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☆ Mike Lynch won a dramatic 12-year legal battle over his tech company. Weeks later, he and his top lawyer are dead.
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-22 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Hailed as Britain's Bill Gates, Lynch sold Autonomy, his groundbreaking data-management company, to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion. Shareholders and business commentators were puzzled about what HP, a hardware company, would do with Autonomy, a software company — and why the latter was worth $11 billion. A year after the acquisition, HP wrote down $8.8 billion of the purchase value and accused Lynch of lying about Autonomy's finances. Lynch said HP stifled Autonomy with mismanagement and bureaucracy that pushed out employees and stymied sales. "This verdict closes the book on a relentless 13-year effort to pin HP's well-documented ineptitude on Dr. Lynch," Morvillo said in a joint statement with his attorney colleague Brian Heberlig.

Persons: —, Mike Lynch, Bill Gates, Lynch, Sushovan Hussain, Stephen Chamberlain, Chamberlain, Chris Morvillo, Léo Apotheker, Apotheker, Meg Whitman, James B, Stewart, Time Warner, Bryn Colton, Hussain, hadn't, Henry Nicholls, David Cameron, Cameron, Lynch —, Whitman, Apotheker's, Robert Hildyard, Hildyard hadn't, wasn't, that'd, Guglielmo Mangiapane Morvillo, Morvillo, Brian Heberlig, Angela Bacares, Hannah, Charles Morvillo Organizations: Service, Autonomy, Hewlett, Packard, HP, Business, Cambridge University, Cambridge, Oracle, Adobe, Cisco, Shareholders, New York Times, Time, FBI, Deloitte, Telegraph, The New York Times, KPMG, US Justice Department, Justice Department, High Court, REUTERS, BBC, British Museum, Politico, The Times, Times, Bacares Locations: San Francisco, London, California, Kenya, Sicily

☆ The Future of Streaming (According to the Moguls Figuring It Out)
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-22 | by ( James B. Stewart | Benjamin Mullin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The same could not be said for their sprawling entertainment businesses. The three men meet occasionally to discuss the state of the industry, and lively disagreements have a been a staple of their discussions. But by the time they met on the yacht, they had all agreed that the money-losing status quo in the streaming business was unsustainable. “There was peace in the valley for a period of time,” Mr. Malone mused in a rare recent interview, recalling the days before video-streaming upended the lucrative cable business. Disney laid off thousands of workers and pushed out its chief executive as streaming losses mounted, and had to fend off a proxy contest from the activist investor Nelson Peltz.

Persons: Brian Roberts, John Malone, Barry Diller, Diller’s, ” Mr, Malone, Nelson Peltz Organizations: Mr, Arriva, Paramount, CBS, Warner Bros, Disney Locations: Jupiter, Fla

☆ What Must Nelson Peltz Do to Get Some Respect?
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-16 | by ( James B. Stewart | Lauren Hirsch | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

At age 81, with over four decades of dealmaking and corporate cage-rattling under his belt, Nelson Peltz would seem to have pretty much everything. Until the hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin came to Palm Beach, Fla., Mr. Peltz had the largest property tax bill in town, with an oceanfront estate estimated to be worth $334 million. He also has an undeniably full life apart from his business: He has two children from his first marriage. He also has eight children (including two sets of twins) with his wife since 1981, the former model Claudia Heffner. His eldest child from that marriage, Matt, is a partner and co-chief investment officer at Mr. Peltz’s Trian Partners.

Persons: Nelson Peltz, Ken Griffin, Peltz, Claudia Heffner, Matt, Peltz’s Organizations: Peltz’s Trian Partners Locations: Palm Beach, Fla, Bedford , N.Y

Killing an all-but-completed movie would alienate the people Zaslav — or at least Hollywood — needed most: the people who made the movies. Under fire, Zaslav defended the decision in an earnings call with analysts, saying he shelved “Batgirl” to protect the DC brand. More quietly, Zaslav also sought cover in the authority of Bryan Lourd, the powerful co-chairman of Creative Artists Agency and a leading arbiter of Hollywood mores. As Zaslav told it to several associates, Lourd had supported the decision, observing that it wasn’t in the interest of C.A.A. “We have made unpopular decisions because they were necessary.”Hollywood was in trouble before David Zaslav came to town.

