There Must Be a Pony in Here Somewhere: The AOL Time Warner Debacle and the Quest for a Digital Future
Author: Kara Swisher, Lisa Dickey
List Price: $24.95
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ISBN: 1400049636
Publisher: Crown Business (14 October, 2003)
Sales Rank: 47,442
Average Customer Rating: 4 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 4 out of 5
Crash of the Titans
Much of Kara Swisher's lively chronicle of the biggest media merger in history is focused on two visionary company leaders: AOL's Steve Case, who made the company into the 800-pound gorilla of cyberspace but could never seem to turn that power into genuine respect; and Time Warner's Gerald Levin, whose efforts to take the venerable media company into a Net-based future met with one failure after another (FSN, Pathfinder). In theory, the merger should have given both partners what they wanted. So what went wrong? Swisher counts the ways, from bad timing (the tech boom of the late 90's was already starting to wane when the merger was first announced) to tumultuous ego clashes between the "young turks" of AOL and the feudalistic "old school" hierarchy of Time Warner. And then, of course, there's the money. Swisher details AOL's "creative" accounting practices, Time Warner's less-than-diligent due diligence (possibly a product of Levin's determination to make the merger happen, no matter what), and the desire on both sides to create a "synergy" of old and new media, with no clear idea on how to make it happen. Synergy was AOL-Time Warner's Holy Grail, all-important but ever-elusive, and when the company failed to get it, the stock price tumbled. Swisher's prose style is accessible and informative. When she offers personal anecdotes or opinions, they are never intrusive or self-important; instead, they add dimension and context to the narrative, fleshing out the how-high-can-we-go? headiness of the late 1990's. My only complaints are minor ones. First, I wish the book contained a "cast list" of the major players for quick reference; when the surnames start flying around (Pittman, Parsons, Colburn, Crawford), it would have been nice to have a reminder of what positions each person held. Also, and this is no fault of Swisher's, the book went to press before the ideal ending could be included: the decision to drop AOL from the company name. (In fairness, Swisher did predict the name change would happen, and she expected it sooner rather than later. Perhaps the paperback edition will feature an extended coda.) When the merger was first announced, Ted Turner, a major stockholder and Warner board member, compared the experience to "that night when [he] first made love some forty-two years ago." By the end of There Must Be a Pony, readers may have much earthier metaphors in mind.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Wonderful, Easy to Read Perspective on AOL-Time Warner Deal
I would get this book prior to any trip...it is well-written with an irreverent, breezy style and an eye to the clever phrase or interesting anecdote. It is fun to read. The author, Kara Swisher, not only chronicles the AOL-Time Warner transaction but also provides interesting perspective on the late 90's and early 00's. One could ask why my comments and why this particular book? The book has value in that the author lived through this period, understood the genesis of the acquiring company, AOL, and importantly, was a keen observer of Time Warner (including its key players, Jerry Levin and Ted Turner among others) and the transaction that took place. To give you a sense of her style and perspective, she describes the merger as " a company without any assets acquiring a company without a clue."What makes the book worthwhile is the author, her style and most importantly, the relationships she established with almost all of the main players. She had extraordinary access to them over time and they were comfortable enough with her to provide their own perspectives in something other than a self serving manner. There are no heroes only fools, some more gullible than others.
Buy it, you'll enjoy it and you will remember to look for Kara Swisher's by-line when you next read the Wall Street Journal.
Rating: 1 out of 5
A really dumb book
Probably one of the poorest written books I have ever attempted to read. The author repeats things over and over to gain word content, but says very little of substance. Similar Products
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