Summit Notebook
Exclusive outtakes from industry leaders
What will the media company of the 21st Century look like?
In the run-up to the annual Reuters Media Summit, taking place in New York and London next week, we have been asking experts and executives how they think media companies should reinvent themselves for the 21st Century.
Will the big need to get bigger? See Comcast’s bid for a controlling stake in NBC Universal.
Or will it be a question of being slimmer and more focused? Like Time Warner, which is now essentially a pure content company after spinning off Time Warner Cable in March and AOL next week.
All these businesses are heavily impacted by the Web as a distribution tool and they are doing various things to counter that. But it won’t be easy, say analysts in our Summit preview. While content will continue to be extremely valuable, content owners will need to figure out how to make money from the Web and other new platforms of distribution.
Diller to profitable companies: Lay off the layoffs
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.
