WSJ10: SUN-CAMPUS-STANDING-PAGES...
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Heroes Line Up to Save Studios Blockbuster Hopefuls Fill a Busy Season Amid Falling Sales At online.wsj.com/careers § More employers are paying employ- ees as they do volunteer work. § Six tips to ease your way into the world of telecommuting full-time. § How an engineering grad became a chief technical officer at age 36. 7 7 How to contact us: [email protected] BY LAUREN A.E. SCHUKER AND PETER SANDERS A fter a long, disappoint- ing winter at the multi- plex, Hollywood is re- sponding this summer with a platoon of heroes to target every corner of the marketplace. The summer of 2008 will fea- ture an unusually deep bench of comic-book characters, including “Iron Man,” “Hellboy II,” “The In- credible Hulk” and the return of Bat- man in “The Dark Knight.” The sea- son also has heroic figures aimed at baby boomers (“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”); outsiders (Will Smith as a down- and-out guy infused with super powers in “Hancock”); conspiracy theorists (a new “X-Files” movie); and fantasy lovers (“The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian”). And moviegoers looking for heroines without special powers (but with outfits as stylish as those of any superhero) can check out the movie version of “Sex and the City.” Hollywood executives, who be- gin every summer with sunny fore- casts, describe it as a something- for-everyone approach that will keep the turnstiles spinning. “I think week after week, there are some huge movies,” says Jeff Blake, chairman of world-wide marketing and distribution at Sony Pictures Entertainment. Tough Assignment But this year, an especially crowded marketplace could make it tough for heroes to break from the pack and save the day for their re- spective studios. About 50 wide-re- lease films are due to open from May through August, compared with 41 five years ago, according to box-office tracker Media by Num- bers. Several of the season’s big- budget films open in May, before the summer officially kicks off, in- cluding “Indiana Jones,” “Iron Man,” “Narnia” and “Speed Racer.” An overstuffed marketplace has already made 2008 a difficult year. Through April 19, total domestic ticket sales stood at $2.47 billion, down 3.5% from $2.56 billion last year; with increased ticket prices, attendance is down even more, about 6.6%. By this time last year, four films had sold more than $100 million in tickets domestically; this year, only the animated Dr. Seuss tale “Horton Hears a Who!” has cleared that bar. “There is some concern that with this much product out there, you have to make sure your voice is heard,” says Adam Fogelson, head of marketing for Universal Pictures. “That said, I think there is room for everything out there to work.” The people who make and fi- nance movies—major studios and outside financiers trying to make their own fortunes in Hollywood— often turn to comic books for mate- rial because, in the past, they have provided cross-generational box-of- fice gushers like the “Spider-Man” franchise. Rob Moore, vice chair- man of Paramount, says the super- hero genre has grown in popularity because, “It plays well with fami- lies, because people can accept a certain level of violence as long as it’s not real.” Of the two Marvel-financed sum- mer movies, “Iron Man,” is seen as a more likely candidate than “Hulk” for blockbusterdom. The big-bud- get movie, which cost $135 million, opens May 2; the first weekend in May has often been one of the best launching pads for summer hits. Distributor Paramount has staked the film’s success on Robert Downey Jr., who stars as Iron Man. Better With Age? Jon Favreau, who directed “Iron Man,” says “it took some coaxing with Marvel” to cast the 43-year- old Mr. Downey, whose past sub- stance-abuse problems have at times cast a pall on his prospects. “When a company is hanging an en- tire franchise on someone, they want someone younger,” Mr. Favreau says. But the director felt most comfortable with an experi- enced actor. For Marvel, he adds, Mr. Downey presented “a big chance to take.” Mr. Downey isn’t the only hero with a few miles on him this sum- mer. Harrison Ford, who turns 66 in July, stars in the fourth installment of the “Indiana Jones” saga, which has been dormant since 1989. Pro- ducer Frank Marshall says he isn’t worried about Mr. Ford being too old to play Indy: “He’s older and wiser in this film. He is sort of like a fine wine. He has matured well.” Comic book movies aren’t al- ways