Dienstag
Aug092005
Springer-CEO Döpfner wants to fight Google ! Huh ?
09.Aug.2005 | 10:57
Last Friday, German media company Axel Springer announced plans to acquire a majority stake in the leading German TV network ProSiebenSat.1, which would create a new, vertically fully integrated and pretty scary media giant.
What is the reasoning behind this ? The primary goal is not the destruction of the tiny little rest of diversity of opinion, which is left in Germany's mainstream media, as one might think. No, the reason lies somewhere else, as Dr. Mathias Döpfner - Chairman and CEO of Axel Springer - pointed out during a press conference on Friday (Source: Bloomberg.com):
He is buying a big no-brain-needed TV network, puts it together with his no-brain-needed newspaper business and thinks he is ready to compete with some of the most innovative organizations on this planet ?
He's got to be kidding !?
I mean, we are talking about a publishing company whose "flagship website" still looks like one of Jakob Nielsen's most violent nightmares. And when I remember it correctly, Mr. Döpfner, when he became CEO of Axel Springer, put somebody in charge of electronic media there, who in an interview after his appointment, prided himself on not having a computer in his office, because he didn't think that this whole internet stuff is all that exciting !!
I could be wrong. But my guess is that Mr. Döpfner has never used Flickr, doesn't know why Google Maps is a brilliant strategy and will never really grok the philosophy behind Wikipedia. And I am pretty sure he thinks a long tail usually comes with a big dog. All he probably knows is that Google is earning billions and that he wants a piece of that pie.
Mr. Döpfner and his colleagues are still very much living in the last millennium. And I am afraid they will use all the clout of their new media giant to keep most of the German people right there with them. That certainly scares me ! But I really can't see anything Google or Yahoo should be afraid of.
When should Google et al. start worrying ? The moment Dr. Döpfner stops giving pompous press conferences and starts blogging...
Tags: Media Concentration, Axel Springer, Google, Yahoo
What is the reasoning behind this ? The primary goal is not the destruction of the tiny little rest of diversity of opinion, which is left in Germany's mainstream media, as one might think. No, the reason lies somewhere else, as Dr. Mathias Döpfner - Chairman and CEO of Axel Springer - pointed out during a press conference on Friday (Source: Bloomberg.com):
"We are the number one in print, ProSiebenSat.1 is the number one in TV - this will enable us to defy our real competitors of the future - EBay, Google and Yahoo."Excuse me ?
He is buying a big no-brain-needed TV network, puts it together with his no-brain-needed newspaper business and thinks he is ready to compete with some of the most innovative organizations on this planet ?
He's got to be kidding !?
I mean, we are talking about a publishing company whose "flagship website" still looks like one of Jakob Nielsen's most violent nightmares. And when I remember it correctly, Mr. Döpfner, when he became CEO of Axel Springer, put somebody in charge of electronic media there, who in an interview after his appointment, prided himself on not having a computer in his office, because he didn't think that this whole internet stuff is all that exciting !!
I could be wrong. But my guess is that Mr. Döpfner has never used Flickr, doesn't know why Google Maps is a brilliant strategy and will never really grok the philosophy behind Wikipedia. And I am pretty sure he thinks a long tail usually comes with a big dog. All he probably knows is that Google is earning billions and that he wants a piece of that pie.
Mr. Döpfner and his colleagues are still very much living in the last millennium. And I am afraid they will use all the clout of their new media giant to keep most of the German people right there with them. That certainly scares me ! But I really can't see anything Google or Yahoo should be afraid of.
When should Google et al. start worrying ? The moment Dr. Döpfner stops giving pompous press conferences and starts blogging...
Tags: Media Concentration, Axel Springer, Google, Yahoo
Reader Comments (4)
er scheint dies aus kartellrechtlichen gründen gesagt zu haben. wenn ich einen markt dominiere, der keine zukunft hat, kann ich kein monopolist sein. im internet ist die neue super-duper-döpfner-macht nur ein kleines lichtlein. eigentlich nicht ungeschickt. aber irgendwie uncharmant.
Bjoern, I think you're so wrong! He'll be buying some social network company next, just like Murdoch. He just sees that, to be ahead in the media budget game, he'll have to have all sorts of distribution channels. The ProSiebenSat1 acquisition is only the first piece of the puzzle. Watch for internet acquisitions next!
Max, I completely agree!
That's exactly Springer's strategy: using a lot of cash to buy companies which have the courage and vision Springer is lacking. And then we are once again (?) in media giant nirwana, because after buying all the new distribution channels, we can use them to shove uninspired, but cost-efficient "content" down the throat of the consumer, who has no other option than to swallow it because there is no other place left, where he could go to...
That's what I meant with "living in the last millennium" and I have my doubts that this does work in the millennium, we are currently living in.
Because people today have a lot of new, decentralized channels to go to. Take podcasting. More and more people will listen to podcasts because they are bored by corporate radio. Only very few do it today, but I think that number will grow rapidly as soon as Microsoft puts RSS & co. into standard applications as Outlook. But it won't be possible for media giants to buy podcasts as it was possible for them to buy radio stations, no matter how hard they will try. And I am confident that the same is true for other forms of media as well.
I really believe in "small is the new big" and that "small pieces loosely joint" will be more successful than one big chunk forced together by lots of money. But of course, I could indeed be "so wrong". And the past could be the future. But I hope I am not !!!
Btw, that doesn't mean, start-ups in this area, won't be able to cash in like myspace.com did. So there surely is a lot of money to be made by for example blog hosting companies... ;-)
imho, before döpfner starts blogging hell has to freeze over ... ;-)