Electus - R.I.P.
I realize that Electus - the earth-shattering, ground-breaking, cutting-edge new business from Ben Silverman and Barry Diller's IAC/ InterActiveCorp hasn't launched, but I have recently climbed aboard Khan Manka, Jr.'s Time Machine and gone into the not-too-distant future to retrieve the press release announcing (sadly) the company's closure. Sorry, Ben.-----------------------------------------------
From the Associated Press (July 2011):
Oh, yeah, one other thing I learned from the future: The Jay Leno Show was canceled in 2010 and called one of the greatest failures in the history of television. Sorry, Ben.
Electus, the $100 million start-up from media wunderkind Ben Silverman has decided to close its doors effective immediately after only 18 months in business. 875 staffers (mostly low-level hot chicks in their 20s who ran errands and stuff) were expected to lose their jobs. The highly-touted venture only managed to produce one original internet series - a show about bed-hopping young flight attendants based at O'Hare International Airport called "The Hub".Electus, announced by Mr. Silverman with much fanfare in July 2009 (after a completely disastrous run as Co-Chairman of NBC Entertainment), was supposed to change the entertainment landscape with the unoriginal idea of marrying advertising, content and distribution in a new media world.
Mr. Silverman was unavailable for comment but released a statement through his representatives: "I am proud of my accomplishments at Electus. Even though $100 million doesn't go as far as it used to, I still changed the world! No one has even come close to doing what I did because nobody had the balls. What a ride! Maybe people just aren't ready for forward-thinking."
Mr. Diller was available for comment and simply said about Silverman: "Fuck that guy."
But don't worry about Ben. He has landed on his feet and will continue his Quixotic quest to monetize online content from his penthouse suite at The Palms Hotel in Vegas. Goldman Sachs
has committed $500 million to fund his new, as yet, unnamed venture.
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6 Comments
About Jill Kennedy
Jill Kennedy is an Ivy League MBA / refugee from Lehman Brothers.
Manka Bros. (and the Manka Business Channel) hired her (for a very low sum) to cover the world of media (not the world of Medea) in her own words without corporate interference.
About Medea
Medea was a real bitch from classical mythology - as most famously dramatized by Euripides.
She was a sorceress and wife of Jason, whom she assisted in obtaining the Golden Fleece. When Jason deserted her, she chopped up their children. One could say, Medea acted as rationally as a major media company.
Tips, Scoops and Smoking Guns
Oh, please, let it be true!
You definitely love to bash Ben. I would say he is your raison d'ete.
Sorry, it's "raison d'etre" - I hate to look stupid posting on a blog.
Dude gets what he deserves. You don't call executives at rival networks D-Girls. He deserves everything bad said against him.
Can you get in your time machine and find out when the auditions are for The Hub. Its right up my alley.
It's a touchin' good story! Let me tell it to the world!
Certainly. All above told the truth. Let's discuss this question.
Boldy