Your rich uncle

[Elta]

Lets pretend you have a very old uncle you never knew.He is near his death and wants to give you 1 billion dollars under the terms of you starting a cable + internet (possibly) international news orginsation - with just 10 billion dollars. The more people you get to watch your channel the higher your odds of getting the whole billion.

1 billion - number 1 news network in the world
500 million - number 2
250 million - number 3
etc etc

You can have 500,000 a year durring set up and the first ten years of the network after that. My question to you is what would you do to get this network going would it be diff. or more of the same etc etc.


Here is what I would do buy a small office block in each of there towns
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_metropolitan_statistical_areas_by_population
(Bigger in the larger towns etc etc) and have at least 4 cameras.
I would get local people who were intrested in reporting. In each town you could put a little local report center- nothing big just two reporters - 4 cameras and maybe a weather guy. (Broadcast that locally). Then you could have them send in (Via some kind of internet upload) big stories that are local but my need to be reported Nationaly - pay them for it etc etc.

Get a big studio to do the big storys nationaly and internationaly (Spl? )

In order to bring the "human" feel to it I would let freelance reporters do Discovery channel - PBS type stuff and buy it from them (some 20/20 or 60 munites type stuff too).

Finally I would add some Google current type of non important interesting news.

Oh and I wouldn't let anyone with an obiously biased opinion have there own show that is not even news. (You know the types, they often lie about there sources and don't really tell news so much as give their opinion)

Anyways what would you do?

 

[CoolioVonHoolio]

i would... ask what exactly we are talking about.

 

[Irish Caesar]

I'd pass. Not interested in the chance at a billion dollars if it means working at something I have no interest in and is already done by so many others, albeit not always well.

 

[Ansar]

Not if I had to do something like that.

pass, im too lazy.

 

[GinandTonic]

Going along your lines -

First I would give a press conference talking excitedly about user-generated content, how the responsibility of the press to press the other pillars of the establishment was being eroded but its becoming a pillar of the establishment itself and how democratisation of access would resolve this dichotomy etc

Then I would hire a very good team of lawyers to squirrel away a mill.

Then I would sign a killer co-operation deal with youtube and google. And buy a lot of cheap video-cameras.

 

[Dann]

Lets pretend you have a very old uncle you never knew.He is near his death and wants to give you 1 billion dollars under the terms of you starting a cable + internet (possibly) international news orginsation - with just 10 billion dollars. The more people you get to watch your channel the higher your odds of getting the whole billion.

1 billion - number 1 news network in the world
500 million - number 2
250 million - number 3
etc etc

I'm there, even if I know nothing about the business. The rewards are certainly worth whatever changes to my lifestyle they would cost.

The clincher is this:

You can have 500,000 a year durring set up and the first ten years of the network after that. My question to you is what would you do to get this network going would it be diff. or more of the same etc etc.

That means I won't have to go out on a limb and invest my life savings into this endeavor. My start-up is assured. Even if I don't know the business the money would ensure that I can hire people who do.

Should I fail after ten years there would still be some money left over/to be collected. I can still cut and run then. (And if I really want to be evil I can entrap + blackmail + bribe his closest aides and lawyers into drugging the old man and tricking him to change his will into giving me his entire fortune. )

 

[Whomp]

First of all having $10 billion in start up capital would be enormous. Yahoo's market capitalization is $36 billion ($35.57 billion enterprise value) with $10.8 billion in assets, $6.22 billion in revenues generating $1.94 bilion in EBITDA. Those are phenomenal margins right off the bat.

I would immediately higher the best people in the industry (ad, tech, sales and personalities). I've always found hiring people brighter than myself has paid massive rewards. As the saying goes the "A's" work for the "B's" and "C's". They would be rewarded with a significant compensation package and I would simply give them the "big picture".

We would carve out a piece to the private equity world to raise additional capital and leverage up for infrastructure. As the organization developed we'd bring it public and make everyone wildly rich.

Honestly, I wouldn't even bother with the inheritance since I'd already be rich beyond my wildest imagination.