Postcards

Behind Oprah's next big move

by Patricia Sellers

Now that Oprah Winfrey is talking about her life-changing moves--to cable from broadcast TV and to Los Angeles from Chicago--I have to say: I'm not surprised at all.

After all, Oprah, who says she'll end her daytime show in September 2011, does things only one way: with her full self in the game.

What I know for sure (and she does too): Building a major cable network will take all MORE

Conan O'Brien on Oprah and Fortune's Most Powerful Women

"Oprah Winfrey came in sixth. The bodies of one through five have not been found."

-- Tonight Show host Conan O'Brien, commenting on Oprah's place on the 2009 Fortune Most Powerful Women in Business list. The new issue is on newsstands today!

Most Powerful Women list: How we do it

Who's more powerful--Oprah Winfrey or Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Carol Bartz? Disney (DIS) media boss Anne Sweeney or MTV Networks chief (VIAB) Judy McGrath? Who from Google (GOOG) made the 2009 Fortune Most Powerful Women list?

The new rankings are out. PepsiCo (PEP) CEO Indra Nooyi is No. 1 for the fourth year in a row.

And yes, there is a science to deciding these rankings. Here I talk with CNNMoney MORE

Bits of inspiration to end the week

This is a short post on a Friday to close an inspiring week. I told you about going to the Time 100 gala on Tuesday evening. What a high. The biggest names there were influential women, starting with Oprah, who wrote the piece about Michelle Obama in the Time 100 issue. At the dinner, the First Lady talked about social entrepreneurship and the best-of-breed innovators, like Donors Choose, whom we MORE

Tom Freston's Supreme Court surprise

Since Tom Freston got blown out of Viacom (VIAB) - ousted by hard-to-please chairman Sumner Redstone in 2006 - he's been doing lots of things that other ex-CEOs wouldn't fathom getting into. Working with Oprah Winfrey and Bono. Making films in Afghanistan, where he once lived. Funding humanitarian projects in Kabul and southeast Asia too.

You can read about all this in my profile of Freston in the current issue of MORE

Behind Oprah's big new TV venture

"You know I believe in signs."

You probably don't know that about Oprah Winfrey since you're not sitting around watching Oprah at 4 p.m. each day. (Rather, you're trying to keep your job, aren't you?)

But the queen of media mentioned this to me when we were talking about Tom Freston, the former Viacom (VIA.B) CEO whom Sumner Redstone fired in 2006 and Winfrey immediately went after. (Read "The Most Wanted Man MORE

Viacom's Freston moves on...to Oprah and Bono

Want to read a story about failure and redemption? About sitting at the top of the business world and losing it all suddenly? About discovering that success wasn't so sweet and finding a better calling?

Check out my hot-off-the-presses profile of Tom Freston. He's the guy who built MTV and rose to be CEO of Viacom (VIA.B), only to be dumped by Sumner Redstone, Viacom's owner, on Labor Day 2006. Freston MORE

Oprah chooses a CEO for OWN

by Patricia Sellers

MTV's former president, Christina Norman, is joining the most powerful woman in media to launch OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network.

Winfrey's CEO appointment, announced Thursday afternoon, caps a talent hunt that's been going on quietly since May 2007 when Discovery Communications (DISCA) CEO David Zaslav pitched Winfrey on the idea of her own cable-TV network. Winfrey liked the idea instantly--"it's about living your best life," she says about OWN. MORE

Nike's former marketing boss gets back in the game

These days, it seems harder than ever to get back in the game. You know, you take a time-out from corporate America--to spend time with your family (really!) or simply to reinvigorate--and what do you get when you try to return? Serious skepticism about your experience and relevance because (hey, haven't you noticed?) the world changed radically while you were out.

So, it's interesting that Liz Dolan, Nike's (NKE) long-ago marketing MORE

Power Point: Come together to watch history

"Across the country millions of us will be holding our breath as we wait to see who will become the next President of the United States of America. This is an election unlike anything we have experienced in our lifetime. It's history in the making. This is going to be a nerve-racking night. Nobody should watch alone. You should not watch alone."

- Oprah Winfrey, on her TV show today. "If MORE