business models

13 Stories

Weird Math Fuels Great TV —for Now

TV's current 'golden age' may not last: Adam Davidson

(Newser) - The cable industry is raking it in: With NBC Universal and Viacom set to each score profit margins of around 50% this year, it's "arguably America's single-most-profitable big business," writes Adam Davidson in the New York Times —for now. The co-founder of NPR's "...

Ads Hit Twitter—Today
 Ads Hit Twitter—Today 
Apr 13, 2010 6:38 AM CDT

Ads Hit Twitter—Today

But, will users actually click on them?

(Newser) - Social media darling Twitter finally has a fancy new business model: a little something the media like to call selling ads. After years of speculation, the micro-blogging site will today launch an advertising platform called 'Promoted Tweets.' Advertisements will now appear at the top of search results, much like...

The Business Genius of the Grateful Dead

Biz school studies the power of passion, early social networking

(Newser) - Barry Barnes saw the Grateful Dead 194 times during the band's 30-year-long run, which ended when Jerry Garcia died, in 1995. But his passion hasn't died, and Barnes, now a business school professor, uses the Dead as a case study in what he calls "strategic improvisation" and very early...

AOL's Latest Revival Scheme Sounds Awful
AOL's Latest Revival
Scheme Sounds Awful
OPINION
Dec 2, 2009 12:01 PM CST

AOL's Latest Revival Scheme Sounds Awful

Chasing search terms is a bad way to produce content

(Newser) - AOL’s latest brilliant plan is to reinvent itself as an imitation of what Farhad Manjoo considers possibly the worst website in the world. New CEO Tim Armstrong recently unveiled his plan to make AOL a premier provider of “content.” It’ll have a computer scan search results...

The Washington Post Is Odds-On Fave to Survive

Newspaper trimmed staff, and it's paid off: Wolff

(Newser) - Like America's other newspapers, the Washington Post is in pain, operating $86 million in the red after axing 400 reporters. “And yet,” Newser founder Michael Wolff writes in Vanity Fair, “if you had to look for a circumstance out of which a newspaper might have the chance...

Twitter Is Just a Fad
 Twitter Is Just a Fad 
OPINION
Jul 29, 2009 5:27 PM CDT

Twitter Is Just a Fad

Social networking site has no long-term viability: Friedman

(Newser) - Jon Friedman doesn’t really like Twitter, he writes for MarketWatch. He thinks the 140-character cap keeps Tweets superficial—which is why Ashton Kutcher loves it. It proved useful for Iranian protesters, but for those of us in relatively stable countries, Friedman agrees with blogger Jon Taplin: "Twitter has...

With News, 'We Get What We Pay For'
 With News, 
 'We Get What 
 We Pay For' 
OPINION
May 10, 2009 11:15 AM CDT

With News, 'We Get What We Pay For'

Sick media must not die

(Newser) - We know the mainstream media is sick, but it doesn’t have to die, writes Frank Rich in the New York Times. When television appeared, people worried it would eat movies, Broadway, and radio; all these forms still exist, having “learned to adapt and to collaborate with the monster....

Wall St. Braces for Lower Pay, Less Risk-Taking

Gov't, public pressure forces shift in expectations

(Newser) - With the new president joining the chorus of outrage against bonuses for bailed-out Wall Street firms, bankers are grappling with the notion that long-held pay expectations will have to change, the Wall Street Journal reports. Eager to avert government crackdown, firms are expected to shrink and perhaps defer bonuses, to...

Twitter Tries to Get Real, Trades In CEO

Micro-blogging pioneer with plenty of buzz but no revenue swaps execs

(Newser) - Twitter has shunted CEO Jack Dorsey into the chairman's role and given his job to current chairman and co-founder Evan Williams, CNET reports. The micro-blogging site has grown fast since launching last year and has been surrounded by plenty of buzz—but while managers say things are right on track,...

American Stiffens Frequent-Flier Rules

Fees see an increase in a move to cut costs

(Newser) - American Airlines has added stiffer fees and higher mileage requirements to its frequent-flier program as the airline struggles to cope with fuel costs, the New York Times reports. American, which posted a $1.16 billion loss for the second quarter, is following the lead of Delta, which tightened the purse...

Microsoft Will Sell Office By $70 Subscription

Annual fee aims to bring penny-pinchers, pirates into fold; includes software updates

(Newser) - Microsoft will start selling its Office software package on a subscription model in mid-July, the AP reports. Instead of paying around $200 for Office, consumers can pay $70 a year, with no additional cost for new versions. In addition to the Office programs, the subscription bundle—named “Equipt”—...

Small-Town Coffee Purveyor Goes Grande

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is climbing, financially and socially

(Newser) - A success story is brewing in tiny-town Vermont, where a coffee roaster is supplying beans to 600 McDonald's restaurants across 50 states and 25 countries. The creator of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Bob Stiller, never imagined such a feat—nor the $121 million in sales last quarter—when he started...

Tech Giants Behave Like Nations
Tech Giants Behave Like Nations
OPINION
Feb 29, 2008 4:45 PM CST

Tech Giants Behave Like Nations

eBay boycott shows how 'social contract' can be mishandled

(Newser) - A comparison of two of this week’s big tech news stories, the end of an eBay boycott and Google’s announcement of the construction of a new trans-Pacific fiber optic cable, show how the tech giants have moved beyond old corporate paradigms, writes Michael Malone for ABC News. With...

13 Stories