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Where leaping to conclusions is my primary form of forward motion.
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Thursday, February 9, 2006
Antergy
What’s the opposite of Synergy? It’s Antergy. Oligopoly Watch coins a new term for the cyclic stupidity of the corporate world. And, as is always the case, CxOs and consultants make beaucoup bucks on both ends – buying up things that don’t work together under the pretense of synergy, later selling them off on the pretense of releasing value. One metaphor for this is the human body. The body takes in various foodstuffs, holds onto them for a while, strips out the valuable components, and excretes the remainder. Somewhere in the process energy is created and we, the owners of the body, benefit from the process with health and life. So it is with corporations, except the CxOs and consultants are the ones who absorb all the energy in the form of bonuses and fees. The customers, employees, and shareholders often get only the excrement that comes out at the end.
Time-Warner sells book unit
One day after we note the frantic rush by the media oligopolies to spin off non-core assets then it happens once again. Time-Warner, under heavy pressure from a small group of determined investors, announced it has sold off its book division, to France's Lagardere, in a $538 million deal.
This is no big surprise. Time-Warner shopped around the book division three years ago, but has not until now found a buyer at an agreeable price. Reports are that the book division had a record year in 2005. Imprints owned by Time-Warner include Warner Books; Little, Brown & Co.; Arcade; Back Bay; and Bulfinch Press
Time-Warner was a second-tier player, #5 in the US publishing industry, considerably smaller than Bertelsmann (Random House) and Pearson (Penguin). That industry shows little added growth, making opportunities for growth without acquisitions unlikely.
Lagardere is best known for publishing magazine like Elle, Car & Driver, and Paris Match through its Hachette Filipacci division and books through its French-based Hachette division. The company has some online and newspaper interests as well. It also has minority holdings in such unrelated industries as aerospace and cable TV. It will become the #3 book publisher worldwide after the deal. Lagardere bought British publisher Hodder Headline in 2004.
For Time Warner it's yet another sell-off of a division. The company has sold off the Warner Music Group, its share of Comedy Central TV station, and some sports teams. It entered into an alliance over AOL with Google, and rumors are always strong that it will sell off the whole AOL division (if it can find a buyer). In addition, it recently combined its WB network with Universal's UPN in a 50/50 split.
The Time-Warner proxy rebels led by Carl Icahn have announced they want the company split even further, into four new firms, namely Time-Warner Cable, motion pictures and TV networks, magazine publishing, and AOL. As with Viacom, the idea is to "release" a lot of pent-up value, the very opposite of synergy, namely antergy.
Posted by: 
Terry Frazier at 12:34 PM
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Categories: Business & Finance, Strategy
Terry Frazier at 12:34 PM
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Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Secret History of Credit Cards
Great PBS expose' on the dirty business of credit cards. It's difficult to watch this and not come away thinking that bankers are crooks (the ABA lobbyist is a real sleezebag.) One of the big demons is the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the US Treasury agency that, in January 2004, declared itself sole regulator of the national banks and insulated them state-based legal action. NY Attorney General Eliott Spitzer thinks that's a really bad idea. But the (former) Comptroller thinks it will be just fine. She couldn't point to any examples where they'd actually taken a large bank to task over anything. But she was very assuring they're on the task. Sort of like the TSA, and FEMA, and the Dept. of Homeland Security - you know, all those federal agencies that do such a fine job of farting around whenever there's an opportunity to do whatever it is they're actually supposed to do.You can watch the whole thing online. It's worth doing. And remember, YOUR Senators voted FOR the banking industry and AGAINST you to revise bankruptcy laws specifically to benefit credit card companies. Don't let them forget.
Posted by: Terry Frazier at 11:12 PM
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Categories: Business & Finance, Policy & Regulation
Terry Frazier at 11:12 PM
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Friday, December 9, 2005
Yahoo! buys del.icio.us
Another good idea gets bought. Much like the flickr deal, this one makes sense. Unlike the flickr deal, we shouldn't hear a lot of whining from existing users. Yahoo is unlikely to start charging for bookmarking service, instead working to integrate it into all their other services. And the backing of a BigCo like the Y! means delicious is likely to be around for a long time, so I don't have to worry about my bookmarks disappearing one day.Yahoo! buys del.icio.us
Yahoo! has bought social bookmarking site del.icio.us for an undisclosed amount. Joshua Schachter posted an announcement to the del.icio.us blog and mentions Yahoo!'s ability to help del.icio.us scale and keep pace with it's growing user base and site usage. Jeremy Zawodny welcomed the del.icio.us team on the Yahoo! Search blog and notes Yahoo! properties My Web and Flickr are natural matches for Joshua and del.icio.us.
Posted by: Terry Frazier at 10:10 PM
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Categories: Business & Finance, Collaboration, Productivity, Technology
Terry Frazier at 10:10 PM
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