hits. In 2003, an artsy Ang Lee-directed take on the Marvel Comics’ character the Hulk was a box-office misfire for Universal Pic- tures. But that’s not stopping Mar- vel from trying again. The comic- book publisher is financing its own movies these days, and it is paying for another big-budget attempt at getting the Hulk franchise to gener- ate some green. Off-Screen Clash This time around, Edward Norton stars as scientist Bruce Ban- ner, who swells into an angry emer- ald beast when he gets stressed. Most of the drama surrounding this movie, which will again be distrib- uted by Universal, has been off- screen, with Mr. Norton clashing with Marvel executives about the movie’s final cut. The two sides pub- licly buried the hatchet recently, but it remains to be seen how the controversy will affect the film’s box-office returns. “Sex and the City” from Time Warner’s New Line unit, also hopes to tap into the heroic spirit of the summer. “These women are the ulti- mate female superheroes,” says Michael Patrick King, who execu- tive produced the HBO hit from which the movie sprang. “ ‘Sex and The City’ was made to correct the myth that if you were single at a certain age, you were a leper. Its four characters are heroes to a lot of women; they run around New York, or Gotham—but they have fancy shoes instead of capes.” But the ladies, too, are a little older than the last time we saw them. In the film, they’re in their 40s, a “different, somewhat- tougher time” than their 30s, which the television series focused on, says Mr. King. “If you want to see the girls at 34, you can turn on your television every night or rent the DVDs,” Mr. King says. “I knew the one mistake I could make in the film was to freeze-dry them and pre- tend they weren’t in their 40s now.” What’s News— In Business and Finance Mars, Wrigley Create Global Powerhouse In a recipe combining two of the world’s biggest candy-makers, pri- vately owned Mars agreed to ac- quire Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. for about $23 billion. A key driver of the deal: pushing more gum and candy in more spots around the globe, such as India, China and Russia. By enlarging its market power while not having to answer to pub- lic shareholders, the new company will pose a threat to other major food companies—particularly Her- shey and Cadbury Schweppes—that have been weighing merger plans of their own for years. Hershey has little presence overseas, while Lon- don-based Cadbury doesn’t directly own chocolate brands in the U.S. While both Mars and Wrigley tout a comfortable fit of products— Mars has Snickers and M&Ms, Wrig- ley is the maker of the eponymous gums—Mars has no experience with a deal of this scale. And it’s moving into Wrigley at a very high price, paying 32 times Wrigley’s ex- pected earnings for 2008. Under the agreement, expected to close in six to 12 months, Wrigley sharehold- ers will receive $80 in cash for each share held, a 28% premium to the stock’s price April 25. That means that even if Mars is successful in integrating the company, it may be difficult for it to turn a decent profit without substantial revenue growth in the years ahead. Loan Web Sites Help With Tuition Some students are relying on the kindness of strangers to help them pay for college. Thanks to the credit crunch, doz- ens of student-loan lenders have ei- ther sharply cut back on their offer- ings or have stopped offering loans. As a result, a growing number of students are turning to peer-to- peer lending sites like Prosper.com and LendingClub.com that facilitate loans between strangers. Interest rates sometimes beat out those offered by private stu- dent-loan companies, and there are usually fewer fees and restrictions. “It’s an interesting concept, the idea of investing in an individual student,” says FinAid.org publisher Mark Kantrowitz. Two sites focused on education debt are available: Fynanz.com and CollegeDegreeFund.com. Sites for social lending, meanwhile, which typically help pay down debt or launch a home business, are just starting to look at student loans. Zopa.com plans to launch a student- loan feature in July. (Right now, stu- dent borrowers apply for a per- sonal loan.) At Prosper.com, educa- tion loans still account for less than 2% of its $135 million in loans. But students should exhaust all other options. “Federal loans are still the way to go,” says Prosper CEO Chris Larson. Airlines Seeking More Pricing Power Airfares are on the rise as airlines keep a tighter rein on flights and seats—and that rise could accelerate