Categories: People in the News

Conan: Defender of Tradition or Stuck in the Past?

Posted by: Patricia O'Connell on January 13

Conan O’Brien has made it clear he won’t surrender his post-nightly news Tonight Show slot to make way for Jan Leno. Part of Conan’s argument is that if you do...

Merck Shakes Up Top Ranks

Posted by: Arlene Weintraub on August 03

Ever since Merck announced that it would buy Schering-Plough for $41 billion, Wall Street has been waiting for news about the management structure of the newly merged companies. The...

Jon Stewart thrashes Jim Cramer

Posted by: Diane Brady on March 12

What happened to stock pundit Jim Cramer? What I enjoy most about him and his show, Mad Money, is his passion, his insights and his incredible self-confidence. He's a former...

GE Stops Giving Quarterly Earnings Guidance

Posted by: Jena McGregor on December 16

The company most associated with meeting its quarterly numbers is no longer going to be forecasting them. At General Electric's annual investor outlook meeting, held in the same studio where...

Pepsi's marketing chief moves on

Posted by: Diane Brady on July 06

When is the last time you heard about an exciting innovation at Pepsi? Sierra Mist is old hat, as is Mountain Dew Code Red. Now, the woman who rose to...

A Meeting of the Minds at AIG?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on June 23

Last Thursday, Maurice "Hank" Greenberg and incoming CEO Bob Willumstad met, perhaps a signal at some executive-level detente at troubled insurer AIG. As the Wall Street Journal noted this morning,...

Should Willumstad break up AIG?

Posted by: Diane Brady on June 16

AIG's new chief executive Bob Willumstad has a lot to mull over as he steps into leading a company with record losses and a stock price that has been sliced...

Answering to Henry Blodget

Posted by: Diane Brady on May 27

Reader Jake Zamansky wrote an interesting blog item today about fielding criticism from former analyst-turned-journalist Henry Blodget. While Zamansky raises some great points about people in glass houses throwing stones...

A Dubious Smack for Hank Greenberg

Posted by: Diane Brady on May 21

He has battled Eliot Spitzer and AIG. Now, Hank Greenberg faces another potential foe: the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The former AIG chief has received a "Wells notice", which...

Good-bye to GE Appliances

Posted by: Diane Brady on May 14

Ask many Americans what they associate with General Electric and they'll give you two words: light bulbs and ovens. Ask investors what they would like to see GE dropkick from...

The Greening of Warren Buffett?

Posted by: Diane Brady on May 02

I just got notice that a group of Native women will stage a protest tonight over Warren Buffett’s "fish killing dams" on the Klamath River in Northern California. My first...

How to destroy a team and get rich at the same time

Posted by: Diane Brady on April 18

Don't pity Isiah Thomas. The disgraced New York Knicks chief has finally got the boot as coach (he already lost the title of president). Along with building what New York...

Revising the Obama Brand

Posted by: Diane Brady on March 07

Politicians are brands, and fast-changing ones at that. Brand maven Alan Siegel, the chairman and CEO of Siegel+Gale, has put out some thoughts on what Barack Obama can do to...

One for the record books

Posted by: Diane Brady on February 15

Vancouver billionaire Jim Pattison has just bought Guinness World Records from HIT Entertainment. Most people haven't heard of Pattison, but they would recognize his holdings. Along with TV stations and...

Great Debaters

Posted by: Diane Brady on January 10

There is only one reference to me (as far as I know) in Wikipedia -- the day I stood up in a floral Laura Ashley dress before a room full...

"Uncle Howie to the Rescue"?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on January 07

(Posted by Burt Helm and Jena McGregor) Call him the once and future coffee king. With shares down 47% from 52 weeks ago, Howard Schultz is back in as...

What's Next for Kenya?

Posted by: Diane Brady on January 03

I remember standing on the streets of Nairobi in 1989, watching a car go by with then-president Daniel arap Moi in the back seat. "There goes the savior of democracy,"...

Back to Black

Posted by: Diane Brady on December 10

This entry isn't about the tabloid-worthy sad fate of Amy Winehouse (just as her album, Back to Black, is ringing up a series of awards nominations). It's about the equally...

Coke's New King of Pop

Posted by: Jena McGregor on December 06

Coca-Cola announced today that its president and chief operating officer, Muhtar Kent, would become CEO of the world's largest beverage company come July. The news came as little surprise--Kent had...

All in the Family

Posted by: Diane Brady on November 26

Brooke Astor's son is now facing criminal charges for the handling of his late mother's affairs. There's something incredibly sad and yet intriguing about these cases where the child has...

Tough Times at AIG

Posted by: Diane Brady on November 07

American International Group just reported a 27% drop in net income for the third quarter, to $3.09 billion from $4.22 billion. A major culprit? Subprime mortgages, of course. CEO Martin...

How to Hire Your Kids

Posted by: Diane Brady on October 12

Many successful entrepreneurs face a dilemma when it comes to hiring their kids. Donald Trump has long talked about the value of having his kids work for what they want...

Why NBCU wants Oxygen

Posted by: Diane Brady on October 09

The rumors have turned out to be true as NBC Universal today announced that it's paying $925 million ($875 million, net of financial assets) to buy Oxygen Media. That's the...

Clarence Thomas Speaks - Again

Posted by: Diane Brady on October 08

I've been intrigued by the reaction to Clarence Thomas's memoir, My Grandfather's Son. I've read it, in part because I'm working on a book that looks at a group of...

