Tag Archives: StevePerlman

An inside view of the WebTV revolution that didn’t happen

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An inside view of the WebTV revolution that didn't happen

You might think it should have happened sooner. This week, Microsoft announced it would decommission its MSN TV (formerly WebTV) service. Even I didn't think it would last this long, and I was WebTV's greatest advocate back in the day. In fact, I was its official evangelist, hired by founder Steve Perlman and his company's PR agency as WebTV's national media spokesperson for a period leading up to and including the product launch.

In 1996, WebTV was tech's hottest startup, considered a blazing harbinger of the future, all for pretty good reasons. WebTV was primarily an internet popularization play during an era of widespread uncertainty about computers in the home and the value of being online. If tablets and smartphones represent a Steve Jobs-ordained post-PC era, WebTV can be seen in retrospect as a pre-PC computing category. In my view, it isn't modern web-connected TVs that finally killed WebTV (MSN TV) -- it's the mobile revolution that did it.

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More OnLive management moves: Perlman out, as investor Lauder settles for Chairman

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More OnLive management moves, Perlman out as investor Lauder settles for Chairman

As the OnLive storm continues to ride itself out, details of who the winners and losers are (mainly losers) keep washing up on the shore. Today's casualty seems to be CEO Steve Perlman himself, who -- just days after the firm reinventing itself -- is "departing to work on his myriad of other projects." In his place the former COO, Charlie Jablonski, is temporarily taking the reins, as well as continuing his role as head of operations in the new organization. Finally, completing this wave of announcements, is the news that chief investor, Gary lauder, will officially take the title of Chairman. So, as the new incarnation settles into its new structure, we'll just have to sit tight, waiting to see what the next chapter in the OnLive story is.

Continue reading More OnLive management moves: Perlman out, as investor Lauder settles for Chairman

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More OnLive management moves: Perlman out, as investor Lauder settles for Chairman originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Aug 2012 08:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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OnLive’s alternative to bankruptcy: just what is an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors?

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OnLive's alternative to bankruptcy just what is an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors

The news is out. OnLive, Inc. is no more, having cut the bulk of its workforce loose and used an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors (ABC) to absolve itself of massive debts incurred by the expansion of its services without a corresponding increase in its customer base. But what is this alternative to filing for bankruptcy, and why did OnLive choose this particular legal reset button to start over? We spoke with an expert on the matter, Martin Pichinson, co-founder and managing member of Sherwood Partners (which does two or three ABCs in a given week), to help educate us on this little-known tool used by companies irrevocably in the red.

Continue reading OnLive's alternative to bankruptcy: just what is an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors?

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OnLive's alternative to bankruptcy: just what is an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Aug 2012 13:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: OnLive undergoing buyout in wake of dire financials, laying off ‘at least 50 percent’ of staff

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After a lot of back and forth from the rumor mill and official OnLive channels, we now have what we believe to be a far clearer view of precisely what is happening right now at OnLive headquarters in Palo Alto. We've spoken with a (now former) employee of the gaming service who ran down today's events for us. According to the account, a meeting was held at OnLive's offices at 10AM this morning, wherein the company's CEO announced a massive staff layoff -- at least 50 percent of the staff, according to our source's numbers. The layoffs come as part of across the board cuts to the company, and all those out of a job will have their key cards deactivated as of 4PM local time today. The source was understandably baffled by the abruptness of the news, along with the added blow that no severance will be offered and stock holdings are essentially worth nothing.

The move apparently comes as OnLive is being purchased by an unknown party. Those being kept on have reportedly received offer letters from the new company. Why the sudden move? The source believes it may have something to do with the company's massive operating costs, which we're told are around $5 million a month. Certainly those concerns line up with a story dug up by Kotaku highlighting the company's plans to file for Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors as a result of the company's troubled financial situation. We're still gathering information as to the nature of the buyout.

Update: According to our source, the writing wasn't on the wall at the company per se, but OnLive had reportedly been entertaining acquisition offers ahead of the news from companies including HP.

Update 2: Our source has offered up some additional information on the matter, putting the average concurrent user number for the service at 1,100 to 1,500, peaking at around 1,800 on a given day -- not exceptional by any means in the face of reported $5 million a month operating costs. The number of layoffs, meanwhile, may well be greater than originally suggested, with our source putting the number of employees staying on board at around 10 to 20 percent.

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Source: OnLive undergoing buyout in wake of dire financials, laying off 'at least 50 percent' of staff originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Aug 2012 17:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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