Click on the Video Below and Sample a Session from a previous Digital Hollywood event. For Additional Video Sessions, Click Here Media Summit 2009 Thursday, March 19 10:45 AM - Noon Session A: Media, Entertainment, Technology and Money: Funds, Mergers, Acquisitions, Takeovers and Targets The VC and strategic investment community has always led the way in recognizing the newest opportunities in the technology and entertainment space. In this era of economic flux, boom and bust, there are as many interpretations of value, opportunity and investment as there are investors and analysts in the industry. In this session, we bring together a number of the formative players in the Media, Entertainment, Technology finance world who have played a part in the investments, mergers, acquisitions and takeovers over the past few years. At the moment there is more money chasing fewer ready resources, but as the market predictably shakes out, how the relationship between the traditional and new media companies settles will create a fascinating foundation for the next step in growth for our industry. Are we building toward another bubble or are we laying the groundwork for a period of hypergrowth in the convergence space? Media companies are making nine and ten figure bets in this new arms race and what the future holds is anyone’s guess. Richard J. Bressler, Managing Director, Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. Jonathan Miller, co-founder, Velocity Investment Group Richard Wolpert, Managing Director, Mail Room Fund Imran Khan, Managing Director, J.P. Morgan Robert C. Raciti, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Industry Strategist, GE Capital Media, Communications & Entertainment Tuna N. Amobi, Director, Consumer Discretionary, Media & Entertainment, Standard & Poor’s Equity Research, Moderator Richard J. Bressler is a Managing Director of Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. Prior to joining Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. in 2006, Mr. Bressler was employed by Viacom, Inc. from May 2001 through 2005 as the Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer with responsibility for managing all strategic, financial, business development, and technology functions. Prior to that, Mr. Bressler served in various capacities with Time Warner Inc., including as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Time Warner Digital Media. He also served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Time Warner Inc. from March 1995 to June 1999. Prior to joining Time Inc. in 1988, Mr. Bressler was a partner with the accounting firm of Ernst & Young since 1979. Mr. Bressler is currently a Director of Univision Communications, Inc., Warner Music Group Corp., Gartner, Inc., The Nielsen Company and American Media, Inc., Inc. In addition, Mr. Bressler is a member of the J.P. Morgan Chase National Advisory Board. Mr. Bressler holds a B.B.A. from Adelphi University. Richard Wolpert, Managing Director, Mail Room Fund: Mr. Wolpert served as the Chief Strategy Officer of RealNetworks from 2000-2005. During this time Mr. Wolpert lead RealNetworks' transition from a technology company to a consumer services/digital media company by operating the RealNetworks' Consumer businesses and growing those businesses from a run rate of under $100M to profitable businesses with a run rate of more than $250M in under two years. In addition to his executive responsibilities at RealNetworks, Mr. Wolpert was the key deal person on RealNetworks largest transactions including the $761M settlement with Microsoft, a joint venture with 3 of the world's largest music labels called MusicNet, and the acquisition of Listen.com/Rhapsody. Mr. Wolpert served as president of Disney Online from 1996-1998, where he was responsible for the business and creative strategy for the company. During his tenure, Mr. Wolpert oversaw all aspects of Disney Online's Internet initiatives including the Web's most popular family Web site, Disney.com, as well as the development and successful operation of The Disney Store Online, Disney's prosperous e-commerce business, and Disney's Daily Blast. Mr. Wolpert is the founder of Chance Technologies, Inc., a personal investment portfolio focused on technologically and media driven ventures. Mr. Wolpert has invested in over 30 startup companies over the last 10 years including GameSpy, AudioMill, Kongregate, DataSage, People Support, GameFly, Smilebox,, Universal Audio, AndroMedia, and Three Rings. Chance Technologies, Inc. was formed in 1994. Many of these investments have since successfully produced IPO's, merged with, or were acquired by industry giants. Mr. Wolpert began his career at Apple Computer in 1984, where he was involved in the early development of the Macintosh and while at Apple created and taught the first Macintosh Programming class at Stanford University . Mr. Wolpert is a board member for the LA Chapter