| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : MAY 10, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| INTERNATIONAL -- EUROPEAN COVER STORY
Making of an Entrepreneur 1952 Born in Kressbronn in southern Germany. 1970-1979 After quitting high school without diploma, he takes a job selling BMWs in Munich and later becomes star salesman for IBM's German unit. 1979-89 Hired by media magnate Leo Kirch to market videos of TV shows, he moves on to head up merchandising, pioneering U.S.-style product toys. 1989 Quits Kirch Group to found EM.TV. Scores early coup marketing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in Germany. 1990 Secures German-language rights to The Flintstones and marketing rights to video game character Super Mario. 1993 Gets worldwide rights to German megahit cartoon character Tabaluga. 1997 EM.TV goes public; secures merchandising rights to the Muppets. 1998 Completes $280 million joint venture with Kirch Group, sextupling EM.TV's library of kids' shows. 1999 Cuts raft of deals at Cannes TV programming conference in April. DATA: COMPANY REPORTS, BUSINESS WEEK _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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 The Cartoon King (int'l edition) EUROPEAN COVER IMAGE: The Cartoon King CHART: To the Moon PHOTO: EM.TV's Rainbow Fish Character TABLE: Making of an Entrepreneur INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online | |||
