Former peacock in Chief Bob Wright hops into private-equity game

-SDH Bob Wright who some would say was forced into retirement in favor of younger blood at NBC-Universal is about to begin his second act in private equity. Wright will join private-equity veteran Thomas H. Lee to hunt for deals in the media sector. This could very well be Bob Wright's way of getting back into the media business. He is joining Lee Equity Partners as a senior adviser. The firm is said to be eyeing small media properties in broadcasting, but of course there is speculations that they could make a move on NBC Universal if and when GE does decide to look for buyers. If such speculations become reality, it could go down in history as one of the biggest comebacks because Lee Equity Partners would no doubt boot Jeff Zucker faster than he got to the top and re-install Wright at the helm. Oh man the possibilities but all the above is a bit of wishful thinking. NBC Universal if sold could fetch close to $40 billion. This sum may be a bit heavy for Lee Equity Partners.

TV Week asks, Bob & Sue Wright answers

So another interview with former NBC Universal head peacock Bob Wright has popped up this time with TV week and further down in the interview Bob's wife Suzanne joins in to talk about their never ending effort to educate us all about autism. Wonder if Sue still wears her NBC peacock pin? -NEIL YOSHIDA TelevisionWeek: Let's put ourselves in a time machine and take you back to 1986, when you took over and Grant Tinker was just leaving NBC. You'd had some experience with Cox, but otherwise it was at GE -- in GE Financial if I recall -- and so this obviously was a whole new animal. I'm just wondering what kind of trepidations, challenges, fears you might have had coming into the job. Bob Wright: I spent three and a half years at Cox and I was executive vice president of Cox Broadcasting and president of Cox Cable. So I wasn't unassociated with the broadcasting portion of the business. ... Down in Atlanta, where the headquarters were, we also had WSB, which was one of the most outstanding television stations in the country at that time, and had been an NBC affiliate all the way up until the Iran hostage [crisis]. They didn't switch because of Ted Koppel, they switched about that time because of programming deterioration at NBC. The Wright Era: Q&A with Bob Wright [TV Week]

The Bob Wright Interview that will end an era

Fortune magazine issued a press release that it landed an *EXCLUSIVE* interview with outgoing NBC Universal Chairman Bob Wright. We don't know why the major effort to announce the interview but unless Bob Wright will reveal some kind of secret, like the hate he has for Jeff Zucker, or his wife is really a man, it will basically be more of the same right? In an exclusive interview, FORTUNE's Tim Arango spoke with outgoing chairman of NBC Universal Bob Wright about a variety of topics including the future of the network, prior failed attempts to sell the network, his former boss, Jack Welch, and his successor Jeff Zucker, among others. During the interview, Wright raised an interesting scenario: Early next year Time Warner can separate its cable business from its content businesses without incurring a large tax liability--an event, he says, that could spur efforts to combine NBC Universal and Time Warner, parent of FORTUNE's publisher. "It would be a great combination," he says. The interview, "Bob Wright's Next Move," appears in the March 5 issue of FORTUNE and is currently available at http://www.fortune.com/. Wait up. An NBC Uni, Time Warner link up? Guess its not more of the same. Juicy!!! Damn Jeff Zucker's new gig could already be on shaky grounds. FORTUNE Lands Exclusive Interview with Outgoing NBC Universal Chairman Bob Wright [Fortune]

Bob Wright's job title more confusing than.....we don't even know!

Changes are starting to roll out at NBC Universal. The company wasted no time in updating management info on it's corporate website literally bumping former CEO Bob Wright to the bottom with a rather confusing title. We have no idea how to dissect it at all. Can anyone shine some light on what the hell Bob Wright is being paid to do now? Earlier: Its time to suck up to the new boss to be. The Zuckerization of NBC Universal is on the way

For Bob Wright, life after NBC Universal should be fun

Now that former NBC Universal Chairman/CEO Bob Wright has some time on his hands, we're sure he will spend it doing more work on behalf of Autism. However we figured he shouldn't spend all his time working. So we came up with some fun things Mr. Wright could do with his time that will, make him realize what he’s been missing while in the trenches at GE and NBC. Stay up late and watch The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Call Katie Couric and tell her that Meredith Vieira can't and will never fill her shoes Take a long sunny vacation and catch up on all the news coverage Jeff Zucker got while waiting for Jeff Immelt to promote him In a month, walk through the offices of NBC Universal and witness how employees are programmed to ignore people with no power. Swim naked like Sumner Redstone in your swimming pool Call Jeff Zucker next Monday and tell him he's been punkd Email a list to all at NBC Universal with the top 10 reasons Jeff Zucker got your job Call Jeff Immelt at 1am tomorrow morning and tell him you had a bad dream that he gave your job away Call Les Moonves and feed him inside information on plans the new boss has for the company Off our rockers as usual!

It was a pleasure for Bob Wright to talk about Piracy Yesterday in Geneva

Speaking out against one of the main reasons there are so many holes in the media industry, NBC Universal CEO Bob Wright addressed a gathering at the World Intellectual Property Organization sharing his thoughts on how and why the Government and entertainment industry should come together to squash piracy and counterfeiting. However the truth is, at the end of they day, the entertainment industry and/or the U.S. Government can't stop piracy. Its just one of those things content creators on a whole will have to live with. Even if you come up with some snazzy new code to protect content, the scum ball thieves will find a way around it. May we suggest finding their locations and calling in air strikes? This morning I want to discuss two key building blocks for progress. First, working together, we must find ways to propel the issue of intellectual property protection to the absolute top of the public policy agenda. As part of that effort, business leaders must put it at the top of their agendas—within individual companies, within the sectors that are afflicted by counterfeiting, and within the business community as a whole. And then we have to do a much better job of explaining and documenting the nature and extent of the threat to growth, jobs, and economic well-being, both in advanced economies and in developing countries as well. NBC Universal Chief Addresses Piracy Summit [WorldScreen]

Slowly losing media elite status

It's like leaving the White House kinda. You lose the status as the shot caller but you still have some perks. Like for example we're sure outgoing NBC Universal CEO Robert ("Bob") Charles Wright will still get use of one of GE's many private jets some years after leaving. We're also sure they may even keep him on payroll in some kind of consulting gig. However all that is good and dandy but not as good and dandy as being the shot caller. Bob Wright and his wife Suzanne are used to being in high power circles rubbing elbows with the stars of Bob's hit TV shows, and more recently hit movies. The Wrights are also well known in another circle as well. They are the founders of Autism Speaks where they campaign to raise funds for autism research. With this foundation we are sure Bob will keep busy dedicating all his time to the cause.

Someone better looking and sexier than Jeff Zucker is in the running to become the big Peacock, or so they say

Jeff Zucker may be the logical heir apparent to NBC Universal boss Bob Wright. However sometimes logics can be a bitch. Jeff Zucker may be in a race for that job while we all talk over our mouths saying the job is his. According to many published reports, NBC Universal's Beth Comstock is said to be a strong candidate, and a favorite of GE CEO Jeff Immelt. She is the head of all digital operations which is a big plus for her being that, the media industry is heading in that direction. "Everybody thinks that Zucker has it sewn up," says Nicholas Heymann, a Prudential Securities analyst who's studied GE for many years. "But it would be jumping to conclusions. Beth is being given an opportunity to demonstrate her skills and capability on the digital side of the business, and that's the future." Will GE end up naming both Zucker and Comstock to head the company, or is all this talk about Comstock just that, talk? NBC Universal: Naming the Heir Apparent [NW]