Sending a message to NBC Universal, General Electric (GE) head Jeff Immelt is set to replace long-time CEO Bob Wright with Jeff Zucker. While this isn't a surprise, it is a surprise that it happened this quickly; it was expected to happen at the end of the year when Wright was scheduled to step down.
Wright who is 63, has been NBC Universal head for 21 years. Wright who is 41, is brought in to compete in the digital age before it gets away from them.
The media landscape is changing so quickly that many large companies are struggling to compete against the new online powers like YouTube, Google (GOOG) and MySpace (NWS).
Zucker is looked upon as being much more of a creative than Wright, who has as strong intellectual focus and is considered much less casual than Zucker; probably a detriment to going forward in this new media world.
To me this had to happen sooner rather than later. Some of Wright's comments in the past have seemed to me to show he didn't know how to compete in the new entertainment realities. This should be a strong move and message for the struggling division.
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The recent installment of Jeff Zucker as head of NBC Universal reminds me of former "Universal" COO Randy Falco, who stepped away from the company to head up Time Warner's AOL (TWX). Answering questions at the iMedia Brand Summit, Fa... [Read More]
Tracked on: February 6, 2007 4:40 PM | Permalink to Trackback