CBS Interactive Reorganizes; Pressure to Show Results Mounts
April 20th, 2008 | by Brad King |CBS Interactive announced that it would reorganize its management structure on April 17 in order to build a better interactive experience for its users.
One of the more telling moves, I think, is that Byron Rubin — who worked in mergers & acquisitions (M&A) — moves from CBS corporate to CBS Interactive, showing the company is actively looking for more deals like its Last.fm purchase. The question, Interactive President Quincy Smith asked in this PaidContent interview is whether the company looks for traditional media outlets with revenue models or upstarts looking for find a revenue model.
I can’t read the future (even though I act like it sometimes), so it’s hard to tell how this will work out. I’m always dubious about mergers, but that’s is the best way for traditional media companies to quickly grow in the interactive space — if they are willing to allow the technologist who built their product continue to grow their product.
Big companies bring business acumen to the table; start-ups bring knowledge of the new world.
