Was Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons too cool for his own good?

This is “Media Gumbo” a new feature you will see here on Media Wire Daily twice a week. I couldn’t let these guys have all the fun. I am not a media expert, or even trying to be one. I don’t think such a thing even exists. Some people just like to call themselves experts to feel important. Me? I am simply a lover of all things media, digital, print, you name it. With “Media Gumbo” I get to say my piece on the industry I love and hate. –SHOMARI HINES, FOUNDER, MEDIAWIREDAILY.COM Over the years Dick Parsons has been called the cool head in the media industry. The man is like a fire extinguisher due to his ability to put out flames with cool diplomacy and calming tone. But were these very skills silently working against Dick Parsons? We all know the story of how Dick calmed the ruff waters after the nasty AOL Time Warner merger, but after that storm was over, Other than the fact he dropped the AOL from the corporate name, Dick Parsons really didn’t do anything bold to move the stock. In some ways I saw him as a “If it’s not broken all the way then don’t fix it” kind of guy. Like a car that’s been running OK on 4 cylinders after an accident, but it’s an 8 cylinder engine under the hood. Why not get all cylinders pumping again? Under his leadership the only thing Time Warner really did was reduce dept among some other improvements but why didn’t Dick make more drastic moves to deliver for shareholders. One of the reasons could be because he was afraid of failure and wanted to keep things as they were long enough to then turn over any future bold and risky decision making to a successor. Enter the Bewkes Administration…. Why does everyone think Rupert Murdoch is going to ruin the Wall Street Journal? When the Dow Jones, News Corp deal was announced, rumors and speculations went into overdrive. The main focus of these rumors and speculations were about the future of the Wall Street Journal. It is/was believed that he was/is going to inject the tabloid DNA of his other popular tabloidish newspapers like the New York Post and the Sun into the highly regarded WSJ depleting its reputation. But if anyone cared to take a step back and look at the big picture, they would ask, why would he ruin a good thing with such a huge following? The answer, he isn’t. If you ask me, Rupert Murdoch is the best thing that will ever happen to the Wall Street Journal. The paper was badly in need of a cash injection to expand the WSJ brand online and off. He took the paper from the cold dead hands of the Bancroft family and will build on what is a legendary foundation. I am personally looking forward to seeing how Murdoch ties it in with the Fox Business Network, as well as other News Corp media properties. A News Corp acquisition of social networking business website Linked-In would be the icing on top.

Following up Jon Friedman's suggestion on Time Inc: If not a sale, how about a diet plan?

-BY SDH We will skip the whole part about how Jeff Bewkes is the new CEO of TimeWarner and the whole story of old media's past. What we will do is chime in on one of our favorite media columnists, Jon Friedman's suggestion that Jeff Bewkes should shake up Time Inc, which we think is right on the money. But perhaps the fact that Time Inc boasts about its size due to the 125 titles it publishes is the very reason the division sucks. Yes there is no excitement; it’s an old media staple that jumped on the digital media wagon a little too late. For this Ann Moore should have been kicked to the curb but her superiors at TimeWarner clearly missed that boat as well. They just launched a corporate website, we're still shocked that this just happened. One of the first things that need to happen at Time Inc is a change at the top. Sure Ann Moore's contract has some time left on it, but pay her to leave and bring in new meat. At the same time, Bewkes should implement a diet plan for the unit, by selling off its less glitzy and, low performing titles trimming the company down to a publisher of about 75-85 publications. Perhaps one of the reasons they held on to so many titles was to keep their status as the biggest. But these days, size doesn't matter. The company needs to also make some strategic acquisitions, scooping up sites they can actually make money from. With all their millions of readers it would make sense to jump into the social networking pool by launching a site for paid magazine subscriber’s only, where they can discuss articles they read in Time Inc's magazines among other things. If Time Inc's senior management is confused about how their digital operation should look, they should look no further than Conde Nast’s CondeNet. Sure Conde has its downs with the whole digital operation allegedly being totally separate from the print operation, but they have a very usable template that Time Inc can use as a foundation to build on. A slimmed down Time Inc with a new leader with the digital DNA, is key to it's future growth. Now the question is whether or not they know that. Related: Why Time Inc. may top Jeff Bewkes' hit list [MarketWatch]

Did Time Warner's Republican Chairman switch sides?

