Is Jeff Immelt a closeted media mogul?

-YOSH There is no secret that GE Chief Executive Jeff Immelt is a hands-on kinda guy when it comes to business. He is even more hands-on when it comes to his media division, NBC Universal. He talks up the business whenever he gets the chance and even hints at what’s to come for the media company. In a way he does what NBC Universal boss Jeff Zucker should be doing. We kinda get the impression that he is constantly behind Zucker breathing down his neck. Is this the behavior of a closeted media mogul? It would look good for Zucker if every time Immelt does an interview and questions regarding NBC Uni comes up he says "You will have to ask Jeff about that". But that’s not the case. The man speaks as if he is running NBC Universal, and for all we know he really is, via Jeff Zucker. We think Jeff Immelt is smitten with the media business and has a secret fantasy of someday running a media company. During the Jack Welch era at GE, Welch wasn't known to mingle in NBC workings, at least not that we know of. He left that up to then NBC ruler Bob Wright. Maybe Wright's retirement was hastened due to the fact that Immelt realized he couldn't control him. Who knows? Perhaps one day Jeff Immelt will come out of the closet.

As it turns out,Robert Thomson's Chinese connections run army deep

QUICK NOTE: Robert Thomson the potential new CEO of Dow Jones probably has a watch with a pin in it, that he can pull if he gets mugged or something and the Chinese military will coming running to his rescue. Thomson's wife is the daughter of a Chinese general who probably keeps close electronic tabs on his daughter. The Australian born Thomson seems to have a thing for all things Chinese. He even co-authored the book 'The Chinese Army". So is it safe to say that communist China will be getting some favorable coverage in the Wall Street Journal if Thomson does indeed take the wheel at Down Jones? More on Thomson via his Wikipedia page.

Sumner Redstone is dyeing

-MEDIA WIRE DAILY At 84 there is no way Sumner Redstone lacks the grays. So clearly he has his hair dyed at least once a month to help create the mental illusion that he is still young. However sometimes Sumner may miss an appointment or two which results in his true roots peeking out at us like the photo to the right. If Sumner Redstone does have his hair dyed to preserve his youth! Which product do you think he uses? WHICH HAIR DYE FOR MEN DO YOU THINK SUMNER REDSTONE USES? JUST FOR MEN FERIA FOR MEN BY L'OREAL EXPRESS FOR MEN HIS WIFE'S HAIR DYE HIS COLOR IS NATURAL

Will Conde Nast's Portfolio ever have a real person on it's cover?

Conde Nast's Portfolio is now on its fourth issue...Right?. We thought by now we would have seen an actual person on the cover but clearly this is Porfolio's style? Anyway, with that said, we want to hear what you think. If any, who would you like to see on the cover of Portfolio? WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE ON THE COVER OF PORTFOLIO? RUPERT MURDOCH ROGER AILES A WALLSTREETER PHIL DAUMAN SUMNER REDSTONE JEFF BEWKES RICHARD PARSONS RICHARD ZANINO THE 2,000 AOL EMPLOYEES GETTING CANNED I DON'T GIVE A SHIT

Fallen HBO head, Chris Albrecht lands a new gig at Hollywood talent agency

Compared to his old gig as head of big shot cable network HBO, former CEO Chris Albrecht will take a new job a step down the ladder as head of talent agency IMG's media business. What, did you think the alleged domestic incident would have stopped this man in his tracks? Even Sara Jessica Parker is a big Albrecht fan. We still think he was going to be pulled up the corporate ladder at Time Warner when Jeff Bewkes takes over Despite the scandals, Mr. Albrecht was sought after by Hollywood studios and financiers. In recent months it had become a bit of a parlor game in the television industry about where (and perhaps whether) he would land. “It’s a town of second, third and fourth chances,” said Sarah Jessica Parker, who starred in “Sex in the City” and now has a production deal with HBO. “I would never be reluctant to work with him again. Maybe I’m being Pollyanna-ish, but people want to work with people who have been successful.” After Scandal, HBO’s Former Leader Lands at IMG [NYT]