of the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America where Mr. Wolpert is the Founder of CCFA's camps. Mr. Wolpert also serves on the board of the UCLA School of Theater Film and Television and the Board of Governors of Cedars Sanai Hospital. Mr. Wolpert earned his degree in math and computer science at the University of California, Los Angeles. Jonathan Miller, co-founder, Velocity Investment Group: Jon is a founding partner of Velocity Interactive Group, an investment firm focusing on digital media and the consumer internet. Velocity is stage agnostic and has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Palo Alto and Mumbai, India. Prior to Velocity Mr. Miller was Chairman and CEO of AOL Inc and LLC. He began at AOL in late 2002 when the Company was given up as lost by the stock market and most pundits. The Company was under goverment investigation, the receipient of multiple shareholder actions, and in the midst of taking a $54bn writedown. The online world had moved on and AOL's core business, dialup internet access, was a clear casuality in an emerging broadband world. Both short term fixes to keep the Company alive and implementation of a wholly new strategy were required. AOL is now in the midst of a revival, with a transformed business model and a newly earned place in the digital world. In his last quarter, AOL's profits were up 21% year to year and its advertising growth, the heart of the new model, was up 49% year to year. AOL is now the third largest internet advertising business in the world, and the second fastest growing behind Google. Additionally, over $3bn in run rate costs have been taken out during this period and thus, profitability has been maintained throughout the complete transformation of the business fundamentals. While increasing the overall value of the Company, Miller also generated over $9bn in free cash in this period from operations and through rationalization of assets. Milestones included Live8, which heralded the arrival of the internet as a true global entertainment medium (and, importantly, supported the efforts for debt and AIDS relief for Africa), achieving top one to three positions in 11 of the 13 measured internet content categories, purchasing the leading advertising network, Adv.com in 2004 and growing AOL's base of users to over 250mm worldwide from less than 1/2 that number in 2002. From a zero valuation on a sum of the parts basis in Time Warner in 2002, AOL was valued at $20 billion in a 2006 transaction in which Google bought 5% of the Co for $1 billion. Miller also oversaw restoring relationships with the telecom and cable industries including distribution deals w ATT, Verizon, Qwest and most of the cable industry including Time Warner Cable. Previously, Mr. Miller was CEO and President of USA Information and Services, now IACI and Expedia (the Company split in two in 2005). Through both acquisitions and migrating business models to become digitally focussed, USA/IACI built industry leading positions in such areas as online travel, event ticketing, and electronic retailing. Market cap of the combined companies exceeded $25bn. In this period, Miller acted as a Corporate Officer and served on four public boards of related entities. Mr. Miller joined the Company in 1997 as CEO and President of USA Broadcasting. Combining the SF stations with Silver King Broadcasting, the group was had the fifth largest footprint in the US. The station group was sold in 1999 for a gain of over $1.1bn Prior to USA/IACI, Miller was Managing Director of Nickelodeon International, a unit of Viacom's MTV Networks from 1993-1997. Starting and managing operations outside the US from a London-based headquarters, activities included cable channel development and management, creative affairs and brand management, program sales/distribution, ad sales and merchandising. During this period, Jon also acted as CEO of several Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures channels that were joint ventures with such partners as BSkyB in the UK and Foxtel in Australia. Under MIller's guidance, program distribution was extended to over 100 territories including sales to the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, ARD (Germany), ABC (Australia), and RAI (Italy). From 1987-1993, Miller was Vice-President, Programming and Co-General Manager of NBA Entertainment, where he was responsible for brand management and programming for the basketball league as it emerged as the 'sport of the 90's'. In this capacity, Miller worked with NBA sponsors in fashioning and executing their sports marketing programs across electronic media, print and retail. Previous positions included stints at WGBH in Boston, MA (PBS) in educational programming and in various advertising and video production roles in Boston. Miller is a 1980 graduate of Harvard College, with Honors in Psychology. Mr Miller is on the Board of the American Film