Persons: Zaslav, Wiedenfels, Batgirl ”, Michael Keaton, ”, Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah, Walter Hamada, Courtenay Valenti, Bryan Lourd, Lourd, Leslie Grace, “ Bryan Lourd, ’ ”, David Zaslav, “ Organizations: DC Comics, Hollywood, DC, Warner Brothers, Creative Artists Agency, Discovery, McKinsey, W.B.D Locations: Scotland, New York, Hollywood, W.B.D

Mr. Zaslav, who took over Warner Bros. But the tumultuous personnel changes at CNN under Mr. Zaslav’s leadership make clear that a Zaslav friendship, no matter how deep or longstanding, has its limits. Jeff Zucker, replaced as CNN’s chief executive by Mr. Licht, frequently described himself as Mr. Zaslav’s best friend. Don Lemon, the longtime host, socialized with Mr. Zaslav in New York and the Hamptons. CNN ousted Mr.

Persons: Chris Licht, David Zaslav, Zaslav, Zaslav’s, Jeff Zucker, . Licht, Don Lemon, Lemon Organizations: CNN, Warner Bros, Discovery, Hamptons Locations: New York

☆ Famed Wine Store Sherry-Lehmann Faces Criminal Investigation
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( James B. Stewart | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Justice Department has convened a federal grand jury as part of a criminal investigation into Sherry-Lehmann Wine & Spirits, the venerable New York City wine merchant, according to former employees who have been contacted by the authorities. Last month, though, The New York Times reported that the store had not delivered large quantities of valuable wine to customers who had paid in advance. The Times also quoted former employees who believed Sherry-Lehmann was improperly selling clients’ rare bottles from a storage facility to other customers. The criminal investigation is being conducted by agencies including the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, the Postal Service and the New York Police Department. Witnesses have been asked to appear before a federal grand jury in Manhattan later this month, the former employees said.

Persons: Sherry, Lehmann, Gilmer, Kris Green Organizations: New, New York Times, U.S, Postal Service, New York Police Department Locations: New York City, Manhattan, United States

☆ Inside CNN's epic PR fail that made a mockery of CEO Chris Licht
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-04 | by ( Nicholas Carlson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

The Atlantic published a really tough article about CNN CEO Chris Licht. The disaster I'm referring to is Tim Alberta's devastating profile of CNN chair and CEO Chris Licht published Friday. And maybe, the story suggests, that's because that big idea is not really Licht's plan at all but one foisted on him by his boss, Warner Bros. Through the summer, Alberta and Licht and CNN comms people talked about what the story might look like. A handful of sources tell me Kelly was skeptical of whether this was a good idea, Dornic was happy to do whatever, and Licht really, really wanted to do it.

Persons: Chris Licht, CNN's goof, Tim Alberta's, Licht, Licht hasn't, Warner, David Zaslav, Zucker, Jeff Zucker, I've, I'm, Kris Coratti Kelly, Kelly, Matt Dornic, Dornic, Hugo, Evan Agostini, isn't, Michael Eisner, James B, Stewart, Eisner, Stewart's, Tim Alberta, Nikki Haley, Don Lemon, he'd, it's, that's, It's, wasn't, Zaslav Organizations: CNN, Trump Town Hall, Warner Bros, Discovery, Journalism, Licht, Global Communications, American Museum of, Disney, Alberta, Trump, Atlantic Locations: Alberta, Manhattan

☆ An Iconic Wine Store and the Mystery of the Missing Bottles
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( James B. Stewart | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

I never received the wine, and the company refused to issue a refund or credit, saying the wine was on back order and would arrive soon. About the same time, review sites and wine message boards were peppered with complaints from customers, many of modest means, who similarly paid Sherry-Lehmann for wine that was never delivered. Although the store was famed for its high-end inventory of expensive Burgundies and Bordeaux, it had also stocked $9 bottles of Beaujolais. The sale of so-called wine futures, which Sherry-Lehmann pioneered in the 1950s, was part of a trend of wine becoming an investment. In 2016, I ordered four cases of the previous year’s Bordeaux vintage, which would be shipped after the wine matured in bottles for about three years.

☆ ‘Unscripted’ Review: Sex, Lies and Viacom
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Edward Kosner | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Sumner Redstone, who died in 2020 at the age of 97, was one of the killer whales thriving in the swirling currents of the modern media. A hulking old man with dyed red hair and a maimed right hand, he was a mega-billionaire with a ravenous appetite for power, riches—and sex. At his peak at the turn of the century, he controlled Viacom; Paramount Pictures; the National Amusements movie-theater chain; the CBS network, MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon; and the Simon & Schuster publishing house. Then the end came in a crescendo of recrimination, litigation and family turmoil. Imagine a mash-up of “King Lear” and “Weekend at Bernie’s,” the 1989 movie comedy about two scamps who prop up a cadaver so they can enjoy a weekend at his beach house, with Redstone starring in both title roles.

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