IAC Chief Executive Barry Diller took several groups to task at the Reuters Media Summit, but he reserved special disgust for CEOs at profitable companies who add to the country’s rising unemployment rate.
Also targeted by the former Hollywood executive were “incredibly, shockingly stupid” Big 3 auto executives, the Internet’s strange and growing dictionary, and Hollywood’s lack of creativity.
Diller said companies had a higher obligation, especially in tough times like these:
“The idea of a company that’s earning money, not losing money, that’s not, let’s say ‘industrially endangered,’ to have just cutbacks so they can earn another $12 million or $20 million or $40 million in a year where no one’s counting is really a horrible act when you think about it on every level. First of all, it’s certainly not necessary. It’s doing it at the worst time. It’s throwing people out to a larger, what is inevitably a larger unemployment heap for frankly no good reason.”
A few seconds later, he added:
“It’s not that you don’t want to earn as much money as you can — it is your obligation, of course — but companies have obligations beyond that and they certainly have obligations beyond that at certain times, in the times in which they operate. And they also certainly ought to know that meeting and beating expectations is probably yesterday’s game and it will be increasingly so, which would be by the way very healthy for companies. Running a company that meets and beats expectations, and that runs their company accordingly, are companies that I would question why anyone would invest in.”
Diller was equally confounded by the top three U.S. auto executives, who recently were criticized for separately flying corporate jets to Washington before hearings to request a $25 billion taxpayer bailout.
“It’s incredibly, shockingly stupid if you’re going, when you think about it. On that count alone I wouldn’t give them any money. And not because of any reason other than why would I give money to someone so dumb to go to Washington to ask for money and fly in a Gulfstream. You’d say, ‘You’re not qualified. Unless you leave, I’m not giving you money.’”
Other topics:
* When discussing social networking: “Think of the bimbo words this Internet has created: portal, social network; I could riff on …. networking, horrible word too.”
* Hollywood: “Margins used to be very good in the movie business. They’re now, what, 4, 5 percent in a decent year, so where’s the joy in that? Is there really a joy in ‘Superman 17′ or “Iron Man 2′?”
* Movie studio executives: “‘Mogul’ is yesterday. It just doesn’t apply. You use the word ‘mogul’ and what you do is conjure up the fantasy, the memory of when there were actual movie moguls who made their decisions, believed in what they did, were outsized personalities. There’s no outsized personalities in the movie business anymore.”
* Indiscriminate spending: “There is a reluctance, even with people who have vast resources. Right now, it just isn’t the order; it isn’t the day. You’re not going to see a birthday party for three million bucks. I don’t care how many billions you have or paying Mick Jagger $3 million to come and sing for your birthday. I notice this with my friend. I just notice this as a condition of this period.”
To hear the always entertaining Diller riff, go ahead and click on the links…
(Photo: Reuters)
72 comments so far
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It is too bad about Berry Diller’s brain rot. The entertainment industtry spend billions making really bad shows that entertain who? No one wants to see most of the new shows that the television industry puts on, There have always been flops made and no producer has ever been able to be absolutely sure the parts of a show are really coming together. Hollywood has gotten much worse lately at promoting producers with better hits to flop ratios. I think that this is becouse the have social structure has become so dependent on being politically correct that they can not hear when the audiance is booing. Mr Diller, we are booing your product! We were also booing back when you made entertainment.
- Posted by GregoryAll of the whiners on this thread, complaining about their employers doing this and that: get your rear ends in gear, and start your own company. IF you can make a success of it (highly doubtful), then repost here in a few months and tell us about all the great things you are doing for your employees because you have “extra money.”
What a load!
- Posted by Curmudgeon10Typical Hollywood twit. A company’s principal obligation is to it’s owners. Since most Americans have some type of retirement account or insurance, that’s YOU. If your company was selling one amount of something last year and needed x number of employees to do it, that’s how many they have in a well=run shop. If you are selling half as much, keeping all the employees will mean you are paying half to do nothing. Keep that up for a while and you have GM. I would be curious how many people Diller kept on the payroll to do nothing because “it was the right thing to do.” Maybe a dumb brother-in-law.
- Posted by old grouchAs a conservative Republican, I agree 100% with Diller.
I just read that AT&T is going to lay off 12,000 people and I’m wondering if this is one of the companies that Diller is concerned about. They’ve sold millions of iPhones which means they’ve got a steady stream of income for the next 2 two 3 years.
- Posted by So_Cal_MarkIs this guy serious? “If you are not on the brink of going out of business, then continue to expose yourself to the market and to the coming tax storm.” So I am to risk everyone’s job later in order to save a few now. No thank you…
- Posted by MarkI am puzzled. Just exactly who do you blame for a company being amoral? Is there some lady named Chrysler that I can knock on their door and appeal to their sense of humanity? Corporations exist for one purpose to separate their “owners” from all of the liabilities of owning a business. The sixteenth amendment to the constitution was sold to the American people as a way to limit corporate privilege and wealth. What we have here is a failure of the government’s social experiment on the American people. In a perfect world communism is a perfect idea. In the real world it is insanity. What the government has given us with Corporate America could be just as aberrant.
