corporate

InterActiveCorp, the sprawling conglomerate of brands helmed by media titan Barry Diller, is formally splitting into five separate companies Thursday. And it hopes to do so quietly.

The story is familiar by now: Diller, determined to solidify himself as capable of mastering both old and new media, has long insisted that a lack of confidence on Wall Street has suppressed IAC's stock price. So last November, Diller made the big announcement that IAC would be slimming down to a core of ad- and subscription-supported Internet media brands such as Ask.com, Match.com, Bloglines, Citysearch, Vimeo, and Evite.

The … Read more

In baseball, you get three strikes and you're out. As for technology CEOs, that depends. It depends on the magnitude and visibility of their screw-ups, the aggressiveness of the board, all kinds of things.

Sometimes it just takes one event, if it's big and hairy enough. On the other hand, I've seen CEOs swing and miss dozens of times for years on end, and they're still in the game.

Let's take a look at five recent examples of CEOs getting canned and see what we come up with:

Patricia Russo of Alcatel Lucent. It came as no surprise when Alcatel Lucent announced on July 29 that CEO Russo would step down. She had a decent run at the helm of Lucent, but the 2006 merger with Alcatel has been a disaster for both companies. This is a great example of one huge, high-visibility strike doing a CEO in. Incidentally, Chairman Serge Tchuruk is out, as well.… Read more

Time Warner will indeed split its AOL access and media units starting next year, CEO Jeff Bewkes confirmed in a release announcing the company's second-quarter earnings.

It's the first time the executive has confirmed that the split will take place soon, though it's been widely talked about for months since the chief mentioned it speculatively earlier this year. What he hasn't said yet--and what some are expecting may come soon--is that Time Warner will get rid of AOL altogether, perhaps selling it to a bigger player in the online-advertising market.

It was another tepid quarter for … Read more

"We're doing all the things we tell our clients not to do," admits a strategy director at a renowned design and innovation firm, "it is ironic." He's not alone with his assessment. Other employees of creative firms (let's just use this label as a catch-all for all design, innovation, marketing, brand, and advertising firms) secretly confess that while they go out preaching to their clients about the importance of open innovation, brand consistency, or a distinct, provocative marketing messages, it is the very absence of all of which that often severely hampers their … Read more

The concept of corporate governance implies consistent and effective laws, methods, and metrics for governing our nation's public companies. The sad fact is that there is no such thing. It's a myth. Here's why:

People talk about the fiduciary responsibility of boards of directors. What that means, in plain speak, is that boards are supposed to:

1) Hire and fire the CEO and appoint other corporate officers 2) Compensate the CEO and other corporate officers 3) Oversee corporate strategy 4) Represent shareholders in the transparent and effective governance of the company

As an ex-officer of several public companies and as a consultant, I've been involved with lots of boards, executive staffs, investment banks, VCs, corporate attorneys, and the like. At least in my experience, boards don't operate the way they're supposed to.

Let's take the last point first. Shareholders are offered a slate of directors and a handful of issues to rubberstamp. That means they have two choices: accept or reject.

Now, let me ask you this. If your spouse or doctor says, "Here's my recommendation, take it or leave it," what do you do? That's right, you take it. Is it the best thing for you? Who the heck knows? You had a gun to your head so you nodded up and down.… Read more

A new study about security problems with financial Web sites may have you thinking twice about doing online banking.

And a separate study found widespread security problems in corporate computers across numerous industries.

More than 75 percent of the Web sites of more than 200 financial institutions were found to have at least one design flaw that could put customer data at risk, according to a study released this week from the University of Michigan.

Atul Prakash, a professor in the university's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and two doctoral students examined the Web sites of 214 … Read more

One of the least discussed topics in the world, or at least the world of online advertising, concerns where ads really run.

The case being brought against Google by Boston lawyer Hal K. Levitte, might expose far more than Google's alleged involvement in ads that the wrong people see, or, perhaps, that no one sees at all.

Mr. Levitte, depressingly, looks nothing like Boston Legal's William Shatner.

However, he makes the kind of arguments that Shatner's character, Denny Crane, has long foisted upon unsuspecting bit part actors on the show.

Mr. Levitte seems rather upset that he … Read more

Corporate fraud didn't start with Enron, Tyco, and WorldCom and it didn't end with them, either. Fraud is rampant in the technology industry. What most employees, investors, and consumers don't realize is how much it costs them.

Excuse me for stating the obvious, but you'd be surprised how many people think there's some magic pile of dough somewhere that pays for companies to comply with investigations, contest charges, and remedy issues. In fact, the costs are born primarily by the corporation. That means it comes right out of shareholders' and employees' pockets. Consumers also pay, albeit indirectly.

And yes, we're talking about costs that materially impact earnings, balance sheets, and cash flow. We're talking about internal and outside lawyers, accountants, consultants, crisis PR, D&O (directors and officers) insurance, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, exit packages, and even recruiting costs to replace executives.

Of course, the biggest cost is in terms of loss of market capitalization.… Read more

Heavy, a niche video content company focused on the "dude" demographic, is slimming down.

The company said Wednesday it will spin off Husky Media, its video advertising platform, into a separate company. It'll remain under Heavy's oversight alongside the Heavy.com portal, but will be run by a different team.

Husky Media operates a technology called Video-Skin, which lets bloggers and other publishers "wrap" any video player in Husky ads and then pull in revenue. Husky also runs a Video Guide that offers publishers a library of video content in exchange for splitting ad … Read more