Writers' Strike Hits Suppliers
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nb46p01.qxp 11/9/2007 8:17 PM Page 1 TOP STORIES REPORT Tabloid war over! SMALL Daily News wins BUSINESS by decision Sources to help PAGE 2 entrepreneurs ® Eyeing a breakup: PAGE 23 Crain’s grades Citigroup’s key business units VOL. XXIII, NO. 46 WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM NOVEMBER 12-18, 2007 PRICE: $3.00 PAGE 3 Celebrity-hotel THE PAYOFF owner Balazs looks Writers’ to sell assets PAGE 3 Blockbuster strike hits The Donald’s new book falls off high-tech deals Times list after suppliers just 2 weeks Firm owners, venture capitalists NEW YORK, NEW YORK, P.6 cash in as large corporations Losses mount as The MTA’s new snap up firms for big bucks talk shows, series boss is about to BY AMANDA FUNG shut down; movies get a lesson in keep shooting fare-hike politics in july, dice holdings inc. accomplished a task almost im- GREG DAVID, PAGE 13 possible for a Manhattan-based tech firm: It carried out a successful public offering. Dice, the first local tech compa- BY MIRIAM KREININ SOUCCAR AND ON B’WAY ny to go public in two years, started trading at $13 a share on Stagehands won BUSINESS LIVES the New York Stock Exchange. just one week into the strike by authorization to strike, the Writers Guild of America, lo- ONLINE ANXIETY Just last week, Quigo, an online advertising powerhouse cal production businesses and film which could shut down Baby boomers try to and established Google rival, was scooped up by AOL for an workers are facing painful losses. theaters at any time. master the art of social estimated $350 million. Seven-year-old Quigo became es- Production came to a halt last G Editorial examines networking PAGE 43 pecially attractive after it won exclusive deals with Time Inc. week on all the late-night talk economic reality and CareerBuilder.com, beating Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. shows, Saturday Night Live and PAGE 12 See BLOCKBUSTER on Page 8 sitcoms like 30 Rock. Some shows, G including Gossip Girls and Cash- Theater league exec mere Mafia, have only one script hangs tough in talks left to shoot. PAGE 20 The writers—who are seeking residuals on new media and the In- ternet—may have a lot to gain from heightened because the last SCOT MELLAND walking out on the Alliance of Mo- writer’s strike, in 1988, lasted five took his firm, Dice, tion Picture and Television Pro- months and paralyzed the indus- public. It was the AT DEADLINE first such IPO in ducers. But the livelihoods of the try. An actors’ strike in 2000 NYC in two years. 78,000 union members who work against the producers of commer- RETAILER LEVITZ FURNITURE in New York City’s film industry,as cials lasted six months. LATE LAST WEEK filed for well as the employees of about “The problem with the strike is bankruptcy for the third time 4,000 small and midsize business- that it hurts so many people that in 10 years.The Manhattan- es that service it, are on the line. nobody ever thinks about,” says based company owes its Fears of a lengthy strike are See WRITER’S STRIKE on Page 8 creditors more than $25 million. Prentice Capital Management and liquidator Great American Corp. bought Levitz out of bankruptcy in late 2005 and Private flights drop tapped retail veteran Larry Zigerelli to lead a turnaround, but the effort has been as NY delays soar derailed by the housing decline.The chain may wind up being sold. ports from Teterboro to West- Costs, rules, major chester County have seen a drop in NEW YORK CITY BANKS ARE NOT carriers also pinch the number of general aviation CUTTING the rates on flights—which include corporate, certificates of deposit in line small airports’ traffic charter and hobbyist planes—even with the Federal Reserve rate though the jet industry nationwide cuts because of intense is robust. General aviation data are competition for deposits, BY HILARY POTKEWITZ flat for the area’s three major air- See AT DEADLINE on Page 2 ports: John F. Kennedy Interna- daniel byrne daniel national newspapers and mag- tional, Newark Liberty Interna- azines are filled with ads for private tional and La Guardia. jets, suggesting that the industry is Financial analysts point to Sar- 46 COMINGNEXT WEEK booming. While that may be true banes-Oxley rules, passed five 5 The online advertising sector in New elsewhere in the country, private years ago, which demand greater York is booming. The tech report looks and corporate jet travel is declining transparency in executive spend- ELECTRONIC EDITION at the new breed of AD TECHNOLOGIST in the New York region, according ing. That has led some companies and profiles key firms. Also, the 100 to Federal Aviation Administra- to curb jet privileges. Business-jet tion data. trade groups attribute the drop to NEWSPAPER fastest-growing NY companies. In recent years, secondary air- See PRIVATE on