if industry merger efforts bear fruit. The average cost of airline tick- ets in the U.S. was up 10.2% in March compared with a year ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as airlines struggle with surging fuel prices and a softening U.S. economy. Already this year, most of the more than a dozen price-increase attempts have been matched by ri- vals. United Airlines recently intro- duced a fare increase of as much as 5% on domestic fares. Delta quickly raised its fuel surcharge by as much as $20 on each leg of domestic fares, pushing its round-trip fuel surcharge to more than $100 on some domestic routes. Many in the industry hope merg- ers can eliminate seats and competi- tors and give airlines even greater pricing power. Airlines say fare increases and other charges—such as fees for on- board services such as meals or for checking a second suitcase—are the only means left for airlines to stanch widening losses. Grand Theft Auto IV Causes New Stir The latest installment in the Grand Theft Auto series is expected to shatter sales records for video- games—and revive a heated debate over sex and violence in the games. Grand Theft Auto IV, one of the most eagerly anticipated video- games of the year, is receiving rave reviews from many game critics. Blockbuster success could also force Electronic Arts to increase its $2 billion hostile takeover bid for Take-Two Interactive Software, the publisher of Grand Theft Auto. The racy content of Grand Theft Auto IV shows Rockstar Games, the game-development group at Take- Two that produces the series, hasn’t been tamed by past contro- versies. “It’s going to cause a huge ruckus,” says Evan Wilson, a Pacific Crest Securities analyst. The last major version of the game ignited a firestorm with hid- den sex scenes that could be found using a software patch. After a sub- sequent “adults-only” rating was put on the game, most major retail- ers stopped carrying the title. But Rockstar says all of the con- tent in Grand Theft Auto IV, includ- ing sex scenes, were seen by an in- dustry ratings body before the game went on sale. The game has a mature rating, meaning people 17 years and older can purchase it. Credit-Card Security Shows Big Gaps Despite efforts by the credit-card industry to force retailers to protect their customers’ data, several recent security breaches suggest that cur- rent requirements aren’t enough. Until recently, most known re- tail-data breaches occurred at com- panies that failed to comply with steps mandated by a credit-card in- dustry group called the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council. But recent attacks, includ- ing one on Hannaford Bros., a New England supermarket chain, in which data for 4.2 million cards may have been stolen, has prompted retailers to seek security systems well beyond PCI standards. Credit card-related fraud grew to $5.49 billion in 2007 from $1.46 bil- lion in 1997, according to industry tracker Nilson Report. Law-enforce- ment officials attribute the rise to new technological applications as well as increased participation by in- ternational organized-crime groups. Odds & Ends U.S. consumer confidence contin- ued to weaken in April, the fourth straight month of declines, according to the Conference Board, a private research group. … Home prices fell further in February, as slumping home sales and an increasing inven- tory of vacant homes increased down- ward pressures on prices. By Jay Hershey 7 With Harrison Ford now 65, the latest “Indiana Jones” movie might be a stretch for younger filmgoers. But young co-star Shia LaBeouf could add a spark. Hydrogen makes up 75% of the universe. It’s about time we did something with it. gm.com GM: Driving energy solutions CHEVROLET • BUICK • PONTIAC • GMC • SATURN • HUMMER • SAAB • CADILLAC ©2007 GM Corp. All rights reserved. The marks of General Motors and its divisions are registered trademarks of General Motors Corporation. WSJ.com MAY 5, 2008 s 2008 Dow Jones & Company Inc. All Rights Reserved. BY EMILY STEEL A yearlong effort by AOL to transform its content Web sites into crowd- pleasers is beginning to pay off. Traffic to the sites— including AOL Money & Finance, en- tertainment, and the male-oriented Asylum—grew 15% to 56.5 million unique U.S. visitors in the first quar- ter from a year ago, according to comScore Media Metrix. Measured by traffic, some of the sites even top the charts for their categories. AOL still hasn’t translated the surge in visits into higher ad reve- nue. But the news is positive for the Time