Surviving Dot-BOMB.BUNCHES OF ADVENTURESOME EXECUTIVES WHO HAD CLIMBED ABOARD RISKY STARTUPS, AND CRASHED, ARE NOW CHARTING NEW COURSES So much for the high-flying days of last year, when being CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of an Internet company meant a Porsche in the garage and the envy of all. The dot-bomb landed with a resounding re·sound v. re·sound·ed, re·sound·ing, re·sounds v.intr. 1. To be filled with sound; reverberate: The schoolyard resounded with the laughter of children. 2. thud 1. thud - Yet another metasyntactic variable (see foo). It is reported that at CMU from the mid-1970s the canonical series of these was "foo", "bar", "thud", "blat". 2. thud - Rare term for the hash character, "#" (ASCII 35). See ASCII for other synonyms. in 2001 and several Los Angeles-based companies, especially in the entertainment areas, suffered mortal wounds. Since the fallout, CEOs who were once heralded as forward thinking have scrambled for the rear lines. Some have returned to their previous, "traditional" lives, some remain at the helm of their sinking ships sinking ship A mutual fund that has a substantial outflow of funds because of its weak investment performance. . A look at where a few of the former high-flyers once touted, now doubted are now. * JOE DINUNZIO Chief Executive Z.com In mid-February, Burbank-based Z.com announced that it had run out of money and was shutting down. DiNunzio is staying on to help sell Z.com's stable of original content, equipment and Internet addresses, including Comedy.com. (At its peak, Z.com attracted as many as 750,000 visitors a month with short films and animation aimed at the adolescent and college-age demographic.) If not exactly a bright spot, at least the company should be able to cover its less than $1 million in debts. As for DiNunzio, who previously worked for Walt Disney Noun 1. Walt Disney - United States film maker who pioneered animated cartoons and created such characters as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck; founded Disneyland (1901-1966) Disney, Walter Elias Disney Co.'s Internet group, he mentions, "I still have many close friend at Disney, Marty Scolar, who's the creative head of Imagineering, and I play tennis every week." * HOWARD WEITZMAN Chief Executive Massive Media Group Inc. The former Universal Studios executive vice president jumped ship to join his former boss Frank J. Biondi Jr. at Santa Monica-based Massive Media.com. The idea was to target the entertainment and advertising markets with proprietary digital rights management enabled applications. But no one wanted to buy. Weitzman and former Massive Media President Michael E. Kassan parachuted and have already joined CenterSpan Communications, a developer and marketer of peer-to-peer Internet communication solutions. CenterSpan, meanwhile has bought another L.A.-bust, Scour scour, scours 1. the chemical and physical cleaning of fleece wool. 2. diarrhea. dietetic scour see dietary diarrhea. peat scour see secondary nutritional copper deficiency. .com, to be its portal. "I'm hoping to make the new Scour Exchange the leading peer-to-peer provider of media and entertainment content," Weitzman says. "In effect, this is what Napster could have been." STEVE STANFORD, Chief Executive GARY LEVINE, President Icebox.com Icebox.com suffered its meltdown meltdown Occurrence in which a huge amount of thermal energy and radiation is released as a result of an uncontrolled chain reaction in a nuclear power reactor. The chain reaction that occurs in the reactor's core must be carefully regulated by control rods, which absorb in February, despite its edgy cartoons written by top Hollywood talent having a sizeable following among college students. It was one of the more successful sites of its kind, inking content deals with 20th Century Fox and Showtime show·time or show time n. 1. The time at which an entertainment, such as the showing of a movie, is scheduled to start. 2. Slang The time at which an activity is to begin. Noun 1. . Levine, formerly executive vice president of creative affairs at Warner Bros BROS Brothers BROS Benefits and Retirement Operations Section (King County, Washington) BROS Barnes and Richmond Operatic Society (London, UK) ., quickly found a place at Showtime Networks Inc. as executive vice president in charge of original programming. "Gary's background in drama and comedy, combined with his expertise in cutting-edge programming, makes him the perfect (fit)," says Jerry Offsay, president of programming at Showtime. As for Stanford, who before launching Icebox had been head of the New Media Group at talent agency International Creative Management, he's still deciding. He has had a few conversations with the talent agencies, but has no intention of going back. "It's not what I want to do," he says. For right now, he's enjoying playing Mr. Mom for the new baby his wife had as Icebox was melting down. "I'm doing other fun things, too, like working on my resume," he says. "When I was at Icebox, I never thought I'd be doing anything else. But I'm eager to get back into the fray." * PAUL RYAN Paul Ryan may refer to:
Chairman, Chief Executive Soundbreak.com It seems like Ryan learned his lesson as chairman and interim CEO of West Hollywood-based Soundbreak, an online entertainment network that featured live DJs and in-studio celebrity interviews and performances from artists in the alternative, rock, hip hop hip-hop or hip hop n. 1. A popular urban youth culture, closely associated with rap music and with the style and fashions of African-American inner-city residents. 2. Rap music. adj. and dance genres. He had held the position of chairman since Soundbreak's inception in 1999 and took over as CEO in 2000, when prospects began to look grim. Luckily for Ryan, Soundbreak was not his full-time gig. He remains chairman and CEO of Acaciia Research Corp., a Pasadena-based developer and operator of life science companies. Frankly, he's probably relieved to be back in the lab -- secure behind the wheel of a company that just received $19 million in funding, signed new royalty agreements for patented products and with a subsidiary that just filed for an IPO (Initial Public Offering) The first time a company offers shares of stock to the public. While not a computer term per se, many founders, employees and insiders of computer companies have found this acronym more exciting than any tech term they ever heard. . |
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