Is Fisher Communications (KOMO radio, & teevee, KVI, more) primping itself up for sale?
John DeRosa, former Fisher Web Development Director, is reading what seems to us more than tea-leaves on his blog, Seek Nuance.
(photo: CEO Colleen 'twice her annual salary, plus" Brown)
Seems Fisher just notified the SEC of changes in their Change of Control agreements with their top suits.
The boiled down, bottomline, upshot, at the end of the day:
Brown, who took a much publicized pay cut in 2008, is being, with the rest of her be-suited Jedi rewarded, for the bang-up job they've done on the once-proud, Seattle-owned flour mill and media company. Fisher has followed more than one white rabbit strategy down the yellow brick road - like selling the flour mills, Foxifying teevee news, firing April Zepeda, and dumping local programming. But to stay afloat in hard times, they've had to resort to dire tactical moves- like selling Peter Weissbach (KVI m-f, 5-6p) a drivetime hour, shedding assets, and cutting operating costs.
In other words, while Colleen Brown and the suits are assured huge bonuses when the mega-media company takes over, everyone else will get a pink slip, and stogots.
Not to mention the rest of the mokes already fired, laid-off, or otherwise downsized in the last few years when the company's bad business decisions met the recession from hell.
How bang-up is the job they're doing? Fisher's' overall revenue fell 30 percent in the second quarter with teevee revenue down 26%; and radio down 49%.
There's a bright side for the Fisher employees still working there: who'd buy it?
Stogots or stugots ? I was never a fan of "The Sopranos"
Posted by: Grand Oligarh | September 02, 2009 at 04:40 PM
You know it's funny Bla'M earlier I was thinking of asking you if you'd heard anything about KVI...and you post this. Very interesting stuff. I wonder what Kirby's fate is...and Coleen??
Keep us posted with the latest as you hear, would you...I was once a huge KVI fan. Thx.
Posted by: Duffman | September 02, 2009 at 05:33 PM
Sparky, make sure you get those posters up in the cafeteria before tuesday.
“He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future.”.
Posted by: nevets | September 02, 2009 at 07:01 PM
KVI will, in one way or another, be "swimming with the fishes."
Posted by: Van Ronk | September 02, 2009 at 07:06 PM
This, as usual for this blog, is total bullshit. There will always be a Fisher Communications in Seattle. The owner is still miffed because they fired his daughter.
Posted by: Corporate Suit | September 02, 2009 at 07:09 PM
The children of the Neo-Coms after the 8th of Spetember 2009.
Sparky, you might be able to make a few buck if you go to the dollar store and pick up a bunch of sunglasses and sell them to the kids as they come through for lunch. Those kids will need them.
Posted by: nevets | September 02, 2009 at 07:10 PM
Jeez, Blah'M, give it a rest already. April got fired because she didn't tow Fisher's line. They own the station and have a right to succeed or fuck it up, regardless what April might have brought to the table (or taken from it).
Hiding your comments and attitude behind her (different) name says a lot about the discontent you continue to foment against Fisher. Frankly, I doubt it would change if they did hire her back. You'd still grump that they wouldn't offer her back salary.
(Now anxiously awaiting some ass-ish retort from pre-teen Tommy008 :-)
Posted by: ksr | September 02, 2009 at 07:29 PM
Let Bonnieville should buy Fisher out. Only the Mormons could afford to own all the losing talk station in the market.
Posted by: Backwash | September 02, 2009 at 07:41 PM
nevets, not much sex lately? give it a rest, she must feel you crawling up her leg.
Posted by: neogeo | September 02, 2009 at 07:52 PM
Neogeo were you around here for Obamas inauguration?
And your sex remark, is that something you got first hand knowledge of. Do you find that you post more if you dont have sex on a regular basis.
Posted by: nevets | September 02, 2009 at 08:24 PM
As you know, I don’t post here much…that should tell you how much sex I get.
Posted by: neogeo | September 02, 2009 at 08:47 PM
Put a fork in Fisher, and radio for that matter. http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=1481132&spid=24698
Posted by: Backwash | September 02, 2009 at 09:50 PM
This, as usual for this blog, is total bullshit.
Right, Suit. And Frosty Fowler is really Al Cummings.
Ass-backwards, you begging Sparky to talk to you? Sounds like it.
Posted by: joanie | September 02, 2009 at 10:53 PM
The reasoning behind the "Change of Control agreement" seems sound, and even though the two years salary seems steep I knew a professional CEO that went for more than two years unemployed looking for a company in need of a CEO. If this Colleen Brown is worried about being out of work for two years she might act on her own best interests rather than Fishers in matters that would mean her being out of work for two years. She probably wants to work there for the next five years, I don't believe she's salivating at the chance to run away with 2x salary.