Warner unit, which has strug- gled to build itself into a major digi- tal ad-sales firm. The content push is part of AOL’s bid to reinvent itself as an ad-supported Web company follow- ing its August 2006 decision to make its Internet-access service free. Visits to AOL’s Web sites slowed as a side-effect of that deci- sion. Many of the visitors had been paying subscribers who logged on to check email and then looked at other AOL features. To draw visitors back, AOL rede- signed sites in the news, sports and health categories. It also created a half-dozen new sites that don’t use the AOL name, such as a technology- focused site called Switched, a hip- hop site called BlackVoices, and a Web trend tracker called Urlesque. com, as well as Asylum. Dropping its name was an acknowledgement that the brand wasn’t hip enough for the consumers AOL was trying to attract. “If I call a hip-hop site AOL Hip Hop,” says Bill Wilson, ex- ecutive vice president of AOL Verti- cal Programming, “that just won’t resonate with consumers.” AOL also adopted some common tricks of the trade, such as making its sites appear higher in search-en- gine results. As a result, a recent Google search for “money and fi- nance” listed AOL’s Money & Fi- nance site as the top link. AOL hadn’t turned to the technique be- fore because it relied on paying sub- scribers to visit its pages. Not every site has shown im- provement. AOL’s kids site, which faces tough competition from Dis- ney and Nickelodeon, had a slight drop in unique U.S. visitors in March. AOL says it updated the site but hasn’t focused on it as much as its other sites. Paramount Sweet Spot Wrigley would add gum to the Mars menu. Gum is the smallest confection segment, but it is growing fastest. Sugar $44.3 Chocolate $76.9 Gum $20.1 Note: In U.S.-dollar terms Global market size, in billions, 2007 Source: Euromonitor International Thousands of timely articles, salary tables and tools, plus 30,000+ jobs at the nation's hottest companies. s2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. AOL Sites Show Gains In Traffic
Transcript of WSJ10: SUN-CAMPUS-STANDING-PAGES...
Heroes Line Up to Save StudiosBlockbuster HopefulsFill a Busy SeasonAmid Falling Sales
At online.wsj.com/careers§ More employers are paying employ-ees as they do volunteer work.
§ Six tips to ease your way into theworld of telecommuting full-time.
§ How an engineering grad became achief technical officer at age 36.
7 7
How to contact us:[email protected]
BY LAUREN A.E. SCHUKERAND PETER SANDERS
After a long, disappoint-ing winter at the multi-plex, Hollywood is re-sponding this summerwith a platoon of heroesto target every corner of
the marketplace.The summer of 2008 will fea-
ture an unusually deep bench ofcomic-book characters, including“Iron Man,” “Hellboy II,” “The In-credible Hulk” and the return of Bat-man in “The Dark Knight.” The sea-son also has heroic figures aimed atbaby boomers (“Indiana Jones andthe Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”);outsiders (Will Smith as a down-and-out guy infused with superpowers in “Hancock”); conspiracytheorists (a new “X-Files” movie);and fantasy lovers (“The Chroniclesof Narnia: Prince Caspian”). Andmoviegoers looking for heroineswithout special powers (but withoutfits as stylish as those of anysuperhero) can check out the movieversion of “Sex and the City.”
Hollywood executives, who be-gin every summer with sunny fore-casts, describe it as a something-for-everyone approach that willkeep the turnstiles spinning. “Ithink week after week, there aresome huge movies,” says Jeff Blake,chairman of world-wide marketingand distribution at Sony PicturesEntertainment.
Tough Assignment
But this year, an especiallycrowded marketplace could make ittough for heroes to break from thepack and save the day for their re-spective studios. About 50 wide-re-lease films are due to open fromMay through August, comparedwith 41 five years ago, according tobox-office tracker Media by Num-bers. Several of the season’s big-budget films open in May, beforethe summer officially kicks off, in-cluding “Indiana Jones,” “IronMan,” “Narnia” and “Speed Racer.”
An overstuffed marketplace hasalready made 2008 a difficult year.Through April 19, total domesticticket sales stood at $2.47 billion,down 3.5% from $2.56 billion lastyear; with increased ticket prices,attendance is down even more,about 6.6%. By this time last year,four films had sold more than $100million in tickets domestically; thisyear, only the animated Dr. Seusstale “Horton Hears a Who!” hascleared that bar.