Institute, Idearc Media (spun out of Verizon Communications), a trustee of Emerson College, and of WNYC Public Radio in NY. He is also an ‘angel’ investor in internet startups in the areas of digital content, search and online advertising in partnership with venture capital firms such as Sequoia, Accel Partners, Spark Capital, Lightspeed, and Benchmark. Robert C. Raciti, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, industry advisor, GE Commercial Finance: Media, Communications, and Entertainment business: Robert C. Raciti, Ph.D. is a senior vice president and industry advisor with GE Commercial Finance's Media, Communications, and Entertainment business. In his current position, Dr. Raciti provides strategic insights to customers, financial sponsors, and internal teams that originate and underwrite transactions. Over the past 8 years at GE, he participated in more than 500 transactions of which over 80 were approved, representing approximately $ 6.5 billion in deal volume. Dr. Raciti currently specializes in the following areas: New Media, Wireless Communications, Communications Systems, Satellites and Specialty Materials & Components. Before joining GE, he was director of networks and telecommunications for Pitney Bowes, where his organization was responsible for enterprise-wide voice, data and e-commerce applications. He has held senior positions in the global sales organization at MCI Telecommunications and in the systems and digital engineering organizations at Loral Electronic Systems. With over 20 years of operational experience in the science and technology fields, his continuing research focuses on the use of technology and its contribution to the competitive profile of organizations. Dr. Raciti’s articles have been published in industry journals including the Television Business Report, Commercial Lending Review, and America's Network. He has presented at industry conferences including TeleManagement Forum and Digital Hollywood, and has been quoted in industry news sources such as CNNMoney and CableWorld. Dr. Raciti holds a Ph.D. in information systems from Nova Southeastern University's School of Computer and Information Sciences, as well as an MBA in finance and marketing from Fordham University and a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (cum laude) from Manhattan College. Imran Khan is a Managing Director and the Head of Global Internet Research at J.P. Morgan. In addition to his Internet coverage, Mr. Khan is responsible for covering U.S. diversified Media and Entertainment companies. Mr. Khan has been consistently ranked as one of the top Internet analysts by independent third-party surveys, including #1 in the Institutional Investor Alpha Magazine Survey in 2008, and #2 the Institutional Investor All American Research Poll every year since 2005. He is the author of several widely read research reports, including The Rise of Ad Networks, Large Cap Courtship and Consolidation, and Nothing But Net (which has been JPM’s most-accessed research report in 2006, 2007 and 2008). Mr. Khan has spoken at various industry conferences and has appeared on financial television networks such as CNBC and Bloomberg. In addition, he is one of the youngest Managing Directors at J.P. Morgan, having been promoted to MD at age 29. Mr. Khan came to J.P. Morgan in 2004 after three years at Fulcrum Global Partners, where he was a Managing Director in Equity Research covering Internet and Software. Prior to Fulcrum, Mr. Khan worked as an investment banker at ING covering Telecom. Before ING, he worked for Wild Blue, a satellite start-up company. Tuna N. Amobi is a Director at Standard & Poor’s Equity Research Services, New York, where he heads a group of analysts covering the Media & Entertainment and several other Consumer Discretionary and related sectors. As a member of S&P's Analytical Policy Board, he participates in key policy and investment decisions for S&P Investment Services. Tuna has spoken at numerous industry conferences, has been a frequent financial markets commentator on CNBC, Bloomberg TV, and BBC, and regularly quoted in Business Week, Wall Street Journal and Financial Times, to name a few. Prior to joining S&P in 2001, he was a Senior Equity Research Analyst and a Portfolio Manager at Lehman Brothers, where he started his Wall Street career on the global Fixed Income Derivatives desk. Earlier in his global consulting and accounting career, he worked at KPMG Peat Marwick and Arthur Andersen, gaining significant international experience along the way. After a B.Sc. (Accounting), he qualified as a CPA (NY, NJ), with a law degree (JD), earning an MBA as well from the Strathclyde Business School, Scotland. A Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Tuna was recently profiled in the Black Enterprise Magazine, and has been named in the Wall Street Journal’s “Best of the Street” survey as a top analyst in the Media & Entertainment sector.