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Media Giants: Dot.com or Bust
Can traditional outfits hitch onto the Internet rocket?
BusinessWeek, September 13, 1999
By Richard Siklos in New York, with Linda Himelstein in San Mateo, Calif., Ronald Grover in Los Angeles, and Catherine Yang in Washington
On the surface, it was oh-so-chummy. A Wednesday night in July, with the attendees of investment bank Allen & Co.'s annual media mogulfest sipping cocktails and scarfing hors d'oeuvres on the terrace of a rustic lodge in Sun Valley, Idaho. Dressed in variations of country chic were the likes of Viacom's Sumner M. Redstone, Liberty Media's John C. Malone, Yahoo!'s Jerry Yang, and Amazon.com's Jeffrey P. Bezos.
But make no mistake, there was tension in the crisp mountain air--the tension of media barons who have spent decades building powerful empires, suddenly sharing the spotlight with Internet arrivistes who had amassed fortunes (albeit largely on paper) rivaling theirs in a few short years, even months. Indeed, the obsession among media players at the end of the 20th century is the race among "old" and "new" media to rule the Web. "Everyone's wandering around here, trying to find the Promised Land," says veteran media investor Larry Haverty of State Street Research.
......Those lagging in the cyberspace race can take comfort in the knowledge that it's still early. Communications consultant Francis O. McInerney of North River Ventures Inc. in New York notes that newspapers failed to control the broadcasting business, and there's no guarantee that early Web leaders-- which feature mainly text and images--will make the transition to full video.