No. Dick Parsons will not, and cannot fix your fucking cable, AOL or mail you your missing issues of Time magazine

-SDH Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons is just your cliché media mogul who likes to do cliché media mogul things, well kinda. The big man in the corner office at the Time Warner Center likes to kick back, smoke a stogie, sip a glass of wine and say fuck the world, just for a bit. Dick spills the beans for New York Magazine, on how and why Rupert Murdoch is Rupert Murdoch and that his biggest pain in the ass is Time Warner's stock price. Oh yeah and if you think its cool to be the man in charge of the biggest media company in the world, flying on the company jet to your vineyard, then you're mistaking. Hello!! It’s different for, say, Rupert Murdoch. Even as Parsons is pressured to get rid of the influential, but financially undynamic, Time Inc. magazines, the News Corp. chairman got to pursue his $5 billion personal quest to own The Wall Street Journal. “Rupert has an advantage in that he has a large, publicly traded company but he’s in a controlling position,” Parsons says. “He can indulge thinking long term. If almost anybody else did it, they’d get killed. Everybody’d be saying, ‘Why are you buying a newspaper? Where’s the growth?’ ” Mogul Dick Parsons Likes Cigars, Believes in Terroir [NYM]

Will American Media ever be Peckerless?

When one is diagnosed with cancer they usually get a treatment called Kemo Therapy to kill or stunt the deadly disease. Some bounce back never to face that challenge again and some aren't as lucky. Well tabloid publisher American Media Inc, home to Star Magazine and the insane Enquire has a serious level of cancer that it won’t seek treatment for. We must be the only ones who think AMI CEO David Pecker and his incompetent underlings need to be removed from the company like the deadly cancer they are. AMI continues to miss financial deadlines and its fiscal quarterly reports remain soaked in red ink. Why won't the board remove Pecker? Even if they have to pay him a fat sum, pay that money to rid the company of this cancer now and avoid having to face it down the line again. AMI needs a fresh face, fresh ideas and someone who is financially competent to lead the company into the black. We give up! We hope Ron Burkle is really kicking the tires on AMI and a deal does happen because without a doubt, Pecker and his yes-men will be gone for good.....we think. Maybe even Bonnie too. Someone save AMI from David Pecker!!!!!! AMI REPORTS MORE RED INK [NYP]

Tom Freston: Viacom operates in some shade of gray

It looks like former Viacom CEO Tom Freston has finally gotten his balls back and is now talking freely about how he feels about his former employer and the way they approach broadcasting. Freston recently sat down with Donny Deutsch host of “The Big Idea With Donny Deutsch,” and told it like he sees it. "Today’s broadcasters, including Viacom, operate in “some shade of gray . . . They have standards, but they’re low.” Cable programming is “getting close” to the bottom of the barrel. In the chase for ratings points . . . sensationalism is like the lowest fruit to grab . . Hey Tom was it getting close to the bottom of the barrel when you were running one of the biggest media firms in the world, or after you got canned? BOTTOM FEEDERS [NYP]

Should Bob Johnson stick to what he knows?

-LENN HINDSMANN The billionaire founder of Black Entertainment Television, Bob Johnson has made many successful investments over the years, but it looks like the $300 million price he paid for the Charlotte Bobcats may be test for the man who made his name and money via the media industry. Bob has been accused of being too much of a hands off owner in the era of Mark Cubans and rarely makes trips to Charlotte. Some there have even called for him to sell the team to someone who really loves basketball because he isn't in it for the game he is in it for the status and money. But it looks like the money has been slow to come. Perhaps Bob should do what everyone else is doing, drop some money on a hot web start-up or something. "I don't think Bob anticipated it would be this hard. I think someone in the league sold him a bill of goods about how easy it was going to be," said Felix Sabates, a NASCAR team owner and Bobcats minority investor. "I think the NBA, they were pretty anxious to put in a new franchise for $300 million. I don't think the NBA did a very good job of researching the market before they came back in here." The Bobcats' own mistakes made it worse. They were forced to drop ticket prices after fan backlash. A regional television sports network Johnson started folded after one year. And the team is still tied to a deal with Time Warner Cable that prevents satellite dish owners and some cable subscribers from seeing most of the team's games. Unfamiliar territory: Bobcats owner not used to losing games, money [Desert News]