Lately Time Warner Chairman & CEO Dick Parsons has been called many things, or has came up in Google searches as many things. But one thing we're sure he is not is a Democrat, at least last we checked. However this doesn't stop the media exec from rubbing elbows with star Dems like Obama. Is Dick secretly throwing his support and money behind the Presidential hopeful or is this photo simply of two passing friends catching up?

The Early Digital Guy: Thomas Middelhoff saw the future but was cut short by a reclusive controlling family, and the Internet bubble deflation

The shifting at flip flopping German media giant Bertelsmann (Bertie) has been happening slowly and mostly under the radar for months now in prep for the official arrival of incoming ruler Hart Ostrowski. It looks like Ostrowski has quietly handed over his CEO title at Bertie division Arvato to Rolf Buch, but still holds on to the Chairmanship as he waits for current Bertie CEO Gunter Thielen to leave the building. Gunter took over when the more aggressive digital media seeking Thomas Middelhoff was booted for basically pushing the company in the direction all big media players are going now. Middelhoff went high and low getting Bertie into the digital media business. Under Middelhoff, Bertie increased its internet activities by starting the online media portal BOL (Bertelsmann Online), which was sold to buch.de in 2002. But he then stepped back from these online engagements, for example by selling its shares of AOL-Europe back to Time Warner. Was this due to pressure from the clueless board of Bertie? Sure the internet bubble was still fresh off the bust, but Tom Middelhoff was the media CEO back then, that all media CEO's are racing to be in this digital media age today. Will incoming CEO Hart Ostrowski build up Bertie's digital media business, to make sure that Bertie is relevant in the next five to ten years? Middelhoff pissed off the secretive Mohn family when he put in motion plans to take the company private which would have given him the cash and glitz he, as well as the company needed to build the company's Internet offerings and status among its competitors, but not too long after he was canned. Back in 2002 Columnist Dan Milmo said Bertie has an image problem, and five years after, this still seems to be the case. Bertie needs to get out more, its senior execs need to rub elbows with America’s big media players and get into the club. The only glitzy business that Bertie is associated with here in the U.S. is it’s 50% stake music giant Sony-BMG and god knows how long they will be part of that. Bertie needs to get hip. Come on can’t you see, Hart Ostrowski escorting Beyonce to a major music event? Dudes, you have the potential utilize it. Is Thomas Middelhoff the next Rupert Murdoch? [MG 2002]

Will NBC Universal and News Corp's HULU.com be another flash in the pan like NBC's NBBC.com?

NBC Universal and News Corp are probably putting the final touches on their soon to be launched online video joint venture, Hulu.com. Both companies are the latest big media players attempting to keep audiences from running to Youtube to see their programming by creating a video destination of their own. Viacom made every single episode of "The Daily Show" available online at the newly launched Thedailyshow.com. But back to Hulu. This won't be NBC's first run at an online video venture. A year ago with much fanfare NBC launched a mediocre site called NBBC.com. The site has since vanished into thin air. The venture was a flop right out of the gate due to it overly corporate look and discription (see image below). Online video ventures need to have a welcoming image sans the corporate lingo. Audiences and most advertisers could care less about that. It was an attempt to interact with NBC's audience but it turned out that NBC's audience didn't want to interact with them, and around that time there was a little site called Youtube smoking up the place. So will News Corp's involvement make a difference this time around? We think so. With News Corp's Myspace, if the right people are in charge of this new venture, it can make some noise. But it won't be an issue for the folks at Youtube, because at Youtube, the audience runs the show. EARLIER: Fresh Off The Wires: NBC Launches "NBBC"

Lehman Brothers analysts predict the already predicted for Time Warner

-SDH The media analysts at Lehman Brothers must feel like geniouses. They recently started covering Time Warner again and made some very predictable predictions. Wonder how they were able to come up with it? Lehman Brothers restarted coverage of media conglomerate Time Warner, Inc at overweight, saying it thinks the prospects of a structural transformation into a simpler content/advertising story could increase over the next 18 to 24 months with Jeff Bewkes as the CEO heir apparent, continuing and possibly expanding what current CEO Richard Parsons started. Time Warner restarted at overweight at Lehman, change seen [Market Watch]

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]

Analyst deeply hurt by Time Warner brass doing what big media brass does, talk shit