“There is some concern thatwith this much product out there,you have to make sure your voice isheard,” says Adam Fogelson, headof marketing for Universal Pictures.“That said, I think there is room foreverything out there to work.”
The people who make and fi-nance movies—major studios andoutside financiers trying to maketheir own fortunes in Hollywood—often turn to comic books for mate-rial because, in the past, they haveprovided cross-generational box-of-fice gushers like the “Spider-Man”franchise. Rob Moore, vice chair-man of Paramount, says the super-hero genre has grown in popularitybecause, “It plays well with fami-lies, because people can accept acertain level of violence as long as
it’s not real.”Of the two Marvel-financed sum-
mer movies, “Iron Man,” is seen asa more likely candidate than “Hulk”for blockbusterdom. The big-bud-get movie, which cost $135 million,opens May 2; the first weekend inMay has often been one of the bestlaunching pads for summer hits.Distributor Paramount has stakedthe film’s success on RobertDowney Jr., who stars as Iron Man.
Better With Age?
Jon Favreau, who directed “IronMan,” says “it took some coaxingwith Marvel” to cast the 43-year-old Mr. Downey, whose past sub-stance-abuse problems have attimes cast a pall on his prospects.“When a company is hanging an en-tire franchise on someone, theywant someone younger,” Mr.Favreau says. But the director feltmost comfortable with an experi-enced actor. For Marvel, he adds,Mr. Downey presented “a bigchance to take.”
Mr. Downey isn’t the only herowith a few miles on him this sum-mer. Harrison Ford, who turns 66 inJuly, stars in the fourth installmentof the “Indiana Jones” saga, whichhas been dormant since 1989. Pro-
ducer Frank Marshall says he isn’tworried about Mr. Ford being tooold to play Indy: “He’s older andwiser in this film. He is sort of likea fine wine. He has matured well.”
Comic book movies aren’t al-ways hits. In 2003, an artsy AngLee-directed take on the MarvelComics’ character the Hulk was abox-office misfire for Universal Pic-tures. But that’s not stopping Mar-vel from trying again. The comic-book publisher is financing its ownmovies these days, and it is payingfor another big-budget attempt atgetting the Hulk franchise to gener-ate some green.
Off-Screen Clash
This time around, EdwardNorton stars as scientist Bruce Ban-ner, who swells into an angry emer-ald beast when he gets stressed.Most of the drama surrounding thismovie, which will again be distrib-uted by Universal, has been off-screen, with Mr. Norton clashingwith Marvel executives about themovie’s final cut. The two sides pub-licly buried the hatchet recently,but it remains to be seen how thecontroversy will affect the film’sbox-office returns.
“Sex and the City” from TimeWarner’s New Line unit, also hopesto tap into the heroic spirit of thesummer. “These women are the ulti-mate female superheroes,” saysMichael Patrick King, who execu-tive produced the HBO hit fromwhich the movie sprang. “ ‘Sex andThe City’ was made to correct themyth that if you were single at acertain age, you were a leper. Itsfour characters are heroes to a lotof women; they run around NewYork, or Gotham—but they havefancy shoes instead of capes.”
But the ladies, too, are a littleolder than the last time we sawthem. In the film, they’re in their40s, a “different, somewhat-tougher time” than their 30s, whichthe television series focused on,says Mr. King. “If you want to seethe girls at 34, you can turn on yourtelevision every night or rent theDVDs,” Mr. King says. “I knew theone mistake I could make in thefilm was to freeze-dry them and pre-tend they weren’t in their 40snow.”
What’s News—In Business and Finance
Mars, Wrigley CreateGlobal Powerhouse
In a recipe combining two of theworld’s biggest candy-makers, pri-vately owned Mars agreed to ac-quire Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. for about$23 billion. A key driver of the deal:pushing more gum and candy inmore spots around the globe, suchas India, China and Russia.
By enlarging its market powerwhile not having to answer to pub-lic shareholders, the new companywill pose a threat to other majorfood companies—particularly Her-shey and Cadbury Schweppes—thathave been weighing merger plansof their own for years. Hershey haslittle presence overseas, while Lon-don-based Cadbury doesn’t directlyown chocolate brands in the U.S.