Page 9 71486 01068 0 CNYB 11-12-07 A 2 11/9/2007 8:02 PM Page 1 AT DEADLINE FADING GLOW: Andrea Simoneau Continued from Page 1 expected Firefly to online radio stations, share it thrive in a revived figures from Bankrate.com with friends and download seaport; instead, she show. Six-month CDs declined digital songs or buy CDs from had to lay off staff. an average 29 basis points while other music stores.The the Fed reductions since Manhattan-based startup plans September total 75 basis points. to make money from banner Among banks making the and text ads on its site, steepest cuts have been Chase, www.jango.com, and a portion which chopped yields on six- of music sales. month CDs by a half a percentage point, to 3.25%; THE THIRD FOUNDER OF THE Sovereign, which cut money INFAMOUS Bayou hedge fund, market yields by a quarter of a James Marquez, will be percentage point, to 4.5%; and sentenced next week after Queens County Saving Bank, pleading guilty to defrauding which slashed its jumbo money investors of as much as $450 market yield by half a million. Mr. Marquez’s percentage point, to 3.35%. sentencing, scheduled for October, was delayed for THE FIVE BIDDERS SEEKING TO investigation of newly released DEVELOP the 26-acre Hudson case documents that contained Yards finished formally forgeries of his signature.The presenting their proposals last federal prosecutor is seeking the week to the land’s owner, the maximum five-year prison Metropolitan Transportation sentence, plus millions of dollars Authority. Sessions lasted in damages. around two hours, and the MTA asked only general BARUCH COLLEGE’S ZICKLIN roger hagadone questions. But sources said the SCHOOL OF BUSINESS unveiled bidders are expecting more a Master of Science degree in specific questions from the real estate and says it expects to MTA.The five bidders are the have about 125 students Extell Development Co.; The enrolled when the program Seaport becalmed Related Companies; Brookfield starts in September 2008.The Properties; a joint venture college, attempting to compete between Tishman Speyer and head on with New York Morgan Stanley; and a joint University’s real estate Lack of revitalization plan stymies area’s revival venture between The Durst programs, just started an MBA Organization and Vornado program with a concentration in BY ELISABETH BUTLER CORDOVA Realty Trust. real estate this fall.The MS degree will cost about $10,000, JANGO, A FREE INTERNET RADIO compared with about $50,000 nearly three years after General Growth Properties bought the South Street Seaport and SERVICE with social networking for the program at the NYU promised to turn the aging tourist attraction into a popular destination for locals and visitors features, launches Monday. It School of Continuing and alike, the area remains unchanged, with no signs of progress on the immediate horizon. will let users create their own Professional Studies. I The real estate investment trust has yet to present a master plan to city officials for remaking the waterfront area, which includes an outdoor shopping area with national chains such as CORRECTION Talbot’s, as well as Pier 17,a 25-year-old indoor mall long criticized for its schlocky shops. Even The article “Crunch squeezing out top-line work” in the Nov. 5 “Business of Law” report did not include all of the reasons for a decline in business for Clifford Chance’s M&A group in August. the rumor mill—once grinding away on speculation that a theater or other cultural institution The drop was due primarily to vacations. Business is now close to pre-July levels. The firm has would take root at the site—has grown quiet. not been reassigning lawyers in response to the credit crisis. “We are waiting to hear from them on their overall plan,” says a spokeswoman for the city’s Economic Development Corp. “We are anxious to see it, too.” THIS WEEK IN CRAIN’S See SEAPORT on Page 8 45 GREG DAVID ------------------------------------13 WEEK IN REVIEW -----------------------16 Post loses its No. 1 spot in THE INSIDER------------------------------------18 REPORT: GROWING Paper’s cutbacks per, which is owned by News Corp. to prove that they could, but once A BUSINESS GUIDE-----------23 Weekday circulation fell 5% in the they did and the paper still didn’t six months that ended Sept. 30, convert to a profitable business, it NEIGHBORHOOD reduce circulation; paper emphasizes drop-kicking the paper behind the became like, ‘Now what?’ ” says JOURNAL------------------------------------------37 News. Martin Dunn,deputy publisher and Sunday edition If the long-running tabloid editor in chief of the News. CLASSIFIEDS ----------------------------------38 street fight isn’t over, it has entered a A spokeswoman for the Post did new phase, with the News winning not respond to a request for com- REAL ESTATE DEALS--------------40 BY MATTHEW FLAMM the latest bout by a decision.