-SDH A know-it-all analyst who felt hurt because Time Warner's Dick Parsons and Jeff Bewkes allegedly over estimated AOL's expected results or something like that, is now suggesting that the company be broken up and Jeff Bewkes not be named CEO of the company because they and the TW board can’t be trusted. He also got pissed when in a recent interview Dick Parsons said that, being Time Warner CEO is just his job, not his life. But it is his job, and clearly unlike the analyst, Dick Parsons has a life. See the thing is an analyst stays on the outside looking in. He/She has no clue what it is to be in the shoes of the people they yap about. Not saying we do. But when a fucking overpaid so-called media analyst bases his opinions on the above mentioned he too needs to be analyzed by a shrink, because clearly he has some issues he needs to deal with. Can you say sensitive?. Time Warner was the victim Thursday of an unusually scathing Wall Street report by an analyst who called for a breakup of the company, told his clients that top executives aren't to be trusted and called Richard Parsons a "lame duck" chairman and CEO."We have simply lost faith/trust in TW's executive management team and board of directors," wrote Pali Research analyst Richard Greenfield, cutting his recommendation on the stock from "buy" to "neutral."Greenfield's dour tone mostly stems from TW's changing outlook regarding its AOL unit, where he predicts massive layoffs before the company's next quarterly earnings report in November.The analyst painstakingly goes through management's discussions of AOL's online advertising success, culminating with an abrupt change last month when executives made it known that the unit was vastly underperforming expectations. Richard Greenfield, get a woman/man and/or a life you over analyzing gas bag! Street blasts 'lame duck' Parsons, Time Warner [THR]

Bertelsmann still trying to figure out what to do with it's book club business

-SDH We are kinda late on this one, but we have an excuse, we were down for a while trying to figure out if we still wanted to do this shit. However after many emails from ticked off readers who demanded we resume publishing here we are. Anyway, as if folding it's Bookspan book marketing business into it's DVD/Video marketing business resulting in massive layoffs wasn't enough, German media giant Bertelsmann is now throwing the recently combined companies into the Random House box. We don't know if this is some kind of attempt to find another reason to roll heads or reduce divisions, but the businesses do go well together. Hey it's all in preparation for the coming of Hart Ostrowski in approximately 16 weeks. BERTELSMANN'S CLUBS GO TO RANDOM HOUSE [NYP]

Berner getting her footing at Reader's Digest!

-SDH When former Fairchild Publications shot caller Mary Berner took over as CEO of Reader's Digest Association, naturally she felt like an outsider among company lifers. So she did what any new dictator would do when they come into power, out with the old and in with people loyal to them. Its no secret that Berner raided her old nest for talent and now the dust seems to be settling. But with the dust almost settled, many can now see clearly if Berner will deliver new and refreshing results. Berner had a chat with Folio Magazine and explained why she did what she did and what she plans to do next so she can have another sit down with Folio sibling magazine Circulation Manager to tell them why she did what she did after she told Folio her plans to do what she is now telling Circulation Manager. Did we lose you? Yeah. Happens all the time. Tough Love [Folio]

Digital Media: Does traditional media get it, or putting on an Oscar worthy performance?

-SDH Visit the corporate website of any of the big media companies and what you will come across is their none-stop effort in showing that they are digitally literate. Time Warner's 2007 corporate profile has several pages dedicated to explaining how they are taking advantage of the digital movement. But does Time Warner and its competitors like News Corp, Disney, NBC Universal and others really get it? Or are they simply trying to remain relevant by acting like they do? It’s only recently that the digital race among these media companies began. Before that it was all about traditional media, like print, networks, cable etc. During that time, some of the mentioned companies weren't paying attention to this thing called digital media. Now it’s all the craze. Even some clueless shareholders during earnings calls want to know what is being done to monetize traditional content via digital distribution. Yeah! Like they have a clue! In the media business, it takes one or two bold media bigs, like a Rupert Murdoch to make a move and then the rest will follow. He set off a rat race when he shocked the media world and dropped big money on social networking site Myspace, beating out slow movers like at then Viacom CEO Tom Freston. Hell, Murdoch can be credited for sparking the digital race in big media. In the past few years companies like NBC Universal dropped big money to get their feet in the digital pool. CBS' little big man Les Moonves has also been on a digital media shopping spree as well. Snapping up any and everything they can sell ads on. NBC Universal acquired ivillage.com for a reported $600 Mil and so far they have yet to benefit from their big balled acquisition. An attempt to build a television show of the same name fell flat, but is said to be getting a makeover for a second round. There is even word that NBC's digital head that lacks experience in that field, Beth Comstock is on the way out. Big media continues to run through the digital media door with blindfolds on and their fat wallets. But the truth is, it’s like sitting in a room of people where someone just told a joke and the whole room erupts in laughter. You didn't get the joke, but you decide to burst out in laughter anyway because everyone else is holding their stomachs on the floor.

Thats like buying an Enzo and not being able to drive it, or something like that

-SDH Only an idiot would think Rupert Murdoch doesn't have the Bancroft family by the balls with the $5 Billion he has dangling in front of their faces. And only an idiot would think old Rupe will do a deal and not have full control at the wheel. Then again sometimes one has to sacrifice when they really want something. It looks like the Bancrofts who turned over negotiations to the DowJones board will sell but under one condition.......The Wall Street Journal can't be touched. Will Rupe accept these terms and get the deal done, or will he send it back with a big "I Don't Think So" written across it? The Bancroft's proposal calls for a Special Committee on Editorial and Journalistic Integrity and would limit News Corp.'s ability to control the Wall Street Journal brand. Dow Jones submits plan for editorial independence: report: [Reuters][

Winners, Losers & Idiots This Week: Guess who are the idiots?

WINNERS: Dow Jones: Even though the newspaper business is struggling right, Dow Jones still managed to report an OK Q1 Cathy Black & Ann Moore: Both women sit atop vast magazine empires. Both have had failures. Both will turn all their focus to the internet, coming up with ways to milk advertisers. Eric Schmidt: The Google CEO has the media industry on their toes and guessing. While traditional media companies play catch up, Schmidt is slowly invading their territory NBC: for airing video and photos of the V Tech psycho which resulted in a spike in ratings CNN: For pulling any and all footage of the V Tech psycho in an effort to not upset families who could possibly give them interviews Hearst "Tower Awards" winners: Even though it means shit, Yeeeah! to Harper's, Popular Mechanics, Town & Country, Good Housekeeping and Cosmo Girl for taking home one of these shiny trophies Sumner Redstone: The man may be a shark when it comes to business but he does have a heart you know. The media grand daddy has pledged $105 million to fund cancer and burn research at three major U.S. health care centers. This has Paula Redstone written all over it. Mike Eisner: The former Disney dictator finally came out of the closet as a gun hater after living a lie all those years he ruled Disney with an iron fist. Marcus W. Brauchli: For landing what is considered the most powerful position in business journalism at the Wall Street Journal. If only he had a different last name though. Barry Diller: The web mogul is about to tap some black ass when he launches a new website targeting black Americans and other ethnic minorities online CONTINUED... LOSERS: Liz Spiers: The blog queen and her partners couldn’t see eye to eye so she walked away from the company she launched and started to build. You should have put your foot down Liz. Kurt Eichenwald: This poor fuck just can’t catch a break. Just when he thought he was out, they pull him back in. Celebrity Gossip rags: Celebrity gossip magazines like In Touch weekly, for trying to be serious with cover stories related to the V Tech murders. Stick to your celebrity stalking and leave the big stories to Time and Newsweek. Beth Comstock: She may be in the good graces of her bosses but some of her colleagues are not too fond of her and her and her ideas Tribune Employees: Don’t listen to Sam Zell. He is going to lay a bunch of you off Bob Johnson: Perhaps the BET founder should think about another media play because he is just not a good NBA team owner, or so they say. Mel karmazin: When is Mel going to realize that he may never get his merger approved? IDIOTS: Us. But you love it

Winners Losers & Idiots This Week & Last Week

WINNERS: Rutgers Women’s Basketball team: These chicks got all the media coverage anyone could or would ever want and even got some old guy fired in the process Maria Bartiromo: The money honey and her hubby reportedly landed a sweet $6.5 million pad, and it wasn’t even paid for with Citigroup money Anderson Cooper: The silver haired CNN anchor’s pockets just got even phatter with the $50 Million his bosses just handed him. Wonder what he is planning on doing to celebrate? Gay People: Yeeah! Gay people can now enjoy the fantasy wedding packages offered by Disneyland. Sam Zell: Old Sammy beat out fellow billionaire Tribune bidders Ron Burkle and Eli Broad to win the long and pain in the ass Tribune auction. Now there are reports that Zell is in talks with another billionaire, David Geffen about the L.A Times possibly being spun off in a whole new deal that we hope will be painless and quick. Mika Salmi: We know he was hired as the digital czar for MTV and all its online properties, but doesn’t such a roll makes him the digital czar for all of Viacom being that all their online shit is tied related to the cable net anyway? Well according to speculators it looks as though Viacom is finally wrapping its hand around this digital era we’re all living in right now and we guess all praises are due to Mika Salmi…..we think. Mike Bloomberg: Why you ask? Well because the man just got another feature article which rubs his billions of dollars in out poor ass faces that’s why. Rupert Murdoch: Finally King Rupe gets John Malone off his back for good. Rupe tossed John a bone sometime last year and Johnny fetched it. Now Rupe will have a tighter grip on his beloved News Corp. EMI: The third biggest record company finally got with the program and did a deal with the mighty Apple/iTunes. The deal allows iTunes to crack open the EMI music vault and sell, sell, sell. CONTINUED... LOSERS: David Geffen: No L.A Times for you dude. Don Imus: “Nappy Headed Hos” did him in and now he is unemployed. But trust us Imus aint hurting for cash and it may be just a matter of time until he lands on Satellite. Pinch Sulzberger: The New York Times ruler, is about to bet his close flung wide open by a tell all book by former Time Inc. editor-in-chief Norman Pearlstine who claims Pinch is publicity man whore. Bookspan Employees: What can we say about these guys? Their jobs are up in the air now that Bertelsmann took Time Warner’s 50% stake in Bookspan. All we can do is pray that the blood bath if any isn’t that nasty. Ron Burkle & Eli Broad: These guys were in, then they were out, then they got back in when they saw other people were still interested in Tribune. Too bad they lost out to Sam Zell. However, we think the lost is making them delusional because they think they can still make a run at the company. Mel Karmazin: Mel Karmazin needs a fucking group of anti satellite deal activists like he needs a shotgun to his grey dome, but a group of activists is what he got. Now Mel has double his gift to gab to make his merger dreams a reality. Conrad Black: We mean come on are you even shocked that Conrad Black made our losers list again? Hell no you’re not so we won’t even get into why. New York Times Co: Does this company need to be sold stripped and revamped or what? IDIOTS: Don Imus: Yeah this week Don is not only a loser but an idiot as well. Do we really need to get into the details? Deirdre Imus: Now why would this woman invite potentially dangerous people to threaten her husband’s life? Jordan Levin: Hey Jordan, thanks for telling us all something we all fucking knew already. Next time don’t just say shit to have something to say in front of a bunch of people. We know you wanted to feel important bud dude, like we said, tell us something we don’t fucking know.

Deirdre Imus to public: Threaten my husband's life instead

-SDH In what could be labeled one of the dumbest moments to come out of the whole Don Imus thing, his wife Deirdre was interviewed on air via telephone where she proceeded to urge those sending death threats to the Rutgers women's basketball team to send them to her husband instead. So if something happens to old Don, will she be held accountable? Isn’t she inviting possible harm to her husband? Is there a lawyer in the house? "He feels awful," she said. "He asked them, 'I want to know the pain I caused, and I want to know how to fix this and change this."' "I have to say that these women are unbelievably courageous and beautiful women," she said. Deirdre Imus also said that the Rutgers players have been receiving hate e-mail, and she demanded that it stop. She told listeners "if you must send e-mail, send it to my husband," not the team. Imus Fired, Wife Hosts Radio Show [WNBC]

Media Style: Les and Julie Moonves are not only the most tanned couple in media, they are one of the best dressed too

-SDH **Media Style is another one of our sporadic features where we take a look at the latest “trends” in the upper levels of the media industry. We have to be honest, we love Les and Julie Moonves. We know we have said some not so nice things about Les in the past but we have come to realize that the whole time we were talking shit about the CBS honcho, it was really our way of saying, "We like You". Les and Julie are always well tanned and well groomed even on down days. So how do they do it? Do they have someone who puts it all together for them? Is Julie the one who picks Les's outfits? Who knows? What we do know is that this media power couple has style, and that is why they are kicking off our revamped "Media Style" feature. The pic above is a recent outing. Les's black trench with black mock neck, grey slacks and black shoes, just spells I'm fucking powerful. That with Julie's get up is proof that this couple communicates on everything including what to wear.

Morning Wire: Chuck full a newspaper deals, and more in this morning's worthy media news...

-SDH The newspaper industry continues to hammer out deals and drop partners because its a dog it dog world out there. first up, Gannett is selling four of its papers to the sharks at Gatehouse Media for a sweet $410 million as part of some kind of strategic plan. [Reuters] Next, the folks over at McClatchy is pulling out of a ad partnership with both Tribune and Gannett to partner with a rival group who hasn't even finished ironing out a deal with Yahoo! as yet. [Reuters] You know what, maybe God just wanted old Don Imus to go out with a bang, and appointed CBS Chief Les Moonves as the man to pull the final plug. Wonder Mel Karmazin was appointed the resurrector? [AP] NBC and Citadel Investment Group sweetened their offer for Ion Media. Lets hope its sweet enough for the folks at Ion [NYP] Will Tom Cruise get some green for his United Artists Studio? Maybe he can put in a call to Sumner Redstone [NYP]

THIS JUST IN: For Bookspanners in the company's Upper Allen Township facility its business as usual…… for now

-SDH Looks like its not all worries for all of Book marketing firm Bookspan. According to an article in The Sentinel, Bookspanners in the company's Upper Allen Township location are breathing easy for now because well, no one knows what is going to happen when the "Hart & Ewald Show" debuts. Can you blame them? This location reportedly has about 518 bodies, good for the chopping but some lady named Melinda Meals (we can so come up with about half dozen jokes about this name) isn't worried shit. “We are very committed to the local community,” Melinda Meals said. “Nothing is changing at this point in time. It is way too early to know what is going to happen.” Business as usual at Bookspan [The Sentinel]

Say hello to the stars of Bertelsmann's new show

-SDH Their is a new show about to debut from German media powerhouse Bertelsmann AG, you know Bertie, as it is called here in America, and it stars two guys with funny names. The new show is called "The Hart & Ewald Show" starring Incoming Bertie CEO Hart Ostrowski and DirectGroup CEO Ewald Walgenbach. What is the show about you ask? Well lets just say, it aint a comedy but a bloodbath, dressed up to fool us all of unbearable seens which will include pissed off department heads throwing tantrums and perhaps a chair or two and minions begging for mercy as Both Hart and Ewald get all OJ on hundreds of unsuspecting souls. Make sure you tune it, we know we will. It’s looking up to be a huge hit for its producers in Germany. COVERAGE

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]

Morning Wire: Imus canned, now how long until Mel Karmazin comes a knocking, and more in this morning's worthy media news...

-SDH Don Imus with his drunken drawl and cowboy hat has been shit canned by the powers that be at MSNBC. By the way the powers that be are the advertisers who pulled their ads. Did you think it was Jeff Zucker, Steve Capus or Dan Abrams? Please! [NYT] MGM will further crowd your already crowded iPods with movies. When will be able to get some porn on this thing, or are we missing something? [NYT] New York Times Co, will buy and sell a plant and swallow yet another loss. Confusing, just confusing. [Reuters] The UK kills a whole industry all for the sake of keeping their children skinny. The recent ban on TV junk-food ads aimed at children younger than 16 will be extended to magazines, the Internet, newspapers, billboards and cinema. Hey, at least they didn't say anything about cell phones, direct mail, iPods or video games [Adage] Sumner Redstone reportedly has record execs knocking on his door for a shot at bidding for Viacom's Famous Music. That's right Viacom, get out of those businesses you have no business being in. [NYP] Hey the folks at Island Def Jam are about to pull the Mercury Records label out of the closet, dust it off and give it a President [Reuters]