While both Mars and Wrigleytout a comfortable fit of products—Mars has Snickers and M&Ms, Wrig-ley is the maker of the eponymousgums—Mars has no experiencewith a deal of this scale. And it’smoving into Wrigley at a very highprice, paying 32 times Wrigley’s ex-pected earnings for 2008. Underthe agreement, expected to close insix to 12 months, Wrigley sharehold-ers will receive $80 in cash for eachshare held, a 28% premium to thestock’s price April 25. That meansthat even if Mars is successful inintegrating the company, it may bedifficult for it to turn a decentprofit without substantial revenuegrowth in the years ahead.
Loan Web SitesHelp With Tuition
Some students are relying onthe kindness of strangers to helpthem pay for college.
Thanks to the credit crunch, doz-ens of student-loan lenders have ei-ther sharply cut back on their offer-ings or have stopped offering loans.As a result, a growing number ofstudents are turning to peer-to-peer lending sites like Prosper.comand LendingClub.com that facilitateloans between strangers.
Interest rates sometimes beatout those offered by private stu-dent-loan companies, and there areusually fewer fees and restrictions.“It’s an interesting concept, theidea of investing in an individualstudent,” says FinAid.org publisherMark Kantrowitz.
Two sites focused on educationdebt are available: Fynanz.com andCollegeDegreeFund.com. Sites forsocial lending, meanwhile, whichtypically help pay down debt orlaunch a home business, are juststarting to look at student loans.Zopa.com plans to launch a student-loan feature in July. (Right now, stu-dent borrowers apply for a per-sonal loan.) At Prosper.com, educa-tion loans still account for less than2% of its $135 million in loans.
But students should exhaust allother options. “Federal loans arestill the way to go,” says ProsperCEO Chris Larson.
Airlines SeekingMore Pricing Power
Airfares are on the rise as airlineskeep a tighter rein on flights andseats—and that rise could accelerateif industry merger efforts bear fruit.
The average cost of airline tick-ets in the U.S. was up 10.2% inMarch compared with a year ago,according to the Bureau of LaborStatistics, as airlines struggle withsurging fuel prices and a softeningU.S. economy.
Already this year, most of themore than a dozen price-increaseattempts have been matched by ri-vals. United Airlines recently intro-duced a fare increase of as much as5% on domestic fares. Delta quicklyraised its fuel surcharge by as muchas $20 on each leg of domesticfares, pushing its round-trip fuelsurcharge to more than $100 onsome domestic routes.
Many in the industry hope merg-ers can eliminate seats and competi-tors and give airlines even greaterpricing power.
Airlines say fare increases andother charges—such as fees for on-board services such as meals or for
checking a second suitcase—are theonly means left for airlines tostanch widening losses.
Grand Theft Auto IVCauses New Stir
The latest installment in theGrand Theft Auto series is expectedto shatter sales records for video-games—and revive a heated debateover sex and violence in the games.
Grand Theft Auto IV, one of themost eagerly anticipated video-games of the year, is receiving ravereviews from many game critics.Blockbuster success could alsoforce Electronic Arts to increase its$2 billion hostile takeover bid forTake-Two Interactive Software, thepublisher of Grand Theft Auto.
The racy content of Grand TheftAuto IV shows Rockstar Games, thegame-development group at Take-Two that produces the series,hasn’t been tamed by past contro-versies. “It’s going to cause a hugeruckus,” says Evan Wilson, a PacificCrest Securities analyst.
The last major version of thegame ignited a firestorm with hid-den sex scenes that could be foundusing a software patch. After a sub-sequent “adults-only” rating wasput on the game, most major retail-ers stopped carrying the title.
But Rockstar says all of the con-tent in Grand Theft Auto IV, includ-ing sex scenes, were seen by an in-dustry ratings body before thegame went on sale. The game has amature rating, meaning people 17years and older can purchase it.
Credit-Card SecurityShows Big Gaps
Despite efforts by the credit-cardindustry to force retailers to protecttheir customers’ data, several recentsecurity breaches suggest that cur-rent requirements aren’t enough.