Mexican Telecom big shot boots Warren Buffet from under Bill Gates as world's second richest man

-SDH We don't even know how one gets as rich as the top ten on Forbe's billionaires list. Their net worth is just mind blowing and would be a recipe for disaster for many of us. For about 7 years American investor Warren Buffet has trailed closely behind his good buddy Microsoft biggie Bill gates as the second richest man in the world. But those days are now over thanks to the rapid rise of a new dog on the billionaire block and he aint American either. His name is cool, and could be mistaken for a Gangster out in California. Carlos Slim Helú is Mexico's richest man and is now the new second richest man in the world trailing a farts whiff behind Bill Gates. Who is Carlos Slim Helú you ask? Well what do you think Wikipedia is for? Carlos Slim Helú [Wikipedia]

Get ready for the Faye Turney media tour

-SHOMARI HINES So right now the at the moment news story being covered by all the major cable news nets is about the 15 sailors being held captive by the Iranian government. However one out of the 15 is getting heavy media attention from every news network you can think of due to her immanent release. Faye Turney, the only woman among 14 men is now the face of this crisis and will reportedly be released before the end of the week. But Ms.Turney hasn't made her last camera appearance. This is just the beginning of what will be a media blitz when she is released. We expect to see her via satellite talking to Matt and Meredith, and a slew of others in the coming weeks. Perhaps a tell all book on being the only female capture?

Alpha MILFs setting trends

-SHOMARI HINES Her name is not Susan, and she's not your super woman, she is "Alpha Mom". Over at USAtoday.com Bruce Horovitz, takes a look at the woman who created the label, Constance Van Flandern's and how she manages motherhood and a demanding career. When she came up with the whole Alpha Mom thing we bet she didn't know it would take on a life of its own. As bad as some of them are forced to be, we're sure the media industry is flooded with Alpha Moms MILFs. Then again some probably leave everything up to the nanny anyway. Van Flandern came up with the Alpha Mom label while working on a graphics assignment several years ago. She was designing a logo for a new video-on-demand cable TV service that wanted to attract information-hungry, multitasking moms. Names being considered: Mommy TV, Mommy Channel, even Mommy Says. The name she came up with was embraced by her client, Isabel Kallman, CEO and "founding mother" of Alpha Mom TV. She was a new mom herself and a former Wall Street executive, and her husband, Craig, is co-chairman of Atlantic Records. She was living that complex life, too. But with some frustration. Alpha Moms leap to top of trendsetters [USAtoday]

Tools of a media mogul

-Shomari Hines Today's media mogul, or it least some of today's media moguls like to have a hint of cool to go with there bigger than life egos. Some like to have that one friend in his/her circle that no one understands why, but love it anyway. Some of them even spend most of their time in the air traveling from coast to coast. We created the chart above to show the basic tools today's media mogul needs to stay on top of his game and maintain relevancy for themselves and their companies. See why these tools are needed to make a media mogul's life a little more organized after the click. CONTINUED... The Blackberry: Come on, even the kid on his way to school has a Blackberry. A real media mogul has his glued to his hand so he/she can send instant demands to underlings. Then again that's what minions are for. The Private Jet: This is a must, must have for any media mogul who, needs to be in different parts of the country and needs to do so with no hassle. On a Friday afternoon, Lunch in Miami, then off to the West Coast to visit the studio lot and then off to Vegas for a little R&R. Sunday, back in New York for Monday meetings. The Rapper Buddy: This is part of a media mogul's hint of cool. The odd photo op with a rapper at a game at the Garden The SUV: To hell with a Maybach, that's for rappers. A media mogul should be seen hopping out of the back of a tricked out Yukon Denali in front of his company headquarters lingering a bit to make sure people can smell his/her big dawg status. The Hot Personal Assistant: This is who travels with the media mogul wherever he goes. She is who will be hopping out of the tricked out Yukon Denali dressed as if she is a model for Fashion Week, scrolling through her bosses Blackberry only reading him the important emails and keeping tabs on his schedule. A hot personal assistant can also come in handy when the mogul is out of State and the wife is just too far away!!!! The Trophy Wife: The trophy wife should be on your arms at major industry events like the Oscars, Grammys and some of the movie premiers from your studio. Other than that, slip her the black American Express to keep her busy.

