Comments on: If he were Rupert…. http://www.buzzmachine.com/2005/10/19/if-he-were-rupert/ by Jeff Jarvis Sun, 14 Mar 2010 05:39:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: XXX-MOVIES http://www.buzzmachine.com/2005/10/19/if-he-were-rupert/#comment-53127 XXX-MOVIES Tue, 23 May 2006 19:15:36 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/?p=655#comment-53127 A second line of fire rose in her cheeks as again Suzanne screamed. A second line of fire rose in her cheeks as again Suzanne screamed.

]]> By: Laurel Papworth http://www.buzzmachine.com/2005/10/19/if-he-were-rupert/#comment-44155 Laurel Papworth Fri, 05 May 2006 06:55:51 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/?p=655#comment-44155 If I was Rupert, I'd go shopping. I'd buy pretty dresses and fast cars and faster men. But hey, that's not what you meant. There is still value in mastheads. Rupert's or others. We're all StarFarkers (can I say that? Please?) and love to converse with celebrities, even *shudders* journalists. It's just a shame that newspapers that have blogs, and journo's that blog, don't understand the DIALOGUE aspect of Web 2.0. It's really bloody rare to have the journalists respond in their own blog; just one post a day (ok, maybe two) would be enough. Sheesh. Rupert has olde guarde to get rid of at NewsCorp (yet again, but he's become quite good at purging). I recommend he put the editors and writers on a performance improvement plan that includes increasing the number of comments/feedbacks per bloglet they write about. That'll fix their little red wagons. BTW, <i>you'd</i> be allowed to stick around. Maybe :P As for ads? Think Global, Act Local. Its the tagline for Location Based Services but then again, LBS is a good place to watch for changes. Anyway, 'nuff from me, I have my Bloggers Anonymous meeting to attend. Heh. If I was Rupert, I’d go shopping. I’d buy pretty dresses and fast cars and faster men. But hey, that’s not what you meant.

There is still value in mastheads. Rupert’s or others. We’re all StarFarkers (can I say that? Please?) and love to converse with celebrities, even *shudders* journalists. It’s just a shame that newspapers that have blogs, and journo’s that blog, don’t understand the DIALOGUE aspect of Web 2.0. It’s really bloody rare to have the journalists respond in their own blog; just one post a day (ok, maybe two) would be enough. Sheesh. Rupert has olde guarde to get rid of at NewsCorp (yet again, but he’s become quite good at purging). I recommend he put the editors and writers on a performance improvement plan that includes increasing the number of comments/feedbacks per bloglet they write about. That’ll fix their little red wagons. BTW, you’d be allowed to stick around. Maybe :P

As for ads? Think Global, Act Local. Its the tagline for Location Based Services but then again, LBS is a good place to watch for changes. Anyway, ’nuff from me, I have my Bloggers Anonymous meeting to attend. Heh.

]]> By: FRED and loan offer http://www.buzzmachine.com/2005/10/19/if-he-were-rupert/#comment-11751 FRED and loan offer Sat, 05 Nov 2005 10:13:12 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/?p=655#comment-11751 WE GIVE LOAN AT LOW RATE OF 5% AND WITH LONG AND SHORT TIME LOAN IF NEEDED PLEASE CONTACT US AT VIA loanlenders4urgent@yahoo.com WE GIVE LOAN AT LOW RATE OF 5% AND WITH LONG AND SHORT TIME LOAN IF NEEDED PLEASE CONTACT US AT VIA loanlenders4urgent@yahoo.com

]]> By: Tom Williams http://www.buzzmachine.com/2005/10/19/if-he-were-rupert/#comment-10752 Tom Williams Sat, 22 Oct 2005 22:50:29 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/?p=655#comment-10752 I was part of a team from Nextera (a now defunct strategy consulting firm whose largest investor was Rupert pal Mike Milken's Knowledge Universe) as a consultant to News Corp during the internet bubble. I was 19 when I was part of this engagement, and I was brought in for my supposed internet-savvy. I was supposed to be adding content and functionality suggestions for a strategy to create an internet property for a speciality cable network that they had recently created. Instead, I found myself butting heads with my consulting colleagues since the online health space already had its fill of portals. My advice? Leverage your real asset (your television network) for cash and warrants with an internet player who needed to support their valuation. Wait, I'm not taking credit for News Corp's deal with WebMD which ended up (at the time) being valued at around $1 billion (incl. warrants available to be earned).. I'm not sure I was really listened to by most of the people on my consulting team nor most anyone at News Corp except for the uber-smart Anthea Disney. Anyway, to my knowledge that deal was still the only stand-out internet success (in Rupe currency at least) at News Corp: Leverage your existing assets for sale/license. I think Rupe et all will continue to look at internet acquisitions/investments primarily from a cross-licensing/promotion vehicle. Their goal is purely to not to stay ahead of the pack but to identify the assets that can be cost-effectively purchased or dealt with that lever/promote their content. Regardless of their positioning, News Corp's management team is "content centric." The whole notion of decentralized media is really not something they'll be able to easily wrap their heads around. By the way, notice that MySpace has now introduced a Classifieds app. I was part of a team from Nextera (a now defunct strategy consulting firm whose largest investor was Rupert pal Mike Milken’s Knowledge Universe) as a consultant to News Corp during the internet bubble.