Until recently, most known re-tail-data breaches occurred at com-panies that failed to comply withsteps mandated by a credit-card in-dustry group called the PaymentCard Industry Security StandardsCouncil. But recent attacks, includ-ing one on Hannaford Bros., a NewEngland supermarket chain, inwhich data for 4.2 million cardsmay have been stolen, hasprompted retailers to seek securitysystems well beyond PCI standards.
Credit card-related fraud grew to$5.49 billion in 2007 from $1.46 bil-lion in 1997, according to industrytracker Nilson Report. Law-enforce-ment officials attribute the rise tonew technological applications aswell as increased participation by in-ternational organized-crime groups.
Odds & EndsU.S. consumer confidence contin-
ued to weaken in April, the fourthstraight month of declines, accordingto the Conference Board, a privateresearch group. … Home prices fellfurther in February, as slumpinghome sales and an increasing inven-tory of vacant homes increased down-ward pressures on prices.
By Jay Hershey
7
With Harrison Ford now 65, the latest “Indiana Jones” movie might be a stretchfor younger filmgoers. But young co-star Shia LaBeouf could add a spark.
Hydrogen makes up75% of the universe.It’s about time we didsomething with it.
gm.com
GM: Driving energy solutions
CHEVROLET • BUICK • PONTIAC • GMC • SATURN • HUMMER • SAAB • CADILLAC
©2007 GM Corp. All rights reserved.The marks of General Motors and its divisions are registered trademarks of General Motors Corporation.
WSJ.com MAY 5, 2008 s 2008 Dow Jones & Company Inc. All Rights Reserved.
BY EMILY STEEL
Ayearlong effort by AOLto transform its contentWeb sites into crowd-pleasers is beginning topay off.
Traffic to the sites—including AOL Money & Finance, en-tertainment, and the male-orientedAsylum—grew 15% to 56.5 millionunique U.S. visitors in the first quar-ter from a year ago, according tocomScore Media Metrix. Measuredby traffic, some of the sites eventop the charts for their categories.
AOL still hasn’t translated thesurge in visits into higher ad reve-nue. But the news is positive for theTime Warner unit, which has strug-gled to build itself into a major digi-tal ad-sales firm.
The content push is part ofAOL’s bid to reinvent itself as anad-supported Web company follow-ing its August 2006 decision tomake its Internet-access servicefree. Visits to AOL’s Web sitesslowed as a side-effect of that deci-sion. Many of the visitors had beenpaying subscribers who logged onto check email and then looked atother AOL features.
To draw visitors back, AOL rede-signed sites in the news, sports andhealth categories. It also created ahalf-dozen new sites that don’t usethe AOL name, such as a technology-focused site called Switched, a hip-hop site called BlackVoices, and aWeb trend tracker called Urlesque.com, as well as Asylum. Droppingits name was an acknowledgementthat the brand wasn’t hip enoughfor the consumers AOL was tryingto attract. “If I call a hip-hop siteAOL Hip Hop,” says Bill Wilson, ex-ecutive vice president of AOL Verti-cal Programming, “that just won’tresonate with consumers.”
AOL also adopted some commontricks of the trade, such as makingits sites appear higher in search-en-gine results. As a result, a recentGoogle search for “money and fi-nance” listed AOL’s Money & Fi-nance site as the top link. AOLhadn’t turned to the technique be-fore because it relied on paying sub-scribers to visit its pages.
Not every site has shown im-provement. AOL’s kids site, whichfaces tough competition from Dis-ney and Nickelodeon, had a slightdrop in unique U.S. visitors inMarch. AOL says it updated the sitebut hasn’t focused on it as much asits other sites.
Paramou
nt
Sweet SpotWrigley would add gum to the Mars menu. Gum is the smallest confection segment, but it is growing fastest.
Sugar$44.3
Chocolate$76.9
Gum$20.1
Note: In U.S.-dollar terms
Global market size, in billions, 2007
Source: Euromonitor International
Thousands of timely articles,
salary tables and tools,
plus 30,000+ jobs at the nation's
hottest companies.
s2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
AOL SitesShow GainsIn Traffic