Media's Billionaires, the Media Wire extraction

-Shomari Hines Forbes Magazine continues its annual spit in the face of us poor people by releasing their Billionaires list. From that list we extracted those we could remember within the media industry and/or those who dabble in it from time to time. Together the folks we extracted have an estimated combined sum of over $100 Billion. However we also believe Forbes has over estimated their list for years by counting one fortune 2 to 3 times, but we digress. Here are the list of media and/or media dabbling billionaires we were able to extract. Oh yeah they are not in any special order either. Barbara Cox Anthony – $12.6B Anne Cox Chambers - $12.6B Michael Bloomberg- $5.5B Rupert Murdoch - $9B Carl Icahn - S13B Sam Newhouse - $7.3B Dolan Family - $2.7B Sergey Brin- $16.6B Larry Page – $16.6B Kirk Kekorian - $15B Sumner Redstone - $8B Eric Schmidt - $6.2B CONTINUED.... Eli Broad - $6B Steve Jobs - $5.7B David Geffen - $4.7B George Lucas - $3.6B Jerrold Perenchio - $3B Steven Spielberg – 3B Haim Saban- $2.8B Ron Burkle - $2.5B David Filo - $2.3B Jerry Yang - $2.2B David Hearst - $2B George Hearst - $2B Roy Disney - $1.3B Meg Whitman - $1.3B Mike Eisner- $1B Herb Allen - $2B Austin Hearst - $2B Dan Ziff - $1.5B Dirk Ziff - $1.5B Robert Ziff - $1.5B Barry Diller - $1.4B Thomas Lee - $2B Edgar Bronfman- $3B

Poll Results: Bob and Willow Bay Iger was most stylish media couple at the Oscars

Now this one totally caught us off guard. In our poll last week we asked you to choose who you thought was the most stylish media couple at the Oscars. In the beginning, Rupert and Wendy Murdoch was in the lead, but out of nowhere came Disney boss Bob Iger and his wife Willow with 63% of the vote crushing the competition. Grandpa Sumner Redstone and his wife Paula came in with 13 % of the votes while Les & Julie Moonves and Tom & Kathy Freston got zip. To be honest though, we thought the Murdochs had it in the bag.

Tom Freston loves the kids

Shomari Hines Former media big wig Tom Freston who is suing the city of New York over his disabled son's private school tuition said that he is doing it for all special kids being raped by the city. Well he didn't say exactly that but we kinda got the feeling that's what he really wanted to say. However School officials say that Freston is out of order. "Department of Education public dollars shouldn't have to pay for that if there are appropriate services available in a public school, as there were in this case," schools spokeswoman Lindsey Harr said. This is all cool and stuff Tom, but when you're done with this, please get back in the game. Did it for all kids, mogul says of special-ed suit vs. schools [NYDN]

Is Bob Johnson an anti social?