Damon Dash: "A VIP kind of guy"

Posted by: Diane Brady on October 04

Damon Dash, the co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records and Rocawear, came in recently for a Video View to talk about social networking to the urban set. His venture, Block Savvy, has...

O.J.'s publisher on why he did it

Posted by: Diane Brady on September 24

The O.J. Simpson-dictated tome--If I Did It--debuted at #3 on The New York Times nonfiction bestseller list on Sept. 30 (which came out yesterday) and has gone back for a...

The Problem with Pricetags: Classmates.com & NY Times

Posted by: Diane Brady on September 18

The New York Times has finally scrapped Times Select -- the service that charges online users a fee to read certain columns, archives and blogs. It turns out advertisers didn't...

Comstock stays but will GE sell NBC?

Posted by: Diane Brady on September 05

I was interested to read a piece in this morning's New York Post about Beth Comstock heading from NBC Universal back to GE headquarters. The article quotes insiders who assert...

A chat with Starwood's new chief

Posted by: Diane Brady on September 04

Frits van Paasschen says he has “always gravitated towards fun jobs.” Sure enough, his background includes (most recently) being CEO of Coors Brewing Co., running Nike's operations in Europe and...

The Right Guy To Pilot Delta?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on August 21

Delta Airlines today announced that board member Richard Anderson would succeed CEO Gerald Grinstein, who will retire (again). Anderson, the former CEO of Northwest Airlines and until today an executive...

Alastair Campbell on Cheney, Bush and the Clintons

Posted by: Diane Brady on July 31

Alastair Campbell, the former spokesman for Tony Blair, stopped by to promote his new book The Blair Years. Some might know Campbell from the hilarious portrayal of him in The...

At Gap, Another Non-Fashion CEO

Posted by: Jena McGregor on July 27

Somewhere over at J. Crew HQ, Mickey Drexler is laughing in his chinos. After the merchant prince was pushed out as CEO of the Gap in 2002, the khakis king...

Profiting from Murdoch

Posted by: Diane Brady on July 18

Who says U.S. regulators don't pay enough attention to overseas investors these days? The SEC appears to be on the cusp of filing a lawsuit against Dow Jones Director David...

Harry Potter and the Curse of Midnight

Posted by: Diane Brady on July 18

Harry Potter's U.S. publisher Scholastic says some fans received Book 7 yesterday. Now, its "making a direct appeal to the Harry Potter fans" to "keep the packages hidden until midnight on July 21st." Can we get some perspective here?

"No secrets" management?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on July 16

In reading all the coverage about Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, I went back to a 2004 profile that a former colleague of mine, Charles Fishman, wrote when we worked...

Feeling Happy about Conrad Black.

Posted by: Diane Brady on July 13

Conrad Black won't find comfort from the CEO of his old company, Hollinger Inc. "We have believed for some time that the conduct of Mr. Black and his colleagues was criminal," G. Wesley Voorheis told me this afternoon. "This is a day of vindication for the prosecution and for innocent shareholders who, frankly, have been screwed."

John Mackey's Alter Ego

Posted by: Diane Brady on July 11

CEOs don't like to publicly diss the competition. But pretending to be a neutral observer in trashing Wild Oats on a Yahoo! stock-market forum when you're actually the CEO of...

Another move for Pamela Thomas-Graham?

Posted by: Diane Brady on June 21

Liz Claiborne says it's "discussing the possibility of other opportunities within the organization for Pamela Thomas-Graham" ... I'll be very curious to see where she ends up, having written a piece about her time at CNBC before she took the job.

Laura Bush Speaks Out

Posted by: Diane Brady on June 19

Laura Bush has an Op-Ed in today's Wall Street Journal, about human rights abuses in Burma ... CEOs, politicians and others seeking a public presence love to have their names attached to a smart opinion piece that makes them look like a thought leader. I wonder if it works. Will we now pay more attention to Burma because Laura Bush and her staff say we should? What if a nobody had written something eloquent about Burma--someone without a PhD or an important title or group to back them up?

Spam calls from John Demartini

Posted by: Diane Brady on June 14

John Demartini claims to have sold out shows everywhere from South Africa to the U.S. He was featured in The Secret. So why does he have to employ spam-like techniques to get media coverage?

No Pass for WellPoint's Colby

Posted by: Jena McGregor on June 04

Last week brought an odd chapter in the annals of executives behaving badly. Healthcare giant WellPoint Inc. announced last Thursday that CFO David Colby had been pushed out for unspecified...

The irony of Eliot Spitzer

Posted by: Diane Brady on May 29

Does anyone else see an irony in New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's new commission to help New York remain a vibrant financial capital? This is the same man who went after Wall Street with such relish during his days as Attorney General ... A number of critics argued that he did as much damage as good during his tenure.

Does AIG have courageous leadership?

Posted by: Diane Brady on May 23

Heading a company like AIG, GE and Exxon Mobil forces you (by virtue of size) to also have a strong voice on issues affecting your industry. Which heads of public companies right now embrace the notion of courageous leadership? Some of the most outspoken leaders I've met are now working in private equity.

Now What for GE Plastics?

Posted by: Diane Brady on May 17

All these people talking about ecomagination and Six Sigma; all the ambitious execs shooting for a chance to get to a high-level pow wow at Crotonville. In many respects, employees feel they enter a social pact when joining a company like GE. What now?