- Posted by Deborah GoldThis is the rant of a typical Hollywood airhead. If Hollywood has all of the answers, why are their profit margins slipping so badly? If Diller wants cuddly compassion, he should buy a puppy.
- Posted by Patrick C.“There’s no outsized personalities in the movie business anymore.”
Yeah right!!
Businesses do what they must to survive. They are in business to provide products or services, not to create and keep jobs. If you want to create jobs - start your own business.
- Posted by GRAAnn Rand anyone?
- Posted by CobyI disagree with Diller. Companies need to preserve as much cash as possible so they can stay in business and keep the 90% who work at the company employed. They could also use the extra cash to buy up other companies and resources on the cheap right now.
Those jobs are the companies, not the workers. You hire people because you make more money with them on staff. You fire for the same reason.
It is unreasonable to expect people and companies to not do what is best for themselves. We are an economy of individuals doing what is best for ourselves - anything else is communism.
- Posted by TomI suppose Mr. Diller wants us to all go invest in losing companies so we can be good citizens. I’m sure that’ll work out — not! Talk about being stuck in the past… Today most employees own a share of those terrible profits corporations are making — through pensions, 401k plans, and stock options. If our companies don’t make a large profit they are screwing us.
- Posted by RobinMr. Diller can go ahead and choose to invest in companies that don’t meet or beat expectations if he has a problem with it, but smart investing it is not. For my money, I’ll invest in a company that turns a profit and makes wise business decisions - it’s what they’re supposed to do, after all. This is pure drivel from Mr. Diller. Businesses don’t exist to keep you employed, they exist to make money. If your employer doesn’t make a profit, you’re not likely to have a job for long anyway.
- Posted by Greg“Profits are great but not at the expense of people.”
Yes, they should ignore profits at the expense of people because such a thing has worked out so well for the Big 3 automakers, lol. I mean, they can always go to Capital Hill and beg for money when the going gets tough. Better to screw the entire country than to cut a few jobs.
The private jet is a red herring. Since he’s easily distracted by the irrelevant, Mr. Diller should have a bright future in politics, as he’s clearly qualified for it.
- Posted by KevinIf any company listens to Diller and fails to prepare for the hard times to come they are fools. You don’t wait to lay off employees until you are in the position that GM finds itself in. The time to layoff employees is BEFORE you need a bailout to survive. Layoffs are tied to future expectations. Obama has promised to raise taxes on businesses and on the individuals that rune them (the wealthy). It would be foolish not to take Mr. Obama at his word and prepare now for the inevitiblly more difficult business climate to come under his administration.
- Posted by JamesBarry Diller is one of the most overpaid CEOs in America. He is looting the company. He deserves no respect.
- Posted by William CombsI once read that “corporations are created to make
- Posted by John Lmoney. Any consideration that they will act with a
conscience is illusory”. With very limited exceptions
I have always thought that the writer was correct. He
could have gone one step further and spoke to the burgeoning power of government, where the game is power
and enlarging personal fiefdoms at public expense, while disregarding the desires of the nations citizenry. I want to see all of those who knowingly contributed to this meltdown, some who have been placed in Obama’s cabinet, particularly his chief of staff, along with Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, in for 20 to 30 years hard time. We need to “discourage the others” who eventually want to follow their meretricious examples in the future.
Right on Mr. Diller! All profitable companies are doing when they lay off people is reducing the potential customer base for their own services and products. They add to a weakening economy that will just stress their own company. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.
- Posted by kenthDillar’s a giant. He’s also right. If you fire enough people there won’t be anyone left to buy anything from anyone, including you. If that’s what you ankle biting fleas want, be careful. You just might get it.
At least Dillar and Ted Turner have spoken up recently with a modicum of understanding based on being personally at the helm of huge balance sheets. So you loudmouths that think you can knock him off the pedestal with a bog comment should just go back to praying to your porcelain gods instead of puking your lack of knowledge here.
- Posted by Hunter GathererI was recently laid off so that my former company could make extra money. They were purchased by a private equity firm who then sent 100 jobs to India to a company also owned by the private equity firm. I trained 4 people to take my position, 2 of whom failed and 2 who remained with a 33% success rate. And what does this company do? It deals with health insurance companies - now your health insurance information, which is supposedly protected by HIPAA, is sitting on computers in India, where it is no longer protected. Not only did this company contribute to the rising unemployment rate - with threats of laying off even more - but it then sent your private health information someplace where it cannot be protected. It’s time that corporations start taking care of the people in the country where they are based. When Americans are laid off, it affects everybody and will eventually affect even those corporations who performed the layoffs in the first place.
- Posted by MaryI totally agree with this post. At a time when the country is in a major economic shift, the “busines as usual” mantra is out of touch. Profits are great but not at the expense of people.
- Posted by Sade Jordan