geert lovink on Wed, 5 Sep 2001 09:01:27 +0200 (CEST) |
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<nettime> The Industry Standard's Media Grok is back! |
(returned from the land of dead... here it is, covering the big story of the hp-compaq merger/takeover. /geert) ===================================================================== THE INDUSTRY STANDARD'S M E D I A G R O K A Commentary on What the Press Is Reporting and Why ===================================================================== | http://www.thestandard.com | Tuesday, September 4, 2001 TOP GROKS: * Hello * HP to Get Compaq'ted * Not So Exciting AtHome MORE NEWS: * HP to Acquire Compaq * When the Digital Pedal Hits the Metal * Putting Order to the Chaos of Information Technology * DOJ Asks Supreme Court to Reject Microsoft Appeal TOP GROKS ~~~~~~~~~ Hello How can you miss us if we won't go away? Last year, we at Media Grok amused ourselves with the saga of APBnews.com, a crime-news site that went bankrupt and kept closing and re-opening, and finally got bought out by a company whose CEO has subsequently been indicted on tax and procurement fraud charges. Now, perhaps, we offer up ourselves for similar ridicule. Media Grok last published on Aug. 17. The Industry Standard magazine is closed, and the parent company filed Chapter 11 on Aug. 27. But Standard Media International has retained a skeleton crew while shopping the business, and the Media Grok team is part of it. So for at least several more weeks, we're back. During our "vacation" from Media Grok, we watched the Industry Standard get served up as the embodiment of everything that is wrong with publishing, the Net Economy, you name it. Even Alan Meckler, the profitability-challenged CEO of INT Media Group, weighed in with an acid-tongued requiem. As for explanations from IDG and former Standard executives, coverage quickly descended to the "it wasn't my fault" level. At least three reporters felt it necessary to inform their readers that ex-Standard execs had been tracked down in such tony locales as Hawaii and Martha's Vineyard. We at Media Grok don't know for certain how long we'll be producing Media Grok for the Standard, or how or if we will continue if the Standard doesn't or can't remain our benefactor. So write us at mediagrok@guterman.com and we'll tell you what we're doing and where. Chances are the "where" won't be Hawaii, though. - Jimmy Guterman The Future of Media Grok http://www.guterman.com Rumor Mill: Standard excuses http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1015-205-6994220.html High-Tech Casualty http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec01/layoffs_8-20.html Failed Mag Set Standard for Wasting Money http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-08-24/News_and_Views/Media_and_Business/a-12 2910.asp Final Public Offering http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A512-2001Aug26.html Sudden death at the Industry Standard http://www0.mercurycenter.com/opinion/perspective/docs/ps082601.htm The Fast and Furious Rise and Fall of the Industry Standard http://www.inside.com/product/product.asp?entity=localhost&pf_ID=04929592-51 29-4C39-BAE3-A04DD2C3DB47 Battelle's "Hairy, Audacious Goal" for The Standard http://www.atnewyork.com/views/article/0,1471,8481_872301,00.html Industry Standard owes at least $10 million http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/08/29/BU159482.DTL ------------------------------- HP to Get Compaq'ted Even we must admit that the return of Media Grok isn't the big story today. Hewlett-Packard plans to buy Compaq in a $25 billion stock-swap deal, the companies announced (oh-so-conveniently for U.S. outlets) on Labor Day night. The media's favorite adjective for this one appeared to be "bold." Hold your applause: One of the more commonly spotted nouns was "antitrust." First, the good news (curmudgeons can skip ahead two paragraphs). Compaq's new focus on "services" would help HP, which tried and failed to buy the consulting arm of PriceWaterhouseCoopers. From Compaq's point of view, the deal "provides a premium to shareholders, while it helps to bolster the company's waning Unix server-computer sales," said CBS MarketWatch, one of the few outlets to note any perks for the big Q. All this would put the combined company in good shape to compete with IBM industry-wide, and put the hurt on Dell in the PC arena. (Of course, this is not good news if you're Michael Dell.) Journalists should be happy to learn that the post-merger company would keep the HP name and not become HewlettPackardCompaq. Writing "PriceWaterhouseCoopers" is bad enough. The deal gives a PR boost to HP boss Carly Fiorina, who seems to have been walking around with a "kick me" sign all year. "The deal is a vote of confidence by Hewlett-Packard's board for Ms. Fiorina," said the New York Times. "Only a month ago, pundits were speculating whether Carleton Fiorina would be dismissed," said News.com. Not everyone was kind to Fiorina, who would become CEO of the new biz. "She can't manage HP," one pundit told the San Jose Mercury News. "Can she manage both of them?" Someone just fell off the Fiorina family's Christmas-card list. Many observers frowned on the deal, if not on Carly herself. Some analysts "questioned the commercial logic of the merger, saying Compaq was too big for HP to digest," reported the Evening Standard. The Wall Street Journal also wondered if the merger wouldn't be a "distraction for management" - and who wants to be the world's biggest PC maker in this retail climate, anyway? "Isn't this a rather expensive way to overtake Dell?" quipped The Register. "And what's the betting that HP and Compaq will together be greater than the sum of their parts?" That sum might include a "major culture clash," said the Merc, since HP has a "conservative corporate culture," and "Compaq is regarded as more of a maverick." (A $25 billion maverick, though.) Finally, expect a big antitrust investigation, since observers estimated that the combined company would sell two-thirds of all the PCs in U.S. retail stores. Most journalists took a break from merger mania to wonder if, and how many, HP and Compaq employees might lose their jobs over this. The