Summit Notebook
Exclusive outtakes from industry leaders
Mattresses and pillows, a diversified portfolio
With financial markets in turmoil and the U.S. economy in recession, we asked top entertainment and sports executives at the Reuters Media Summit for some investment advice.
Our question: “If we gave you $50,000, where would you invest?” One rule: They couldn’t pick their own company. But then we thought $50,000 was too little for well heeled executives, so we switched it to $50 million. But that seemed excessive. After all, we’re talking about personal investments — so we settled on giving them a cool $1 million.
Here’s what they said:
“In a pillow … You might look at the energy sector, you might see what happens with gold. I’ve got cousins who work in the banking industry. When I asked them, they told me put it in my pillow. That is your answer.”
– Havas’s MPG Chief Operating Officer Steve Lanzano
“I would be in the most conservative mechanisms I could — treasury bills, whatever, absolutely. The old trite bromide about cash is king? Well, that is true and more true today than ever before.”
– Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig
