Word: wrights
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...long struggle," says Bob Wright, 60, CEO of NBC and the man who would run NBC Universal. A day after the announcement, the GE executive relaxed in a corner office at NBC's Burbank, Calif., studios. Wright had spent the day in shirtsleeves, greeting Universal executives at a chicken-and-penne lunch and joking with his top lieutenants...
...victory--almost 17 years to the day since he took over NBC--is a personal one for Wright. He had expanded NBC aggressively by acquiring or developing the cable channels CNBC, MSNBC and Bravo and the Spanish-language network Telemundo. But with the price of programming spiraling, he felt NBC was increasingly vulnerable as the only big network that wasn't aligned with a studio. NBC, for example, was bracing for a rumored $550 million demand from Universal this season for its Law & Order franchise. Meanwhile, advertising revenues were hobbled by a pallid economy and ad-zapping devices like TiVo...
...been halved from its high of $60 in 2000. Back in 1986, CEO Jack Welch diversified with a similarly risky move--by acquiring NBC. It paid off; NBC's profits surged 20% for the first half of this year, ahead of every other group save one. The merger, says Wright, shouldn't slow profit growth. The combined NBC Universal should bring revenues of $13 billion, enough to move GE's top-line growth too. GE amassed sales of $132 billion last year. Still, says Rob Friedman of Standard & Poor's Equity Research Service, "I don't think Mr. Welch would...
Many of Universal's 7,000 employees are nervous about working for such famously hard-nosed bosses. Wright sought to quell those fears at Universal headquarters last week. He says NBC would look for $200 million in "synergies" from new revenues and combined efficiencies, and $200 million from cost cuts, including facilities, purchases and people. As for big layoffs, Wright says, "Chopping off heads won't get you those kinds of numbers." One head that won't roll: Vivendi Universal Entertainment boss Ron Meyer. Both men argue that their staffs and goals fit. "We're not prima donnas here," says...
Airplanes On Dec. 17, 1903, Orville Wright flew for 12 seconds. It was the culmination of seven years of experiments on powering and controlling a glider by him and his brother Wilbur. Their first public flight...