Coming up in the May Issue of W, America

-SDH Actress America Ferrera has become quite the cover girl. She graces the May cover of W magazine and reveals some shocking things she had to deal with like the politics that still dominate Hollywood. ON HER PARENTS NOT SUPPORTING HER DREAMS OF BECOMING AN ACTRESS…“Acting was not something that they came to this country to have me do… For a time I thought I could be a lawyer. As a kid I even went to law camp at UCLA. They had us watch My Cousin Vinny, which was great. But then we went to the courthouse, and we had to do these mock trials, and once I saw what it really meant to be a lawyer, I realized that it wasn’t for me. I thought it was like in the movies, like, ‘You can’t handle the truth!’ That kind of thing.” Full run down after the click. CONTINUED... ACTRESS AMERICA FERRERA TALKS ABOUT HER WEIGHT, RUMORS OF HER ENGAGEMENT AND FEELING LIKE AN OUTSIDER In the (new) May issue of W magazine On newsstands April 20th nationwide (April 16, 2007, New York, NY) America Ferrera tells W magazine what it’s like being a curvaceous woman in Hollywood: “I mean, of course I want to be at a weight where I’m happy. There are times when I go to the gym and really try, and there are times when I just don’t. I gain a pound; I lose a pound. But I think I’ve developed a really good sense of when I’m doing something for myself as opposed to when I’m doing something because of other people’s expectations of me. And honestly, even if I wanted to be anorexic, I just don’t have what it takes. After four hours of being anorexic, I’d be like, ‘It’s been four whole hours! Feed me!’” To view behind the scenes footage of America Ferrera’s photo shoot with W, please visit http://www.wmagazine.com/. Following are other comments from America Ferrara’s interview found in the May issue of W: ON THE TABLOIDS ANNOUNCING THAT SHE AND BOYFRIEND RYAN PIERS WILLIAMS GOT ENGAGED…“It’s totally not true! And his mom called me and my sisters were calling me, and I was like, ‘Are you kidding? Did you not think I would tell you first?’ And then I put out a statement that it wasn’t true, and that became a whole news story. So now it’s news when something doesn’t happen? Like, news flash: California did not get hit by a hurricane today.” ON NOT BEING OFFERED LEADING ACTING ROLES DESPITE HER RECENT SUCCESSES…“When it comes to envisioning an actor in a role that they haven’t seen them in, people in this business can be a little uncreative. No one is willing to take a gamble…It’s been more about developing my own material, finding roles that I would like to play and figuring out a way to get those things made.” ON TRYING TO ENJOY THE MOMENT…“The hardest part of this year has been learning to enjoy it. It’s almost like a full-time job reminding myself to live in the moment and not look for more, more, more…I see now that people who make movies, this world of creative geniuses that I grew up idolizing, are just normal people who wanted to do something and made it happen. Everything that’s happened to me in the last year has only made me feel more like a normal person, more human, but in the most beautiful way.” ON HAVING ‘A MINI NERVOUS BREAKDOWN’ AFTER HER FIRST SHOW BIZ EXPERIENCE ON THE DISNEY CHANNEL MOVIE GOTTA KICK IT UP…“I just felt really empty. I had achieved my dream, and it wasn’t totally fulfilling. I still had school problems, and I still had boy problems. My life was still my life. I guess I had been waiting to be turned into a swan.” ON BEING HONDURAN AND GROWING UP IN A CAUCASION NEIGHBORHOOD…“As early as second grade I remember feeling really different and isolated. I had the hugest crush on a boy, and my best friend had a crush on him too. One day he said to me, ‘I like your best friend more because she’s paler and she has freckles.’ And it was right then that I began to feel like, Oh wow, I’m different.” ON NOT FITTING IN WITH THE LATINO COMMUNITY…“I mean, I grew up in the Valley. All my friends were white Jewish kids. So the Latino kids thought I was this white girl.” 2/W Magazine ON HAVING FIVE SIBLINGS…“Growing up, I never had a ton of friends. I always had two or three, but when you have four sisters and a brother all a year apart, you don’t really need anyone else to play with…I learned the naughty words before anyone else in my class. And I think I avoided many of the pitfalls because I got to watch them live through it.” ON HER PARENTS NOT SUPPORTING HER DREAMS OF BECOMING AN ACTRESS…“Acting was not something that they came to this country to have me do… For a time I thought I could be a lawyer. As a kid I even went to law camp at UCLA. They had us watch My Cousin Vinny, which was great. But then we went to the courthouse, and we had to do these mock trials, and once I saw what it really meant to be a lawyer, I realized that it wasn’t for me. I thought it was like in the movies, like, ‘You can’t handle the truth!’ That kind of thing.” ON BEING APPROACHED BY SALMA HAYEK TO STAR AS ‘UGLY BETTY’…“Honestly I never saw myself doing TV, but Salma was so convincing. Salma is the kind of person who could sell you, like, a used stereo. She promised me that it would be done in the right way, and I just trusted her.” ON GETTING A COLLEGE DEGREE…“Acting is something I knew I wanted to do long term. But not going to college was not an option. I think it probably helped me as an actress as well, because actresses need real-life experiences to draw from.” ON WHAT HAPPINESS IS…“Happiness is something that you have to decide to have in your life. No amount of accolades can make you a happy person, and learning that as young as I did was a gift.” ON HER AMBITIONS…“When there’s a film I want to do, sleep doesn’t matter. Part of me would love to be sitting in the sun in Italy, but I’d be crazy by day four.”