Since launching Black Entertainment Television some years ago Bob Johnson can't seem to get a break from all the criticism and down talking from especially black Americans. When he sold BET for a reported $3 Billion to the very white Sumner Redstone he opened up yet another can of verbal whoop ass where he was called a sell out among other things. Today Bob has his hands in all kinds of businesses from banks to, films, hotels and the NBA. However the tongue lashings just keep coming. Since buying the Charlotte Bobcats, Bob has been called a no show and anti social team boss who barely if ever shows up for home games. But he does have a reason for his phantom ways. “Look, the social activist mold that was poured for Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson or Vernon Jordan was not poured for me; the artistic mold that was poured for Oprah Winfrey and Jay-Z was not poured for me, either — that is not the DNA that I got,” Mr. Johnson says. “The mold that was poured for me is the same one that was poured for Ken Chenault, Richard Parsons, Stanley O’Neal. I create wealth and value. That’s what I do, and I’m good at it.” But Mr. Johnson wouldn't it be good for morale if the team sees that their owner actually comes to some games and cheer them on from time to time? A Media Mogul Tries Remote Control [NYT]

Making Federline media ready

Companies will do anything to get some media buzz even if it means hiring the former husband of a former poptart to pitch their offerings. Following FabioSteven Schreibman, VP-advertising and brand management at Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., hopes this year's Super Bowl commercial featuring Kevin Federline does more than reach the 45 million households that tune in. He's hoping for a redux of Nationwide's first Super Bowl spot last year. That ad featured Fabio and lit a media frenzy worth $7.2 million in ad value, thanks to 158 million impressions and 500 media stories, according to the company's own in-house return-on-investment measurements The company has coached the much maligned Mr. Federline to be ready for media interviews. A spokesman for Nationwide set up an interview with Mr. Federline with Advertising Age, but under the ground rules questions about his personal life could not be asked. Kevin Federline's New Gig: Insurance Poster Boy [Ad Age]

WHO IS IT? Which media big shot dropped $280,000 on a useless poem to stroke their ego

Which CEO of a media company with a serious napoleon complex, dropped a huge load of cash on the original "'Twas the night before Christmas" poem? Could it be one of the CEO's of the big four? Well we are setting up a poll as you read this, asking you to vote who you think spent that much on this piece of paper. Stay Tuned.....

And we thought Tom Freston had it locked

IWantmedia.com's media person of the year is none other than Stephen Colbert, signaling a lost on a bet we made that Tom Freston would be named media person of the year. what in the world were we thinking? The popularity of Colbert's spot-on, satirical cable-news pundit character already led him to be honored as of one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2006. The Comedy Central star sent shock waves through the news media early in the year when he keynoted the White House Correspondents' Association dinner and skewered President Bush to his face: "I believe in this president. Guys like us ... know that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking in 'reality.' And reality has a well-known liberal bias." Colbert is probably planning a big bash to celebrate the news. NOT! 2006 Media Person of the Year:Stephen Colbert [IWM]

Morning Wire: And now the morning's worthy media news, we think

Russian moguls can't drive Way off our media train we just had to touch on this. A rich Russian oil tycoon tried to overtake another car when he lost control of his rare $650,000 Ferrari Enzo riding the curb before slamming into a tree causing the engine to burst into flames. The poor guy is in a coma and his face is said to have been burned badly. But the car man the car.........Oh man! EMI doing a Warner Music? EMI shares shot up when greedy shareholders got word that the company may be in talks to be taken over by a private equity firm. Companies including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. approached London-based EMI and may be prepared to pay 2.5 billion pounds ($4.85 billion) or more, the Financial Times newspaper reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation. Knowing EMI's bad luck streak of never being able to close a deal, we wouldn't be surprised if this falls through. We know Edgar Bronfman would love to see that so he can make another run at the company. Media preppies fight it out for title that really doesn't matter CNN's silver haired boy wonder Anderson Cooper was named "Media Person of The Year" back in 2005. This year the fight is on again for the title of "Media Person of The Year" a title that means absolutely nothing. Some of the candidates on the list are not even aware that they are in the running for the title. The poll being conducted by IwantMedia.com went live yesterday. Some names in the running are Tom Freston, Arianna Huffington and Rachel Ray. What, did you think that was the last of the Juice? Even though media giant News Corp pulled the plug on their planned OJ Simpson media blitz because Rupert Murdoch punked out, that doesn't mean other networks wouldn't want some of the Juice. Sure it would be more of the same unless OJ admits to the killings, but you know what, you want to watch. -Shomari Hines