It's a stunner that Dick Ebersol quit NBC Universal (CMCSA) yesterday. The man who ran NBC Sports for 22 years. The King of the Olympics. The guy who hired Lorne Michaels, who created Saturday Night Live. Ebersol produced SNL during a short stint outside sports entertainment -- and got the girl when actress Susan Saint James hosted the show. They fell in love and married.
None of that drama, though, compares to the tragedy of losing their youngest son, 14-year-old Teddy, in a plane crash in Colorado in 2004. Ebersol himself survived the accident and recovered (if you can call it that) from the loss of his son in part by raising his game: He won the broadcast rights, at a cost of $3.6 billion, for NBC and delivered Sunday Night Football, which has buoyed the troubled broadcast network these past few years.
If you want a sense of Dick Ebersol, the real human being, read my 2006 Fortune profile, "Playing with pain."
Buffett will appear tonight on the one hour NBC season finale of The Office at 9/8c.
Tonight on the season finale of The Office, a galaxy of stars will be jostling to replace the hapless Michael Scott as boss of Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch. You'll see Jim Carrey, Ray Romano, Ricky Gervais, and...Warren Buffett.
Warren Buffett visits Dunder Mifflin
It's a quick cameo for the famous investor, but Buffett had a juicier role MORE
Patricia Sellers - May 19, 2011 2:42 PM ET
by Patricia Sellers
What time did you get up this morning?
Not as early as the crew on NBC's Today, I bet.
Yesterday at 30 Rock, NBC Universal's (GE) headquarters, Nightly News anchor Brian Williams connected with his inner Robin Williams (he's almost as funny, though drier) and, before an audience of media writers and other television-industry watchers, queried the hosts of MSNBC's Morning Joe, CNBC's Squawk Box, and Today.
Matt Lauer sets his MORE
Patricia Sellers - Sep 24, 2010 10:01 AM ET
This morning, I learned that NBC News (GE) Chief Medical Editor Dr. Nancy Snyderman is in Haiti, so I emailed her to ask how she's doing there. She replied within minutes--with a riveting in-the-field report. A prominent head and neck surgeon whose diverse career includes a stint as VP of Medical Affairs at Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Snyderman told me she's game to share her report. Here's her report from MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jan 19, 2010 1:19 PM ET
"The N.F.L. is more of a guarantee of success than if you got Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Angelina Jolie to do an hour drama series for the network. You can't guarantee that it will be a ratings success."
-- Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal (GE) Sports, today in a New York Times story about Sunday Night Football's stellar ratings--one of the few bright spots for the woe-begotten broadcast network.
While MORE
Patricia Sellers - Oct 6, 2009 12:50 PM ET
"Barry stirs the pot and he sees the future."
NBC programming boss Ben Silverman, on why he's leaving to join Barry Diller's IAC Interactive Corp. (IACI). The two media honchos, who participated in Fortune Brainstorm Tech in California last week, are plotting a multi-media production company, which will be their third venture together. It's been a bumpy two years since NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker brought Silverman on board. Still, says MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jul 27, 2009 6:53 PM ET
Seventy of New York's top women in media joined 160 aspiring young women for a "Mentors Walk" in Central Park this morning. It was drizzly and great. NBC Universal (GE) and Step Up Women's Network, a non-profit group all about advancing women and girls, hosted. The Mentor Walk's creator, former Oxygen Media CEO Gerry Laybourne, was there along with J. Crew (JCG) President Tracy Gardner, Bank of America (BAC) Merrill MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jun 11, 2009 3:15 PM ET
"There's always going to be someone out there like that movie critic, who doesn't believe in you or who thinks your head is too big or you're not smart enough or whatever. But those are the people you need to ignore, and those are the times you need to just keep doing what you love doing."
-- Jimmy Fallon, host of NBC's (GE) Late Night and SNL alum, in a commencement MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - May 12, 2009 6:30 PM ET
"Advertisers have made it clear that they want a safe environment unpolluted by videos of cats on skateboards."
-- Jeff Zucker, CEO of General Electric's (GE) NBC Universal, in the New York Times. On Thursday ABC, owned by Disney (DIS), announced that it would begin showing its programs on Hulu.com, a joint venture established by NBC and News Corporation's (NWS.A) Fox. The move further casts the video site as the home MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Apr 30, 2009 6:50 PM ET
"I want to personally congratulate Jeff Zucker and NBCU on their success in the litigation and thank Jeff for resolving this in a professional manner."
-- Producer Harvey Weinstein in a statement Wednesday, ending a six-month battle over Project Runway. Weinstein admits he erred in moving the show from Bravo--owned by General Electric's (GE) NBC Universal--to Lifetime without giving NBCU a shot to keep it. Lifetime reportedly paid $150 million for MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Apr 2, 2009 5:51 PM ET
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Pattie Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Oprah's Next Act," "Can Meg Whitman Save California?" "The $100 Billion Woman" (Melinda Gates), "MySpace Cowboys," Martha Stewart ("I cannot be destroyed"), Ted Turner ("Gone with the Wind") and Oprah Winfrey ("Oprah Inc."). Since its launch in 1998, Pattie has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women" cover package.
A specialist at dissecting larger-than-life personalities, she has also profiled former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Morgan Stanley chairman John Mack, and countless CEOs.
Pattie co-chairs the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business, philanthropy, government, academia, and the arts. She started at Fortune in 1984, covering the big brand companies.
In Pattie's blog, Postcards, she provides insight into the lives of super-achievers through commentary, career advice, and Guest Posts by CEOs and other leaders.
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Fortune Most Powerful Women
Sheryl Sandberg:
Gina Bianchini