I was 19 when I was part of this engagement, and I was brought in for my supposed internet-savvy. I was supposed to be adding content and functionality suggestions for a strategy to create an internet property for a speciality cable network that they had recently created.

Instead, I found myself butting heads with my consulting colleagues since the online health space already had its fill of portals.

My advice? Leverage your real asset (your television network) for cash and warrants with an internet player who needed to support their valuation. Wait, I’m not taking credit for News Corp’s deal with WebMD which ended up (at the time) being valued at around $1 billion (incl. warrants available to be earned).. I’m not sure I was really listened to by most of the people on my consulting team nor most anyone at News Corp except for the uber-smart Anthea Disney.

Anyway, to my knowledge that deal was still the only stand-out internet success (in Rupe currency at least) at News Corp: Leverage your existing assets for sale/license. I think Rupe et all will continue to look at internet acquisitions/investments primarily from a cross-licensing/promotion vehicle. Their goal is purely to not to stay ahead of the pack but to identify the assets that can be cost-effectively purchased or dealt with that lever/promote their content.

Regardless of their positioning, News Corp’s management team is “content centric.” The whole notion of decentralized media is really not something they’ll be able to easily wrap their heads around.

By the way, notice that MySpace has now introduced a Classifieds app.

]]> By: Om Malik’s Broadband Blog — » SIPphone on Rupert Murdoch’s Radar? http://www.buzzmachine.com/2005/10/19/if-he-were-rupert/#comment-10685 Om Malik’s Broadband Blog — » SIPphone on Rupert Murdoch’s Radar? Sat, 22 Oct 2005 07:52:21 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/?p=655#comment-10685 [...] But what could be the price for a deal like that? Somewhere between $25-$50 million at the very least. SIPphone is said to have 250,000 users and if you used the $200-per-actual-user price EBay paid for Skype, that works out to about $50 million. All this could just be loud whispers, and nothing more than that. No response really from News Corp’s PR department to my queries. I am still waiting to hear back from Michael Robertson. There has been a lot of talk about what News Corp will do next, promptly in part by a fantastic profile of the wily old fox in the latest issue of Fortune magazine. Murdoch wants to “get younger fast and to get audience fast,” the magazine says. And most of its recent purchases are along those lines. The second prong is to add web features, like video search, instant messaging, and Internet calling—or VOIP—that will theoretically differentiate his sites (though the competition is developing the same stuff). Murdoch has told Wall Street that he’ll spend up to $2 billion on Internet acquisitions, so he’s got about $700 million to go. [...] [...] But what could be the price for a deal like that? Somewhere between $25-$50 million at the very least. SIPphone is said to have 250,000 users and if you used the $200-per-actual-user price EBay paid for Skype, that works out to about $50 million. All this could just be loud whispers, and nothing more than that. No response really from News Corp’s PR department to my queries. I am still waiting to hear back from Michael Robertson. There has been a lot of talk about what News Corp will do next, promptly in part by a fantastic profile of the wily old fox in the latest issue of Fortune magazine. Murdoch wants to “get younger fast and to get audience fast,” the magazine says. And most of its recent purchases are along those lines. The second prong is to add web features, like video search, instant messaging, and Internet calling—or VOIP—that will theoretically differentiate his sites (though the competition is developing the same stuff). Murdoch has told Wall Street that he’ll spend up to $2 billion on Internet acquisitions, so he’s got about $700 million to go. [...]

]]> By: Peter Caputa http://www.buzzmachine.com/2005/10/19/if-he-were-rupert/#comment-10557 Peter Caputa Wed, 19 Oct 2005 20:19:17 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/?p=655#comment-10557 Amen, Brother. <a href="http://worcester.typepad.com/pc4media/2005/10/transparency_in.html" rel="nofollow">Amen</a>. Amen, Brother. Amen.

]]> By: Jeff Jarvis http://www.buzzmachine.com/2005/10/19/if-he-were-rupert/#comment-10551 Jeff Jarvis Wed, 19 Oct 2005 19:33:30 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/?p=655#comment-10551 Fair enough, Peter, but isn't the difference that the old middlemen won by controlling scarcity (information or distribution) while the new middlemen win by sharing. Fair enough, Peter, but isn’t the difference that the old middlemen won by controlling scarcity (information or distribution) while the new middlemen win by sharing.

]]> By: Peter Caputa http://www.buzzmachine.com/2005/10/19/if-he-were-rupert/#comment-10550 Peter Caputa Wed, 19 Oct 2005 19:27:12 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/?p=655#comment-10550 One point of distinction, Jeff. Middlemen won't choke. Ever. There'll just be more of them. Just like you are a middleman of information. Publish. Aggregate. Syndicate. Syndication of microformatted data will make us all middlemen. One point of distinction, Jeff.

Middlemen won’t choke. Ever. There’ll just be more of them. Just like you are a middleman of information.

Publish. Aggregate. Syndicate.

Syndication of microformatted data will make us all middlemen.

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