| NEWS 11.04.08 5:24 PM |
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Ax Falls on ABC News, Viacom, Marc Jacobs Holiday Fetes, While News Corp. Parties On
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Dispatches from the great holiday party flush of 2008 continue. After word came last week that ABC News joined media groups like Hearst by dropping its annual bureau parties in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, big celebrations for Marc Jacobs and Viacom officially fell off the schedule over the past 24 hours, while the rumored cancellation of the News Corps. party proved a bit of an overreaction.
In an email from Viacom heads Philippe Dauman and Tom Dooley published by Gawker, the duo took the release of the company’s third quarter results as an opportunity to drop the holiday-party bomb. The cancellation probably won’t upset too many staffers though: In lieu of divisional or corporate celebrations, Viacom staffers—at least those who are still around after this week’s anticipated round of layoffs—get an extra two days of vacation between December 22 and January 1.
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RELATED TOPICS
News Corp., ABC News, Viacom, Hearst Corporation, Corporate Holiday Parties, Marc Jacobs, Rodale |
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| EVENT REPORT 10.29.07 10:11 AM |
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Fox Toasts New Network at the Met
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 | A topiary stood at the entrance to the party.
Photo: Marina Fragoso Senra for BizBash |
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Wednesday was just as quiet a night as any at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, except for the Temple of Dendur, where nearly 400 guests gathered to mark the launch of Rupert Murdoch’s latest cable offering, Fox Business Network. Guests such as Bo Derek, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, and Bob and Harvey Weinstein took in cocktails, a light meal, and a performance by Counting Crows under the massive structure’s humbling shadow (or perhaps it would have been humbling, if not for all the big egos in the room).
Fox News chairman and C.E.O. Roger Ailes joked that the location was chosen because Emperor Augustus of Rome was “sort of the Rupert Murdoch of his day.”
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Fox, Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. |
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| Q & A 12.06.06 12:00 AM |
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Event Planners of the Year: News Leader
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 | | Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash |
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Jeff Earl
Title: Director of event planning, News Corporation
What He Does: Earl oversees 25 to 30 events per year, including a shareholder meeting, executive and board dinners, movie screenings, internal employee functions (blood drives, educational events), and internal and external meetings for top executives, including C.E.O. Rupert Murdoch. He’s currently planning the employee holiday party for 6,000 New York-based employees and spouses.
Staff: “I’m a department of one, but I get support from our corporate communications, internal communications, and human resources groups. I hire freelancers to assist and rely heavily on event and production companies for some events.”
Budget: “On a regular year, two to three million dollars, depending on what’s going on.”
Age: 47
Career Path: He majored in sociology with a criminology concentration at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, and then worked as a corrections counselor at a maximum-security juvenile detention center. (“At one point I was going to save the world, but I wasn’t the right person to do it.”) His first exposure to meetings came when he was an account exec for a corporate travel agency. His initial foray into events was in 1994, working as transportation manager for the New York/New Jersey host operations during the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament. He freelanced in a slew of event jobs, including some for TV Guide, which eventually brought him on full-time in 2000. Two years later, he moved into his current role at News Corp.
Where He Lives: TriBeCa
Where He Grew Up: Minnesota
Best Tip: “If you can’t trust the people you’re working with, replace them with a team you can rely on.”
Favorite Drink: A cold beer of any sort.
Favorite Vendor: “My favorite DJ right now is DJ Shawn, who filled in at one of our Pebble Beach events when the celebrity DJ’s flight got cancelled. He had worked an event the prior night and happened to still be on-site. He saved the day and spun some great tunes.”
Favorite Newspaper: “The New York Post,” he says, of course, adding, “I also read The New York Times every day.”
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RELATED TOPICS
News Corp., The New York Post |
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