Summit Notebook

from MediaFile:

Tech CEO turns to trusted adviser on key decision; 10-year old daughter

Anyone who thinks the word “executive” in CEO stands for a person who actually executes decisions and strategy should think again, at least according to Technicolor CEO Frederic Rose.

REUTERS/Charles Platiau

“It’s very funny, you get a job as a CEO and everyone says you’ve got this absolute power,” Rose told the Reuters Global Media Summit in Paris.

“The reality is, the power you have, the authority you have is to basically guide and to give direction…and if people don’t want to follow, they’ll just forget to do it,”

Rose said that since he took the helm of the video technology specialist in September 2008 he really only took one decision on his own -- but if you want to get technical someone else helped him along.

“The only true executive decision that I have taken all by myself was the choice of the logo,” Rose said, showing Technicolor’s logo.

from MediaFile:

GlobalMedia-China’s shouts of “You suck!” music to executives’ ears

Big splashy action movies from the U.S. usually play well abroad. It should come then as no surprise that World Wrestling Entertainment, known for hulky dudes and toned ladies who act out soap opera scenarios both in and out of the ring,  manages to find fans well beyond these borders.

So, naturally, international expansion is something on the mind of Donna Goldsmith, the chief operating officer of WWE, who ticked off countries including Russia, India and Brazil where it’s seeking to introduce characters like Sheamus, Triple H and John Cena.

As a way to illustrate the global appeal of wrestling, Goldsmith relayed how talent is perceived in China, a country where WWE is available in 90 million households.

The worst thing that could happen in wrestling-vile, according to Goldsmith during Reuters Global Media Summit, is stone cold silence. Thus she knew things were going well for WWE when wrestlers showed up in Shanghai and the audience yelled “You suck!”

“It was great!” Goldsmith said. “They knew the bad guys from the good guys.”

Talent is what the WWE is all about, according to Goldsmith, who also worked for the National Basketball Association.

"Our talent is so wonderful and so articulate, to bring them to a Wal-Mart managers meeting is something we do often. They understand the business side of things, which is so different to any NBA player, I wouldn't bring the twelfth guy on the bench with me to Wal-Mart because I wouldn't know what would come out of that."

from MediaFile:

GlobalMedia-iPad cautionary tale: What not to watch, up close

Media executives love to go on about their love of the Apple's iPad. But the tablet isn't suited for everything. Walt Disney's Anne Sweeney relayed her recent experience catching up on an ABC  TV show using the  popular tablet.

Sweeney missed the season finale Grey's Anatomy and, while traveling, decided to watch the show in her hotel room. The episode was particularly gory -- several characters were picked off by a aggrieved man who held the hospital at gunpoint.

"It was a massacre," Sweeney said at the Reuters Global Media Summit. "There's nothing like seeing that on your pillow. There are some things you might not want to watch that close on your iPad."

(Photo: Reuters)

from MediaFile:

GlobalMedia: EA nabs triple word Scrabble score from Oprah

Forget sports tournaments or new movie releases as boosters for game demand. Electronic Arts' latest hero is America's most famous chat show host.

Chief Executive John Riccitiello,  at the Reuters Media summit, went out of his way to praise Oprah Winfrey, whose recent shout-out of Scrabble  gave a new lease of life to the not-so-new word game.

"We're very thankful to Oprah for mentioning Scrabble on iPad as one of her ultimate favorite gifts. There was a 400 percent pop ... on her word." He said. "I think there's different grades of favorite so we were happy to be among her ultimate favorites."

So did Riccitiello contact Oprah directly to say thanks? "My sense is that the number of people sending her flowers is too many for her to notice my petunias," he said.

(Photo: Reuters)

from MediaFile:

GlobalMedia-ABC News in talks with Bloomberg

The news divisions at the big networks have been in a world of hurt lately as advertisers seek out younger consumers and viewers. This has lead to big cutbacks in staffing and resources over the years as the networks strive to keep profit margins from deteroirating even further.

ABC is certainly no expectation and has experienced managment upheaval when ABC News president David Westin announced in September his departure partly due to the financial situation and the pressure to increase profit margins.  

Speculation has persisted that ABC News parent company, Walt Disney, has been seeking to untie itself from the division-- rumors that similary dog CBS.

Anne Sweeney, president of Disney/ABC Television Group, flatly denied that the company was looking to offload the news or TV divisions but also confirmed that ABC News has been in talks with Bloomberg in forming a partnership. "We've had a lot of conversatoins with Bloomberg over the past couple of years," she said during Reuters Media Global Summit.

Sweeney also said they are currently searching for Westin’s replacement though she was coy on when and who that might be. “We certainly have a lot of talent in ABC,” she said.

from MediaFile:

GlobalMedia-3D? After some thought, News Corp COO likes its future

To our surprise, News Corp President and Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey, whose studio released the highest grossing movie of all time in 3D, hesitated when asked about the future of that technology.

Carey, speaking at the Reuters Global Media Summit in New York, was asked whether he rated a series of technologies "long" or "short" and raced through most of the list without hesitating until faced with 3D.

"Ummm ... (pause) ... long, but long with limits," Carey said of 3D. "I don't think it's (high definition), so those who sort of think it's the second coming of HD, I think it is an event medium that's for films, for sports events."

Twentieth Century Fox film studio released "Avatar" last year with new 3D technology, grossing $2.8 billion globally. However, clunky 3D glasses are one thing many believe will hold back the technology's acceptance in the home.

