The Root of Evil
By: The Spider
It could be money, but it just might be the Italian, Russian or Israeli mob. Take your pick.
Shhh. Google has a secret. No, it's not that the company has evil tendencies - that's not a secret. Rather it's that Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search and user experience (employee No. 20), used to date co-founder Larry Page.
Lately Mayer has been trotted out as a more palatable public relations alternative to Google's overexposed duo of billioniare founders. However, the company has been very reticent to admit the past love connection, even though the pair broke up at the end of last year and both have moved on romantically.
The only thing more painful than lost love is losing money, or maybe listening to Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne talk about why his company is losing money. In February, Overstock reported revenue for 2005 was up 63 percent, but still posted a net loss of $24.9 million, or $1.29 per share.
In the past, Byrne has blamed Sith Lords, cabals and conspiring financial folks for Overstock's plummeting stock price and declining profits. Usually, whenever I need something to amuse myself, I look no further than Byrne, who makes a habit of publicly spewing things that make me scratch my head and think, "Holy s-t, did he really just say what I think he said?"
Over the past few months, Mr. Byrne has not disappointed. Recently he penned a Motley Fool rant about two well-known financial figures (MarketWatch reporter Herb Greenberg and "Mad Money" TV host Jim Cramer) in which he also slammed respected New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman for having a pro-Israel bias in his editorials.
Like many, it was hard for me to imagine any CEO wanting to touch an issue that even raised the specter of anti-Semitism. But that doesn't stop Byrne. He's no runof- the-mill CEO. While I'm fascinated, I still wonder, what Friedman's supposed pro-Israel bias has to do with the subject of Byrne's rant.
In December Byrne did a 90-minute interview with Christian Financial Radio Network. In the midst of one of his diatribes against the so-called naked shortselling scandal, Byrne got specific about the root causes of the problem by blaming the "Italian mob, the Russian mob or the Israeli mob."
Byrne elaborated, "If you Google 'ecstasy Israeli mafia' you'll find articles that basically the Israeli mob … is thought to control 75 percent of the ecstasy trade in the United States."
I'm finding it very hard to see how Israel's supposed domination of the ecstasy trade in the United States relates to naked short selling on the U.S. stock exchanges. Then again, this is not the first time Byrne has gone off topic - way off topic - or brought up drugs.
Speaking of being hopped up … there has been lots of action in Santa Barbara. I'm not sure if Commission Junction has more drama than most companies or just more people willing to spill their guts.
For CJ, the year started out with a bang as the affiliate network was still mopping up from its ousting of AzoogleAds right around Christmas time. Less than a month later, three big affiliate managers quit over CJ's policy that prohibits employees from running affiliate programs.
The email sent by ValueClick to all CJ workers discussed a perceived conflict of interest. Well, duh! If I were an affiliate, I certainly wouldn't want my account rep to see all my crucial data, never mind use it to build up their own program. But clearly, being an affiliate must be more lucrative than just talking with them all day, or each of these account managers wouldn't have opted to leave.
While this trio of departures caused some controversy, another high-profile Value Click executive slipped out unnoticed. Vice President Elizabeth Cholawsky left in mid- December, just months after being promoted to the parent company after serving as senior vice president of marketing and development for Commission Junction.
Cholawsky was part of a six-month effort to centralize all of the marketing functions at ValueClick. But sources claim ValueClick shifted gears and decided to return to its holding company status, operating with loosely coupled independent business units. Some say that after Cholawsky's commitment to centralizing the operations, it made no sense for her to return to work at the division level. Others say ValueClick is an "old boys club" and that La Cholawsky didn't fit in.
Sources tell me Cholawsky is looking at other opportunities outside the Santa Barbara area. It's a good thing, since there's not much down there unless you work at CJ, ValueClick or know how to make wine.
Contact me if you've got any hot industry gossip or juicy information. If I use your tip in the next column, I'll send you a Revenue T-shirt. mailto:TheSpider@RevenueToday.com%20 or call the hotline directly at 415-732-7456.
Tags:
overstock, thomas friedman, google, cabals, marissa mayer, anti semitism, mad money, motley fool, marketwatch, new york times, ceo, jim cramer, reticent, disappointed, bias, israel, fascinated, palatable, mr byrne, patrick byrne,
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