Bamboozled at the RevolutionBamboozled at the Revolution
How Big Media Lost Billions in the Battle for the Internet
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Book, 2002
Current format, Book, 2002, , No Longer Available.Book, 2002
Current format, Book, 2002, , No Longer Available. Offered in 0 more formatsRecounts the Internet stumblings of some of the biggest corporations in the country, tracing the ill-placed and spectacularly costly footfalls of Time, Disney, News Corps, and others in cyberspace.
The internet stumblings of some of the biggest corporations in the country retraces the ill-placed and spectacularly costly footalls of Time, Disney, News Corps, and many others in cyberspace. 30,000 first printing.
The tale of Old Media's misadventures in cyberspace is the story of one of the great business follies of the twentieth century, and one whose repercussions will be felt for years to come. In Bamboozled at the Revolution, John Motavalli, a media reporter who was on the front lines of this disaster from its earliest days, gives an account of this remarkable period in all its madness, confusion, desperation, hubris, drama, and sheer absurdity. Central to the book is his account of Time Warner, blessed with a huge catalogue of successful magazines, a flourishing cable business, and powerful movie and music interests. But its leader, Jerry Levin, was a technophile with a Vision, and he was determined to lead his company to stand astride the Internet age just as forcefully as it had dominated the age of print. Learning little from a cable debacle called Full Service Network, Levin sped ahead with Pathfinder, Time Inc.'s ill-conceived web site that promised everything but delivered practically nothing of value. When, in January 2000, Time announced that it was "merging" with AOL, most observers recognized that it was a virtual surrender - the almost inevitable culmination of years of bad business decisions.
Bamboozled at the Revolution also looks at many other companies that were led astray by the siren song of the Web and, through interviews with leading players in the field, reconstructs the heady and often ludicrous rush online. From Rupert Murdoch's stillborn Delphi to Hollywood stars eager to be in the digital vanguard to Michael Eisner's Disney making one of its rare expensive misjudgments, the book is an entertaining and frequently shocking look at irrational exuberance at its most colorful.
The 1990s was one of the most dynamic eras in American business history. Technology was advancing at such a rapid pace, with such widespread growth, and with such giddy enthusiasm from investors, that it seemed too good to last. It was.
Media insider John Motavalli gives a vivid account from the front lines of the compelling drama that developed in the media industry during this time, as old-world, advertising-driven companies thought they'd found a new world to dominate. But it led to some rather colossal failures. Time Warner's FSN was a multibillion-dollar interactive cable disaster and its sequel, the Web-based Pathfinder, was even more embarrasing. Disney, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, and the New York Times Company also stumbled. These examples are just the tip of the iceberg: this struggle is one of the great business follies of our time and continued until January 2000, when AOL swallowed up Time Warner, a first-of-its-kind marriage of new and old.
Fast paced and exciting, Bamboozled at the Revolution reveals a period of wonderful excess and is sure to join Barbarians at the Gate, Burn Rate, and, more recently, The New New Thing as the definitive portraits of unique eras in business.
The internet stumblings of some of the biggest corporations in the country retraces the ill-placed and spectacularly costly footalls of Time, Disney, News Corps, and many others in cyberspace. 30,000 first printing.
The tale of Old Media's misadventures in cyberspace is the story of one of the great business follies of the twentieth century, and one whose repercussions will be felt for years to come. In Bamboozled at the Revolution, John Motavalli, a media reporter who was on the front lines of this disaster from its earliest days, gives an account of this remarkable period in all its madness, confusion, desperation, hubris, drama, and sheer absurdity. Central to the book is his account of Time Warner, blessed with a huge catalogue of successful magazines, a flourishing cable business, and powerful movie and music interests. But its leader, Jerry Levin, was a technophile with a Vision, and he was determined to lead his company to stand astride the Internet age just as forcefully as it had dominated the age of print. Learning little from a cable debacle called Full Service Network, Levin sped ahead with Pathfinder, Time Inc.'s ill-conceived web site that promised everything but delivered practically nothing of value. When, in January 2000, Time announced that it was "merging" with AOL, most observers recognized that it was a virtual surrender - the almost inevitable culmination of years of bad business decisions.
Bamboozled at the Revolution also looks at many other companies that were led astray by the siren song of the Web and, through interviews with leading players in the field, reconstructs the heady and often ludicrous rush online. From Rupert Murdoch's stillborn Delphi to Hollywood stars eager to be in the digital vanguard to Michael Eisner's Disney making one of its rare expensive misjudgments, the book is an entertaining and frequently shocking look at irrational exuberance at its most colorful.
The 1990s was one of the most dynamic eras in American business history. Technology was advancing at such a rapid pace, with such widespread growth, and with such giddy enthusiasm from investors, that it seemed too good to last. It was.
Media insider John Motavalli gives a vivid account from the front lines of the compelling drama that developed in the media industry during this time, as old-world, advertising-driven companies thought they'd found a new world to dominate. But it led to some rather colossal failures. Time Warner's FSN was a multibillion-dollar interactive cable disaster and its sequel, the Web-based Pathfinder, was even more embarrasing. Disney, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, and the New York Times Company also stumbled. These examples are just the tip of the iceberg: this struggle is one of the great business follies of our time and continued until January 2000, when AOL swallowed up Time Warner, a first-of-its-kind marriage of new and old.
Fast paced and exciting, Bamboozled at the Revolution reveals a period of wonderful excess and is sure to join Barbarians at the Gate, Burn Rate, and, more recently, The New New Thing as the definitive portraits of unique eras in business.
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