Posted by: AuthenticAndrew | September 02, 2009 at 11:41 PM
Can someone tell me what a "Professional CEO" is? Do you need a certain college degree? Just asking as that profession sounds like a good job.
Posted by: nevets | September 03, 2009 at 06:57 AM
So you want to talk Joanie? I'm up for a nice discussion. How about this topic. During these fires in SOCAL, have you noticed any looters?
You listen to Malloy, Does he think the Bush Crime Family started these fires. Or since Bush isnt President, does Malloy think it was this Administration?
Posted by: nevets | September 03, 2009 at 07:01 AM
It's...it's like 'an eleven' on the CEO scale...that is one higher than a regular CEO and several higher than an amateur CEO. [smile]
You know steven it's like if a tree falls in the distant forest, does it make a sound...well if a CEO is out of work is he still a 'professional'?
Posted by: Duffman | September 03, 2009 at 07:13 AM
Hardly. I'm having waaay too much fun watching you humble yourself begging Sparky to talk.
Carry on.
Posted by: joanie | September 03, 2009 at 08:23 AM
Lee Scott was a professional CEO, if by professional you mean 1) crushes worker rights to organize, 2) demands millions in annual salary while keeping his employees wages at the bare legal minimum (and less near "indian reservations"), 3) viciously fighting state and federal workplace health and safety regulations, 4) insisting he deserves a multi-million dollar "golden parachute" in case he should be sacked, while not offering any decent retirement plan to his poverty-level workers, and 5) having the dubious distinction of running a business that puts more Americans on the dole for state and federal aid for healthcare, housing, and food subsidies than any other corporation, bar none (while convincing gullible Beck and Hannity viewers that he's doing great things for the American workforce and economy).
Posted by: Drew | September 03, 2009 at 08:44 AM
...or then there's Bill Gates...so you can make that statement here in computer-world. Nice try!
Posted by: Duffman | September 03, 2009 at 08:47 AM
Yes, Bill Gates, who over the last 10 years has given over 58% of his wealth to charities around the world (compared to around 7 from Scott). Bill Gates, who pays his employees a wage that they don't mind rolling out of bed every day for, along with lucrative benefits and retirement options available. Pretty sure Gates has never been accused of trying to skirt U.S. minimum wage laws (Scott's company once tried to get a Federal exemption passed that would allow them to pay below the federal minimum wage in every state, citing that his company couldn't compete without it- seriously now). Gates wouldn't tell his workers to clock out before they get near an overtime threshold, and then tell them to stay around awhile (unpaid) and sweep floors or check inventory. Scott's company has. Scott's company holds the all time record for number of lawsuits filed by employees and former employees against their bosses and owners. Gates? Not so much. Most of Gates employees are not unionized, but they probably don't operate in a hostile work environment either. Scott, along with his former boss Sam Walton, often times visited stores where rumors of unionization were heard, with one simple message: "keep talking union, and we'll fire everyone of you and close the store", a threat they made good on in Canada, where the only store that succesfully unionized was abruptly closed just weeks later, after posting very good profits.
Posted by: Mark | September 03, 2009 at 09:23 AM
...does he also twist their arms to work for him?
Posted by: Duffman | September 03, 2009 at 09:25 AM
April Zepeda aside, Brown and all kept KOMO TV news in the shit of 3rd place with the Foxification. management -- all veterans of Fox News NY, drummed out the experienced mid-career reporters who were starting to get expensive and hired young, lip-glossed slick-chicks as news readers in their places. Hutchison had that problem at KIRO, although she was a power-hungry bitch to boot.
Posted by: Puddy | September 03, 2009 at 10:12 AM
Alan Mulally who is currently the CEO of Ford was previously the CEO of Boeing. The hired him because they believed he could run large companies well. Colleen Brown is probably rather wealthy, and was wealthy before she got involved with Fisher so she wasn't going to work for free, and her qualification is that she's either owned or been in the upper management of media companies for the past 30 years. She's what I'd consider a CEO for hire. Fisher sees fit to pay her $839,543 a year because they think her smarts will somehow allow the company to more than compensate for the expense. Hard to believe though.
Posted by: AuthenticAndrew | September 03, 2009 at 11:27 AM
and mulally has saved ford from bankruptcy, buy quickly acquiring capitol before it was needed, while it was available, changing the moribund corporate culture, making more small cars and making money on their sales, improving morale, and bringing a future back to the american car industry.
boeing could have used him but they passed him up for others.
Posted by: Dave (not dave ross) | September 03, 2009 at 04:24 PM
You listen to Malloy, Does he think the Bush Crime Family started these fires. Or since Bush isnt President, does Malloy think it was this Administration?
Posted by: nevets | September 03, 2009 at 07:01 AM
too funny Nevets. makes one recall the randi rhodes google inspired charges that the last big So Cal fire was from Blackwater.
Posted by: Puget Sound | September 03, 2009 at 07:56 PM