All his friends and associates that used to come here, they would come out of respect to Ted, having breakfast with him and talking to him. He was a lure. |
Among the U.S. operations like Viacom, AOL Time Warner, Disney, all of them have been making acquisitions. But all of them have been generating very strong cash flow, |
And Vivendi has dramatically transformed itself over the past few years into having quite a balanced distribution portfolio relative to what people thought it would have two years ago. |
During the summer, we'd be lucky to have two or three people in here a day. |
It is a sold cable channel, it's also a platform of diverse programming interests, |
It's not going to be given away or sold in any way. It's going to be broadened and more and more people will be exposed to these things. |
Marconi's communications to the markets over the last six months have constantly disappointed, |
What's really behind all of this is that there were expectations for international data growth, business services growth, Internet growth and the higher value-added segments that just have not transpired. |
When you look at Viacom and AOL Time Warner, their cash flow being generated by their businesses has enabled them to reduce debt and to focus on their businesses. |
While we are in a bit of an advertising slump, and that's impacted cash flows and performance, looking out over the medium term they have got balanced portfolios and they have been able to reduce debt. |
You can't exist too many years like that without having some kind of endowment backing you. We just weren't near any metropolitan areas where you could draw regular attendance. |