Apple TV Will be Revolutionary But It Won't Kill The Cable Companies

Apple TV is going to be huge and create enormous change to the industry. But it won't kill the cable companies.

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How To Build A Leadership Funnel At Your Company

Why your company needs a Leadership Funnel and how to implement one.

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No Wonder Hulu Couldn't Sell Itself

Hulu tried to pump up its 2011 results in a blog post yesterday. They're not very exciting.

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Jobs Deserves to Be on Disney Board

By Eric Jackson, Senior Contributor03/23/11 - 08:00 AM EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Although I've been an outspoken proponent for strong corporate governance and am genuinely sorry about the state of it today in Corporate America, I'm not always in agreement with what some argue is in the best interests of shareholders.

A case in point is push by some for more "Say-On-Pay" votes at shareholders' meetings. Large institutional shareholders and pension funds carp on the fact that CEO and executive pay continue to climb in this country. Often, CEOs get paid even when their companies are chronic under-performers of the market. We often hear about how much more than the "average" worker CEOs are getting today versus the 1960s.

And, look, I'm against over-paying fat-cat CEOs who add no value as much as the next guy. Heck, that's partly why I launched my campaign against Terry Semel at Yahoo!(YHOO_) in 2007 to remove him. He ended up pulling out more than $600 million from that company for his 6 years of work there. Most would say he got way more than he deserved.

Yet, these say-on-pay votes are always non-binding. Shareholders keep putting them on the proxies to be voted on whether to include them or not. Sometimes they pass. Sometimes they don't. Even when they do pass and then -- a year later -- get voted on in a disapproving manner, not much has changed.

In my view, shareholders can already show their displeasure with high executive compensation: vote "no" against the re-election of the directors who served on the compensation committee or -- if you don't feel that's sufficient -- against all the directors.

I was irate that Terry Semel got paid that amount of money but, at the end of the day, if I were in his shoes and Yahoo!'s board offered me that kind of sweet deal, I couldn't say I wouldn't have accepted the same package. It wasn't an inanimate object known as Yahoo! who offered the deal to Semel, it was the members of the board.

I also recently objected to some overly-zealous corporate governance advocates who banged the drum for Apple(AAPL_) to reveal its succession plan for Steve Jobs. They stirred up this belief that the board was holding something back. The media also ran with this.

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[** This post is an excerpt of the full article, which is available on TheStreet.com by clicking here. Free Site.**]

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Forget Kids, Investors Can Go for Chuck E. Cheese

By Eric Jackson

RealMoney Contributor

3/4/2010 2:00 PM EST

Restaurants are always a productive place to put money. Their fortunes are independent of interest-rate moves and general macro factors, and while commodities play a role in terms of the raw food costs, they obviously aren't as correlated as stocks that are more directly tied to the commodities. And in the U.S., people like to eat ... and they like to eat out. Even in the dark days of the recession a year ago, parking lots in front of most restaurants remained full.

The restaurant sector comprises all kinds of niche flavors and price ranges. The chain I like most from a differentiation perspective is CEC Entertainment (CEC - commentary - Trade Now), the parent of the kids' chain Chuck E. Cheese.

Parents are constantly scratching their heads to understand how to entertain their kids. After a few trips to a stuffy restaurant with a couple of young kids who end up crawling around the floor under your table -- or, worse, running around the restaurant -- earning you dirty looks from other patrons, you won't be likely to return with the clan anytime soon. Likewise, when you find a comfortable place where the kids are happy, the parents will be happy and will gladly spend their money.

Kids love Chuck E. Cheese. It's like going to a state fair indoors ... and they serve pizza. What's not to like? You run around and you spend money on arcade-style games with the hopes of collecting enough tickets to get a prize at the end. (Sorry parents, just like at the fair, you'll need to spend hundreds of dollars to get even a medium-sized toy.) The food's basic -- pizza and wings -- but sufficient to satisfy the kids while all the other stimulation is going on.

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[This post is an excerpt of the full article, available by clicking here to go to RealMoney.com. Note: subscription required.]

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Big Media: Big Yawn

The advertising market continues to be severely weak. Yet, the fact that we're not in freefall has caused some of the most beaten down and debt-laden companies to be bid up in the last 6 weeks.

Names such as Harley Davidson (HOG), Royal Carribbean (RCL), Cemex (CX) and Lamar Advertising (LAMR) are all up big since March 6th (65 - 167% vs. 25% for the S&P).

Comparatively speaking, Big Media's returns over that time period look more modest. Yes, CBS is up 70% since early March, but it's still trading at less than $6, giving it -- to put it in perspective -- only a little more than double the market cap of what it agreed to buy CNET for last year.

News Corp (NWS) and Viacom (VIA) are up 35% since early March but lag the S&P over the last 6 months. Disney's (DIS) return since March 6th is 2 points less than the S&P's. And Time Warner (TWX) stock price (not including the dividend from the spin-off of Time Warner Cable (TWC)) is only up +2% since the great Bull Run began 6 weeks ago. Memo to Jeff Bewkes: where did my rally go?

The truth is that, although Big Media has been pummeled since this bear market began, it was never really priced for extinction (except maybe CBS, which is why it has bounced back as much as it has) like some of the other consumer discretionary plays. This "rise from the dead" rally hasn't let them participate.

Big Media is left priced for a severe long-term painful future, which is probably accurate.
Therefore, it's a space I'm avoiding.

Position: None.

Originally published in RealMoney.com on 4/28/2009 11:30 AM EDT

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Yahoo is In Play

The word is out that the hedge funds are circling Yahoo and Terry Semel. Valleywag is reporting that several prominent hedge funds are smelling blood in the water. Fred Wilson and Eric Savitz picked up on this a couple of weeks ago too.

There are many reasons for this, including several suggestions we made a few weeks ago here about steps Semel needed to take immediately to turn the tide operationally and with the hearts and minds of Wall Street. We repeated many of these same comments today in this radio broadcast.

What's worse, Valleywag is now suggesting that Semel recently presented Yahoo's strategy to the Yahoos and was booed. Even Henry Blodget is saying it's time for Semel to go.

Whether he was or not, Yahoo is attractive for many strategic (read: GOOG, MSFT, Fox, Viacom, Comcast -- even Disney... and don't forget eBay), as well as financial (read: hedge funds), buyers. Great underlying assets + one of the best known brands in the world + well-meaning but ineffective management = great opportunity at $27.40.

Look for something to happen, potentially sooner rather than later.

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