"(3D) will be out there, but until you've tackled the glasses thing I think people aren't popping home at 7 o'clock at night, 8 o'clock at night and popping on (3D) glasses to watch TV," Carey added. "The richness of that experience is real, but I think as long as it's got the glasses it becomes an event, so somewhere where it becomes more seamless without the glasses so we should probably just say long." 

For the record, Carey, who addressed the future of MySpace, was also long on tablets, social media and apps. Meanwhile, he was short on gesture interfaces like Microsoft's Kinect, physical media like Blu-ray DVDs and bypassing cable or pay-TV subscriptions by watching everything on the Internet.

(Reuters photo)

from MacroScope:

APEC’s robots stealing the show

A guide at the "Japanese Experience" exhibition talks to Miim, the Karaoke pal robot, on the sidelines of the APEC meetings in Yokohama, Japan on Nov. 10. REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao

    Miim is one of the more popular delegates at the APEC meetings in Yokohama Japan. She sings. She dances. She tosses her shoulder length hair. She may not be able to spout an alphabet soup of APEC acronyms like the other Asia-Pacific delegates. But she's still pretty lively. For a robot.

    This week's meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum have been earnest and most comprehensive . Foreign and trade ministers issued a 20-page statement about all the things they talked about -- a giant free trade zone, protectionism, the Doha round, easing restrictions on businesses, simplifying customs procedures, promoting green industries, cooperating on health and security, you name it. They also have been, and pardon my French here, excruciatingly dull. So far, the meetings and their stupefying statements have been a testimonial to Japan's skill at stating the ambiguous. Call it the opaque meetings. Journalists from around the Pacific rim have been desperately trying to find news as the 21 APEC leaders gather for their annual pow-wow this weekend.

     The annual "silly shirts"  photo shoot, in which leaders don native attire for the class picture of their summit is usually good news fodder, but is going to be a  big let-down this year. The leaders are merely being asked to show up wearing "smart casual" for the photo shoot on Saturday night, before they head inside for a Kabuki show.

   Which brings us back to Miim, the karaoke robot. She, er it, is one of 130 exhibits on display at  "Japan Experience", a government-sponsored exhibition in  the Pacific Yokohama convention center where the APEC meetings are taking place. The exhibit also features "personal mobility vehicles",  a cyborg suit named HAL that enables the wearer to lift really heavy stuff and perform heroically in disaster relief, a talking delivery robot, cute robotic seal pets for use in pediatric therapy, and much other cool stuff . 

    "Welcome to APEC Japan 2010," the anatomically correct Miim says. "This exhibition shows Japan's strengths and attractions. Please see, feel and touch advanced technology and initiatives of Japan."

Cure for lending constipation needed

Yes, the market for IPOs is opening up, investors are regaining confidence and the worst seems to be over, but challenges are still looming and there’s a dire need for a change in regulation. Or so suggested Shuaa Capitals’ chief Sameer al-Ansari.

“With the balance sheet of banks, whatever is keeping them constipated, we need to give them something to start. Banks have to be more comfortable and confident that there are no more shocks on the horizon,” said Ansari at the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit in Dubai on Tuesday.

The right provisions need to be made — and that means more acknowledgment of non-performing loans — in turn bringing adequacy ratios down, so that banks get a boost and start lending again, Ansari noted.

“We need to open the tap a bit, even if its a drip,” the banking exec said, using hand gestures to illustrate his point. “We can’t have growth in the economy if its negative.”

Ansari, who’d made recommendations – simple to drastic – to decision makers in Dubai, suggesting solutions, cited the Irish example of gathering all bad debts linked to real estate and placing them in a government bank.

“It should be looked at here. If that’s what’s making the banks constipated, then lets do it!” he says.

Dubai, one of seven emirates that make-up the UAE federation, was hard hit by the global financial downturn and endured billions of dollars in projects cancellations, not to mention the $25 billion debt restructuring of Dubai World.

No bonds for Arabtec; not for now anyway

Just to be clear, Arabtec is not considering a convertible bond issue.

The builder has no need for funds and has adequate access to capital if needed. But nonetheless its chief financial officer Ziad Makhzoumi is watching the region’s increasing capital raising activities with interest.

“I don’t think we need any funding whatsoever… As a CFO I have to look at all the options all the time,” he told the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit in Dubai on Monday.

Convertible bonds are an attractive way to raise funds for listed companies, he said, highlighting Emaar Properties’ recent issuance plans.

Earlier this month, Emaar, the builder of the world’s tallest tower in Dubai, outlined plans for a $500 million convertible bond issue.

Makhzoumi said he saw more convertible bonds coming to the market, but there was no mention at all of Arabtec.

Arabtec has expansion plans which include a push into Central Asian states like Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, which could be funded from internal resources, he said.

Is investor confidence returning to the Middle East?

A recovery in the Middle East and the prospects for investment are on the agenda at the Reuters Middle East and Investment Summit, taking place in Dubai, Riyadh, Cairo, Kuwait, Beirut, Bagdad, Abu Dhabi and London.

In the wake of Dubai’s debt crisis, which rocked financial markets globally and dented confidence in the region, top executives and officials will discuss whether the investment climate in the region is improving and confidence returning. 2011 will be a year of more restructurings, but the region’s capital needs will lead to a surge in debt issues and even a possible revival of the IPO market.

Reuters Middle East Investment Summit will generate exclusive stories, investable insights, online videos and blog postings. Check back here for more over the course of this week.