Register may have found the answer in a Compaq memo it obtained. The companies expect to save $2.5 billion, partially through "approximately 15,000 job reductions, or about 10 percent of the company's combined work force of more than 145,000," wrote Compaq's Michael Capellas. If Monster.com runs a little slowly today, now you know why. - Jen Muehlbauer Hewlett-Packard to buy Compaq http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7BBD3A0D20%2D4F38%2D4454%2DB 8CB%2DD13FE927677B%7D&siteid=mktw Merger to combine two of the largest names in PC world http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-201-7046992-0.html Hewlett-Packard to Acquire Compaq in $25 Billion Deal http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/04/technology/04DEAL.html (Registration required.) HP buying Compaq for estimated $25 billion http://www.siliconvalley.com/hottopics/hp/ Hewlett-Packard Agrees to Acquire Compaq Computer in Stock Swap http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB999553371387135083.htm (Paid subscription required.) HP to buy Compaq for Battle of the Bulge http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/7/21442.html HP makes Don Capellas an offer he can't refuse http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/7/21444.html Hewlett-Compaq in #17bn merger http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/news/business_story.html?in_review_id= 453072&in_review_text_id=403814 Hewlett-Packard in $25bn move for rival Compaq http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3YHAV47RC Compaq being sold to H-P for $25 billion http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/tech/news/1033609 ------------------------------- Not So Exciting AtHome Not a lot of tech news came out over the Labor Day weekend, but last week's hot story - the travails of ExciteAtHome - continued in the headlines today. The company is burning $1 million per day, according to the New York Times, and it is negotiating with a major investor who wants $50 million of its money back right now. And on Friday, ExciteAtHome got the news that two of the partners that resell its cable network access, Cox and Comcast, have elected not to renew their contracts. On Saturday the Times ran Matt Richtel's portrait of ExciteAtHome CEO Patti S. Hart. As profiled by Richtel, Hart came off as a folksy and capable executive who just might be able to pull ExciteAtHome out of the danger zone. CNET's comprehensive backgrounder on ExciteAtHome, published on Friday, was more downbeat, focusing on the culture clash between Excite's young dot-com crowd and the "cable guys" who built the AtHome network. InternetNews covered the story of Cox's and Comcast's decision to terminate their distribution agreements with ExciteAtHome. Reporter Thor Olavsrud found some sources who thought the partners' withdrawal could be good news for the embattled cable portal, freeing it to make distribution deals with other players, such as (possibly) Microsoft. Let's give the last word to contrarian pundit Robert X. Cringely, who dashed cold water on any lurking optimism about the future of ExciteAtHome: "Broadband is not, at this time, a viable industry." What is? - Keith Dawson Excite@Home Executive in Crisis Control at Warp Speed http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/02/business/02PROF.html (Registration required.) Was Excite@Home marriage doomed at the altar? http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-201-7013071-0.html Cox, Comcast Plan to End @Home Distribution Agreements http://www.internetnews.com/isp-news/article/0,2171,8_876771,00.html No Longer Feeling @Home http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20010830.html MORE NEWS AT THESTANDARD.COM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HP to Acquire Compaq http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,28865,00.html?nl=mg When the Digital Pedal Hits the Metal http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,28864,00.html?nl=mg Putting Order to the Chaos of Information Technology http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,28863,00.html?nl=mg DOJ Asks Supreme Court to Reject Microsoft Appeal http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,28861,00.html?nl=mg --------------------------------------------------------------------- MORE LINKS ~~~~~~~~~~ Justice Department Pushes High Court To Reject Microsoft Antitrust Appeal http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB999274020292533116.htm (Paid subscription required.) Single-Number Plan Raises Privacy Fears http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-000071061sep02.story?coll=la%2Dheadline s%2Dtechnology Merger wallflower Yahoo may get next dance (Reuters) http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/svfront/054349.htm Squandering Our Technological Future http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/31/opinion/31CLAR.html (Registration required.) Report finds laws inadequate against cybersquatters http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3UW7DM6RC MP3.com Loses Founder, Settles With Britney Spears' Record Company http://www.sonicnet.com/news/digital/story.jhtml?id=1448574 Whitehouse.gov Gets a Makeover http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46480,00.html Ultrafast wireless technology set to lift off http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/ptech/08/30/ultrafast.wireless.idg/index.html UL torture-testing more information technology products http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/svfront/ul090401.htm BT Wireless's New Name, mmO2, Bewilders Branding Consultants http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB999509692624276117.htm (Paid subscription required.) STAFF ~~~~~ Written by Deborah Asbrand (dasbrand@world.std.com), Michaela Cavallaro (mcavalla@maine.rr.com), Keith Dawson (dawson@world.std.com), Jen Muehlbauer (jen@englishmajor.com) and David Sims (davesims@sonic.net). Copyedited and produced by Jim Duffy (jimduffy86@yahoo.com). Edited by Jimmy Guterman (guterman@vineyard.com). Media Grok is produced by The Vineyard Group Inc., for Standard Media International. # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net