We all fuel the Sanjaya Malakar machine

-SDH Every second there is another post asking why in the world that skinny Indian kid is still on American Idol. How does he do it? Who keeps voting for him? Why does America love him? Well we got the answer. It’s because of those very questions why the Sanjaya Machine continues to move forward. Everytime we post something about the kid, like we're doing now, its more gas being poured on the fire. Sanjaya has many things going for him. He not only has a different look than your typical American Idol, but the kid is an entertainer at heart. He is also smart and knows how to shock us all with something new every week that he is still on the show. Oh yeah lets not forget that the gay community has embraced him as well. Every performance reveals a new Sanjaya. The kid now epitomizes the word reinvention much like major pop stars like Madonna. At this point it doesn't matter if he wins the competition or not, because he already won. Sanjaya is the most popular American Idol contestant ever, and we could only imagine the pens tapping on contracts waiting for this kid. Simon Cowell reportedly said that he won't return if Sanjaya wins, well our advice to Mr. Cowell is be on stand by, because the kid may shock us all in the end. "Idol" slayer? [Slate]

If markus-wilhelm.com is in fact a secret website of the deposed Bookspan CEO, what in the world is it about?

-SDH If the domain name MARKUS-WILHELM.COM is owned by the former Bookspan CEO, then he may want to renew it being that it’s about to expire in August of this year. We can't help but wonder if it is indeed his domain name, what in the world is being protected? Based on the WHOIS info we pulled on the domain, it was registered in August 2002 by someone named.... you guessed it, Markus Wilhelm. We would love to know what is so sensitive that it has to be password protected. As usual being the know-it-alls we are we came up with some subjects of what the site may be about. However if you know different then send us an email with the juice. Here is a list of subjects we think MARKUS-WILHELM.COM may be about: Markus Wilhelm's rants about his tenure at the company Photos and names of female employees he may have been seeing outside the company A log of employees visiting porn websites he never visited before A secret message board set up to communicate with minions Photos of Markus and his family vacationing His not so nice opinions about incoming Bertelsmann CEO Hart Ostrowski Secret video clips of he and Liz Mohn Who knows!

Afternoon Wire: $50 Mil for Anderson, and more in this afternoon's worthy media news...

-SDH CNN anchor Anderson Cooper just got even richer with the extra cash CNN just threw at him. Guess the cable network decided its better to pay him more money instead of continuing to spend millions to market him. [NYP] Viacom will do a deal with any website but Youtube, for now [PC Mag] TimeWarner getting lashed at for indirectly supporting celeb gossip whore Perez Hilton [Canada.com] CNN has a new International boss, yeeeeah! [AJC] CMP Media firms up the editorial team on their Network Computing magazine because believe it or not, there are people out there who want Global IT related content [PRNW] Barry Diller's Interactive Corp names a new guy who will help you find your dream home [PRNW]

Off Beat: Continuing our obsession with the Germans this morning, it turns out they have a sick sense of humor just like us Americans

-SDH **An Off Beat post is something we go through sporadically where we read something that we have to comment on because of the level of stupidity or we just feel like sharing our thoughts about it. It’s usually never associated with what we usually cover but never the less it has some tie in with the media industry, most of the time. Trespassing over at Nerve.com's Scanner Blog, we came asscross a post about a German ad for a Job fair. The guys at Scanner attempted to explain what they think the ad means, but couldn't quite put their fingers on it. Us on the other hand, we clearly know what it means. Its how most of us feel about our bosses! German Advertising, Ass You Like It [Scanner Blog]

Bertelsmann's Ostrowski Doctrine

-SDH Bookspan employees are already feeling the early effects of Bertelsmann’s “Ostrowski Doctrine”. Bertelsmann’s next CEO will be the hard charging cost cutting, take no prisoners Hartmut “Hart” Ostrowski who rose to the top for his disciplined mentality. Though he won’t officially be CEO until the end of this year, Ostrowski without a doubt already has the ears of the Bertelsmann board and is a favorite of the controlling Mohn family which leads us to believe that recent announcements of consolidations in the U.S. are part of his plan to merge and purge business units with top heavy management structures and high overheads, much like Bookspan. But besides Bookspan, what else will get a taste of the “Ostrowski Doctrine”? The company has been up and down about its stake in Sony BMG but all evidence point to them holding on to their 50% stake at least for now. A major part of the “Ostrowski Doctrine” is an aggressive push into U.S. media markets. The company recently announced that it is setting up a war chest with Morgan Stanley for a planned shopping spree which could see the company stocking up on internet properties to have a foot print in the digital arena. Could there be an Amazon-esque B