Now this is some impressive dot-com doublespeak. “Our role is to enable the utilization of a convergent team of multidisciplinary media talents to be focused on any appropriate activity that integrates the best aspects of the Internet with offline activities to create a holistic approach to certain strategic objectives.” Said by Peter Paul, the former co-founder of Stan Lee Media, who will be going to trial in September on charges of securities fraud and conspiracy.
The company was once valued at $350 million, but only ever made $1.2 million in revenues (while losing $18 million that year). The stock reached highs of $30.00 before crashing and being suspended at .13 a share.
It’s yet another example of the spectacular dot-com flameouts of the 90’s. I lost a job in January 2001 from dot-com blowouts (mind you, I was planning on tendering my resignation that week, but was advised not to off the record because they knew we were all going to be packaged off).
I think what’s truly sad is how burned Stan Lee got by the whole experience, to the point where his new company “POW Entertainment”, the producers of Stripperella and MTV’s “Who wants to be a SuperHero?” doesn’t have a web site.
There’s a cool book about Stan Lee’s life, which includes his time at Stan Lee Media called; Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book, which I plan on adding to my summer reading list.