Internet Outsider

Another "Doh!" Award: Time Warner's Wayne Pace

At least one senior Time Warner manager probably has more on his mind than AOL.  According to the Post, an alleged New York high-end madam has fingered TW CFO Wayne Pace as her sugar-daddy.  The Post article is waaaaay short on detail (even the alleged madam isn't claiming she slept with Pace, and "helping" someone buy an apartment doesn't necessarily mean forking over suitcases full of cash), but one imagines that the scandal is rocking the Time Warner Center.

Time Warner has yet to respond, but it will have to soon.  Unless Pace can persuasively deny any and all of the alleged madam's intimations (a denial that will presumably have to include an explanation of the alleged "help"), he will soon be "pursuing other interests."

Until details emerge, it would be unfair to give the married Pace a Doh! Award for his own actions, if any.  But it is fair, I think, to give him one for being the subject of a Post story entitled "Doing Time."  For Wayne's sake, here's hoping there's a good explanation.

Inaugural "Doh!" Award Goes To...

...Analyst Susan Kalla of Caris & Co., who, according to BusinessWeek, said a hypothetical Microsoft takeover of Time Warner would be a "great move."  Her thinking?  Microsoft could take advantage of Time Warner's low multiple without hurting its stock price.

I don't know Susan and it's certainly possible that she was misquoted.  If not, however, I have some questions: Where was she five years ago, when AOL bought Time Warner?  Would she care to expound on why a proposal frighteningly similar to what has been deemed the most disastrous merger in business history would be a "great move"?  Would she like to explain how the same company will be effective at competing against IBM and Linux on one end and sitcom production companies on the other?  Would she care to hazard a guess as to where the headquarters of this fantastic new $100 billion corporation will be located?  Would she...  Never mind.

Susan, we are proud to present you with the inaugural IO "Doh!" Award.

Full Disclosure: The true inaugural "Doh!" award should go to me: I thought the AOL-Time Warner merger was a good idea.

UPDATE: This award was originally titled a "Genius!" award, but one reader's comment reminded me that even geniuses occasionally have moronic ideas.  So, to focus the award on the idea rather than its progenitor, I've changed the name.