Feature Story
Is There Anything Else We Can Buy?”
In a rapidly changing world, you must change rapidly or suffer the consequences. In business, change requires investment.
A case in point is found in the entertainment industry. Technology is bringing about innovations so quickly that it is nearly impossible to guess which technologies will last and which will soon fade away. For example, will both satellite TV and cable TV survive? Or, will both be replaced by something else?
Consider the publishing industry as well. Will paper newspapers and magazines be replaced completely by online news? If you are a publisher, you have to make your best guess about what the future holds and invest accordingly.
Time Warner, Inc. lives at the center of this arena. It is not an environment for the timid, and Time Warner's philosophy is anything but that. Instead, it might be characterized as, “If we can't beat you, we will buy you.” Its mantra is “invest, invest, invest.” A list of Time Warner's holdings gives an idea of its reach:
Magazines: People, Time, Life, Sports Illustrated, Fortune.
Book publishers: Time-Life Books, Book-of-the-Month Club, Little, Brown & Co, Sunset Books.
Television and movies: Warner Bros. (“ER,” “Without a Trace,” the WB Network), HBO, and movies like Harry Potter ...
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