandberg-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20120202/during-the-ipo-quiet-period-please-enjoy-the-d-stylings-of-facebooks-mark-zuckerberg-and-sheryl-sandberg-video/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:48:14 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=170893

We’ve been fortunate to host Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg twice on the stage of the D: All Things Digital conference, including one appearance with COO Sheryl Sandberg.

With the blockbuster IPO filing of the social networking giant yesterday — and the ensuing quiet period — both interviews are now most definitely an interesting look-see at the pair who are leading the company.

After Facebook goes public in late May, investors will presumably get more interaction with them both, as well as deeper insight into what makes the company tick.

Until then, here are the videos from the full interviews from 2010′s D8 and 2008′s D6 (unfortunately, for goofy reasons back then, we had to cut these up into four parts).

The interviews cover a wide range of topics, including the then-distant IPO.


[ See post to watch video ]


[ See post to watch video ]


[ See post to watch video ]


[ See post to watch video ]

RELATED POSTS

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120202/during-the-ipo-quiet-period-please-enjoy-the-d-stylings-of-facebooks-mark-zuckerberg-and-sheryl-sandberg-video/feed/ 0 Viral Video: Farewell to the No-IPO Mark Zuckerberg http://allthingsd.com/20120202/viral-video-farewell-to-the-no-ipo-mark-zuckerberg/ http://allthingsd.com/20120202/viral-video-farewell-to-the-no-ipo-mark-zuckerberg/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:37:58 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=170709 For most of the eight years since he has been running Facebook, co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has essentially dragged his feet on the way to the inevitable initial public offering of the social networking giant.

Here’s proof of that in a pair of interviews Lesley Stahl of CBS’s “60 Minutes” did with him in 2008 and 2010. (I am in the clip, too, and my guessing on the timing of the current IPO pretty is spot-on — a prediction I had forgotten I made).

But the times they are a-changin’ — Facebook filed for its mega-IPO yesterday:

RELATED POSTS

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120202/viral-video-farewell-to-the-no-ipo-mark-zuckerberg/feed/ 0 Honest: Jessica Alba's Now an E-Commerce Geek (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20120125/honest-jessica-albas-now-an-e-commerce-geek-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20120125/honest-jessica-albas-now-an-e-commerce-geek-video/#comments Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:05:48 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=167303

From the Web 1.0 Matt Damon-Ben Affleck debacle to the stunt-casting of Justin Timberlake as a Myspace impresario and everything in between, I have been more than dubious about any online effort by a celebrity.

Not surprisingly, it is usually a lot of special effects but little in the way of substance, from an entrepreneurial point of view.

So it was nice to be actually impressed by actress Jessica Alba’s fledgling effort to break into online commerce, via a new site called the Honest Company.

Using an interesting online subscription model and aimed at the modern mom, Honest sells its own private-label, eco-friendly and hipster baby diapers and biodegradable wipes, as well as organic bath/skin care and green cleaning products.

Alba, who is Honest’s president and one of its co-founders, was inspired to bootstrap the start-up after having kids and being confused as to how to find nontoxic products for them in a marketplace of questionable offerings.

Thus, she and Christopher Gavigan, author of “Healthy Child Healthy World,” hooked up with an experienced entrepreneur — Brian Lee, co-founder of ShoeDazzle and LegalZoom — to create Honest, which just launched.

Selling its own products using a monthly “bundle” model differentiates Honest from comparable sites, such as Gwyneth Paltrow’s GOOP, which focuses on classy recommendations of a wide variety of similar fare.

Right now, the online-only Honest effort is using Alba’s high profile and online clout — many millions of fans and followers on social sites like Facebook and Twitter, for example; and also viral marketing, via mommy bloggers — to get noticed.

But the proof will be if Honest can keep its customers coming back every month for more, as it expands its line. (So far, the reviews of the products have been raves, such as this one from salt & nectar.)

Here’s Alba talking about Honest with Lee, in a video interview at the company’s Santa Monica, Calif., HQ:


[ See post to watch video ]

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120125/honest-jessica-albas-now-an-e-commerce-geek-video/feed/ 0 The Full Valenti: Dodd Trades His Olive Branch to Tech for a Howitzer, After SOPA/PIPA Gets Delayed http://allthingsd.com/20120120/the-full-valenti-dodd-trades-his-olive-branch-to-tech-for-a-howitzer-after-sopapipa-gets-delayed/ http://allthingsd.com/20120120/the-full-valenti-dodd-trades-his-olive-branch-to-tech-for-a-howitzer-after-sopapipa-gets-delayed/#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:32:53 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=165951

Poor Chris Dodd — he just got the top media lobbying job in Washington, D.C., at the very moment that the strong-arming-pols, scare-the-children, Jack Valenti era in media lobbying is now decidedly over.

It’s obviously a very confusing time for big media these days, on a lot of fronts. But any of the consummate insider moves once used by the legendarily pugnacious Valenti (pictured here onstage at our first D: All Things Digital conference in 2003) had a hard time this past week, as Internet players went very public in protesting two Congressional bills aimed at combating piracy online.

Not that Dodd didn’t try to cope.

The former Senator — who is now the chief lobbyist for the once much more powerful Motion Picture Association of America — gave a can’t-we-all-get-along interview to the New York Times on Thursday, in which he called for a meeting with techies to come to some acceptable compromise.

Wrote the Times:

“In an interview Thursday, Mr. Dodd said he would welcome a summit meeting between Internet companies and content companies, perhaps convened by the White House, that could lead to a compromise … ‘The perfect place to do it is a block away from here,’ said Mr. Dodd, who pointed from his office on I Street toward 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

But on Friday, after politicians quickly moved to delay both the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Senate’s PROTECT I.P. Act (PIPA) — after successful protests pointing out that the legislation could lead to censorship — Dodd went to the full Valenti again:

“We applaud those leaders in Washington who have chosen to stand with the millions of hard working Americans all across this nation whose livelihoods are threatened by foreign criminal websites designed to steal. As a consequence of failing to act, there will continue to be a safe haven for foreign thieves; American jobs will continue to be lost; and consumers will continue to be exposed to fraudulent and dangerous products peddled by foreign criminals.”

Foreign criminals! Foreign thieves! Is it just me, or does Dodd sounds like Cher, singing, “Gypsies, tramps and thieves”?

(Let’s be clear, that utterance could never top Valenti’s most infamous quote: “I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston Strangler is to the woman home alone.”)

To be fair, Dodd is hindered by strict restrictions on his lobbying Congress until next year. That said, this is not an old-timey, private Capitol Hill fight, but a modern-era, social-media-charged one.

And it’s pretty clear that the old scare tactics used by big media will no longer work as well, as consumers — as much as they like their movies — seem to love their Internet more.

Thus, what has happened is that — at least for now — the MPAA and media companies have lost and lost big, after the typically fractious Web powers decided to lock arms for once and cooperate with a creative, take-it-to-the-people approach of showing a disabled Internet.

Dramatic? Yes. Effective? Certainly. (That Facebook and Google agree on anything? Astonishing!)

Where it goes from here is unclear — the MPAA and its constituents could certainly rally and put forth their own protest. Ironically, the most effective way to do that is not via the airwaves or other former means of broadcast to the public, but on the Web.

Which is controlled by Dodd’s foes. (You see the problem here.)

The answer, in the end, might have to be the cooperation he first suggested.

As he told the Times:

“The companies, Mr. Dodd said, are ‘rethinking everything,’ not just about the bills, but about their relationship with an estranged Silicon Valley. That need for rapprochement, he said, ‘has come home in a way that no rhetoric of mine could express.’”

Much more to come, obvi.

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