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What Disney really needs is someone with GOOD Ideas. I mean did anyone think about seeing Around the World in 80 Days with Jackie Chan? Come on. Tho the Incredibles looks pretty good and I am going to go see it sometime soon. donno what my point is but I'm rambling. Anyways guess my point is who cares who the CEO is if the people who work with the ideas and green lights bad ideas are still there.

# posted by jtintle 12:33 PM

I found an interesting post at FuckedCompany about how the grass isn't always green over at Sony either:
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"I worked at Sony Music for years. There is very little collaboration between the entertainment and the hardware companies. VERY LITTLE.

"Except, of course, when Sony Corp of America has a product rammed down its throat by Sony Japan [Minidisk] because it sells well in one market, Japan. THEN the music company has to make minidisks of artist releases to support the hardware. Meanwhile, for those of you not on life support since 1998, portable mp3 players came along, basically destroying what feeble interest there was in the minidisk players to begin with. And yet, go to any sony style store and there's a million...shiny new minidisk players.

"According to my friends still there, within the ranks of the company is outright bitter depression. Apple totally came out of nowhere and nuked Sony's alleged superiority in portable media. Hell, even the merger between Sony Music and BMG is so screwed up [executive strategy: let BMG decide which Sony Music employees to lay off, and vice versa. that way each company's leader can whine how they fought to save jobs.

"Having the content and hardware under one roof sounds great but sony has absolutely not figured it out yet.

"Regarding HP...I had the misfortune of working behind the scenes of the proxy battle during the Compaq purchase. I sat in a huge call center and spoke to HP shareholders all over the country, basically trying to persuade them to support the merger.

"You think George Bush is unpopular in some neighborhoods? I have NEVER heard such rage, such absolute loathing as I've heard by long-term HP employees regarding Carly. She came into the company riding the boom from Lucent, but had no business merging with Compaq. The old guard HATES her.

"So, maybe she's perfect for Disney."
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# posted by Alice 12:37 PM

Celine Dion! Yes! I want bootleg video of her singing "My Company Will Go On" at the Christmas'04 party. I'll buy the liquor to support that noble goal. Any insiders wanna make sure it happens? Woo!

Regarding those "who aren't the cleanest posters on the planet" ... Um. Do you really need to make a disclaimer when sending people to a link clearly marked FUCKEDcompany.com? I mean .. really? :)

I think of corporations like stars. No, not celebrities. The giant gassy CELESTIAL bodies. You know. The ones made primarily of hydrogen? They start out so promising, growing and expanding and generating so much fabulous heat, creating a nice twinkle in the sky, but then eventually swell up too large and collapse on themselves, sucking up and obliterating everything around them. *coughAOLTIMEWARNERcough*

Man, I'm a metaphorical(?) genius.

I hate HP. I hate Disney. It could work.

Also, to jtintle, who cited The Incredibles - remember that this is quite probably Disney's last fling with Pixar. They're allegedly making Toy Story 3 (to which they own the rights) without Pixar (who created the franchise in the first place). I think that'll be a good litmus test for how well Disney can without their golden child.

Whatever happens, I'm sure the eventual, inevitable supernova will be a sight to see.

# posted by Terry 1:03 PM

Hmmmm, so if we could arrange a 4 way merger between HP, Disney, Oracle, and Microsoft we could take out all the most irritating corporations in America in one go! Sure, it doesn't make sense as a combined company.... but how is that any different from other mergers? :-)

# posted by Anonymous 1:08 PM

The problem with Ms. Fiorina is that she does have a measure of talent (no where near the initial hype, unfortunately) and she was sucked into a venue where the GOBs hate talent to any degree. A talented person arrives with creativity and a willingness to take chances. That's a death sentence at companies like HP where status quo is an icon.

I can, however, understand the disatisfaction with taking Compaq onboard. Compaq was always a stuck-up, arrogant company. I don't have enough fingers to count how many times it told Shopper to take a hike when the mag asked for review computers. Compaq wanted little to do with consumers and nothing at all with direct sales --until it started to go belly up. I'm pretty sure, over the course of years, that the folk at Compaq more than once told the folk at HP, "Well bury you!"

What Carleton knew, and the GOBs were too blindassed to figure out, was that you don't buy Compaq because you like it. You buy the company to assimilate the competition. It's a classic phone company manouver.

Forget Celine Dion fantasies. Carly doesn't look anything like her in person (thank god!). And next time we use a four letter word derivative, maybe we want to put a note somewhere at the top? I'd be loading my shotgun if a kid of mine wandered on this blog right now and there's no need for it, especially the huge banner, just to finger a link. It's not a shock blog, right?

# posted by Bill 8:34 AM

I thought Bill's comments were important to address(see above), so I am taking down the logo to "FC" and changing the spelling in the link, not because I think less of the website, but because I do feel that Alice and Bill have never been about using the "F" word or others to make a point.

That is not being prudish, but is about being professional and in line with all the other professional publications and websites we have always been affiliated with. I will say this about why I chose to point to this website. 1) FC is *the* leading site/source and has been since the dot com bubble burst for true inside info on what is going on at these companies. 2) Because users can post without using their names, many people from these companies (like the guy from Sony a few posts above) submit incredible insights on what is going on and who is waging war or causing a problem at these major Internet companies. 3) It is also the place you go to to hear who is shutting their doors or about to lay off a chunk of employees. The site's track record is on the money and has been for years and years- I follow the site every day, since most of my friends and former associates work at most of these companies or know someone who does.

The title though which realy says it all, unfortunately has put everyone into a tailspin because it uses the F-word. I also feel that some user posts are often beyond offensive or at the veryt least way off the topic, but for inside info, it is still the best source I've seen for hearing from the actual people at these companies, and usually well worth wading through the immature mess some people provide when they can be anonymous online.

But I do think Bill has a point - we as professionals are not about crossing the language line to make a point, so I am taking down the logo and re-spelling the site name, but I still stand 100% behind the selection of the site for this information - I feel it was a very interesting look at this Dinsy/HP/Mega-merger issue from some behind the scenes players we would not otherwise find commenting.

Let's hope in the future they'll come here and tell it like it is.

--Alice

# posted by Alice 11:12 PM

And all it took was one call from Michael Powell.... ;-)

# posted by Bill 11:00 AM

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