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Get Four
|  | OCTOBER 14, 2004
By Olga Kharif Hef's Vegas Venture A new Strip for Playboy's founder. Plus: Vint Cerf tackles Net poetry; Gates says he doesn't fear sticking out; And more Plenty of doings in the corporate world as the autumn leaves fall. Here's a sampling: HEF'S PLAYGROUND. Hugh Hefner never seems to be far from the spotlight. The founder of Playboy Enterprises (PLA ) has hopped, with true bunny grace, into a new venture. On Oct. 6, Playboy officially reentered gaming, which it abandoned in the '70s. Partner Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas will build a Playboy-themed nightclub, a boutique casino, a lounge, and a retail store, all due to open in early 2006. "It's going to be the hottest spot, I promise you. It's a beginning of a whole new area of expansion that I think will add to our bottom line," Hefner tells BusinessWeek Online. If you think this is the only gaming project keeping the pajama-loving Hefner up at night, never fear. The 77-year-old is also working on a screenplay for an animated TV show pilot for MTV. The cartoon, which is to be produced by Stan Lee, the creator of Spider-Man comics, will star Hef as himself. "It's a cartoon parody that reveals, for the first time, how people assume that, at midnight, I'm at the Grotto with playmates, whereas I'm really out there fighting crime and evil-doers," says Hefner. Sure, he's just a working stiff like you and me. KEEPING THE WEB ALIVE. Who knew that Vint Cerf, a father of the Internet, dabbles in poetry? Cerf, who co-wrote the original Internet protocol that started it all, has been writing poems about technology and the Web for years. Now, in addition to books on the history of cyberspace, he says he wants to write a book of puns and jokes with a working title of Rhyme and Punishment. Alas, that will have to take a back seat for now to Cerf's efforts to preserve his beloved (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers (ICANN), responsible for doling out domain names. Founded six years ago this month, ICANN has been criticized for trying to exercise too much power over the free-spirited Web. Moreover, it's battling to meet some tough financial deadlines by Dec. 31, 2004. "I need to do everything I can to make ICANN constructive," Cerf tells BusinessWeek Online (read that quote out loud. He's an "I can" kind of guy.) Cerf was just reaapointed to the ICANN board. OUTER-SPACE MONEY SHOWER. Cerf's fellow ICANN champion, famed tech investor Esther Dyson, has recently enjoyed a multimillion dollar windfall. (She declines to say how much exactly.) Dyson happened to be a sizable investor in anti-spam fighter Brightmail, sold to security giant Symantec (SYMC ) for $370 million earlier this year. After that acquisition closed in June, she hasn't been shy about spreading her good fortune around. In the past month alone, Dyson has funded a slew of startups. Her motto? The Internet is back. That's why she has invested in several promising Web outfits, including Canadian photo-sharing service Flickr.com. First off, she loves snapping and posting pictures of places she travels to (and, in the past month, Dyson has gone as far as Hong Kong). Plus, "now is precisely when the Web is becoming useful," she tells BusinessWeek Online. "These various services are beginning to work." Oh, and Dyson has also invested in Zero Gravity, an outfit planning to offer commercial space flights (See BW Online, 10/15/04, "Virgin Galactic's Space Odyssey"). Now, if this weren't her money, that investment might be just a teeny, weeny bit more difficult to explain. SATELLITE-RADIO KING. Chances are you've read plenty already about Howard Stern's plans to go to satellite-radio provider Sirius (SIRI ) starting in January, 2006. Word is, he's getting a big pay increase and more of a say in the company's business decisions. Besides hosting his own show, Stern will develop programming for three channels. The goal is to help Sirius gain on satellite-radio leader XM (XMSR ). Stern appears to be revving to go. On Oct. 11, the first business day after his contract was signed, he was spotted cruising Sirius's building and planning the layout of his new studio. MINI-ME'S FOR TOTS? Never mind that eToys CEO Mike Wagner has two teenage sons. On Oct. 4, the online toy retailer, with about a 10% share of the online toy market, began selling a new line of MyTwinn dolls. Starting at $119, they're custom-made to look like the prospective new owner. So your child can have a doll that looks just like her -- or him. Wagner thinks the concept will give his Web site an edge in this brutal trade. "We're not afraid of the toy business," Wagner says. O.K., but do girls and boys want to feed and dress look-alikes of themselves? That's hard enough for mom and dad. FLOWER POWER. On Oct. 1, while speaking with University of California-Berkeley students, Microsoft founder Bill Gates insisted he's not afraid of something a questioner brought up called the "tall poppy" syndrome." What's that? Here's how the person asking the question described it: "There's a field of poppies and one poppy sticks out above the rest. There's a tendency for everyone to want to cut its head off." The meaning seems pretty clear: Everybody is out to cut Microsoft, the tall poppy, down to size. "I wouldn't give up being the tall poppy," Gates reassured his audience. OK. So next question: Who's asleep in the poppy field? Dorothy? The Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion? Osama bin Laden?  Kharif is a reporter for BusinessWeek Online in Portland, Ore.
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