Horatio Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/columns/cheapseats/ Hunter, Gatherer, Ruiner Snyder sports a spotty mergers-and-acquisitions record. By Dave McKenna Posted: June 11, 2008 Dogs piss on things and claim them. Dan Snyder claims everything and pisses everybody off. Snyder announced last week that the city’s big sports talker—WTEM-AM, better known as Sportstalk 980—was among three radio stations he’s buying. He’s purchased at least eight frequencies, six in this market and two in outer Virginia, in the last two years. Big-dollar shopping sprees are nothing new to Snyder: This is what he did before Redskins fans ever heard of him. He founded Snyder Communications in 1988, but the company’s profile didn’t take off until he took it public almost a decade later and used that cash to take over every direct-marketing and pharmaceutical company that would sell out. His Securities and Exchange Commission filings show that Snyder went on an amazing two-year buying binge beginning in 1997. He brought firms from all over the globe, with names like MMD, American List, PharmFlex, Blau Marketing, Brann Holdings, Publimed Promotions, Promotech Research Associates, Sampling Corp. of America, Halliday Jones Sales, and Bounty (a company that produced baby-raising guides, not paper towels), under the Snyder Communications umbrella. At the time, mergers and acquisitions were all the rage in the corporate realm. In 2000, just before the Wall Street boom busted, Snyder sold the whole portfolio in a stock deal for a reported $2.3 billion. By then, he’d already acquired the Redskins. The NFL team didn’t satisfy his takeover jones, however. While owning and operating the Skins, he’s acquired fan magazines and message boards. He’s bought burger joints and production companies and theme-park chains. He’s put journalists and movie stars on his payroll and even bought up the rights to other football teams. And, as last week’s transaction proves, he’s not done hunting and gathering just yet. The pattern seems to be: He takes something over, that thing goes downhill, and before it improves or even gets off the ground, he’s moved on and taken over something else. You can look it up. His media acquisitions are many and uniformly fruitless. Shortly after taking over the Redskins, he took over Redskins Journal, a long-running Manassas-based fanzine, and it quickly dissolved. In 2005, he acquired Extremeskins.com, at the time an independent fan message board, and made it a part of his team’s Web site. Snyder’s moderators protect him like a Jonas Brothers street team, but the fan base’s dislike for the owner is plain for all to read on the board. Triple X Radio, his bizarrely named radio network, has to this point been essentially unlistenable for D.C. residents, and not just because of content issues: The stations’ signals are so weak, the programming can’t be heard downtown after sunset. Snyder requested that the three stations be combined for ratings purposes, and in the latest book their total audience ranks 23rd in the Washington market. Snyder also has produced several television shows, which put area TV, newspaper, and radio sportscasters on the payroll of the team they cover. As of 2005, WJLA-TV was the only major-network affiliate in this market not corrupted by Redskins money. Among the big names who’ve taken Redskins money: George Michael, Michael Wilbon, Lindsay Czarniak, and Andy Pollin. Pollin was hired by Snyder in 2003 to host a Sunday-morning TV show for the Redskins Broadcast Network called Redskins Game Day and was viewed as a Snyder suck-up back when he was taking checks from the owner. He’ll be viewed as a suck-up again for as long as he’s back on Snyder’s payroll. (Mark Gray, host of WOL-AM’s Sports Groove, is now the only unconflicted daily sports-talk host in the entire D.C. market.) Despite the media strategy, people can’t stand Snyder around here. Look at what a Redskins affiliation has done for Larry Michael, the team’s broadcaster/minister of disinformation: In a recent unscientific popularity poll of local sports media types conducted by Dan Steinberg for his Washington Post “D.C. Sports Bog” blog, Michael finished last in a landslide, with an 18 percent approval rating. Snyder’s media acquisitions aren’t the only ones that haven’t worked out. Nothing he’s taken over since becoming a big player around here has worked out, really. Snyder’s failings atop Six Flags have been chronicled comprehensively in these pages, so, for this week, let’s just point out that according to MSN Money’s financial charts, only 10 percent of all stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange have performed worse than Snyder’s amusement chain’s in the past year. He’s had lots of low-profile flops, also. Snyder, remember, tried becoming a local sports mogul right away: In 2000, just as he was putting his people in place at Redskins Park, he bought up the local franchise rights from the Arena Football League. He also filed for federal trademark protections in March of that year for a name for the team: Washington Warriors. Then…nothing. The feds warned Snyder that his failure to use the trademark could cost him the rights to “Washington Warriors.” So his lawyers, led by Melissa G. Bernstein, who served Snyder as both his assistant general counsel and a Redskins cheerleader (really!), kept asking the government for more time to get going. “WASHINGTON WARRIORS is the name of a professional football team which has not yet begun playing,” wrote Bernstein in a letter to the trademark office on April 26, 2004, accompanied by a required $450 check for processing one of several filings by Snyder in an ongoing attempt to keep his trademark rights alive. No such luck: In January 2005, the feds sent Snyder a “Notice of Abandonment” and put the trademarks back up for grabs. He’s wanted to go Hollywood, also, but that campaign hasn’t gotten off the ground, either. Snyder founded a film development company called First and Goal in August 2006 and paid a reported $10 million for a deal with Tom Cruise. The release of Valkyrie, the first movie Snyder’s producing as part of his deal with Cruise, has been delayed twice already and is shaping up to be one of the biggest flops in recent cinematic history. Sure, Snyder signed Cruise at about the same point in his career that he got Bruce Smith, but nobody could have predicted First and Goal would face fourth-and-long so quickly: Rumblings from Hollywood hold that Snyder’s $100 million Hitler movie might never hit theaters. Snyder’s acquisition of Dick Clark Productions looks shaky, too. He paid $175 million for the rights to broadcasts controlled by Clark, the biggest of which is the yearly Golden Globe Awards show. Snyder’s first shot at the Golden Globes was a debacle. The writer’s strike turned the show into a souped-up press conference and earned the lowest TV ratings in the history of the event. Things also got off poorly for Snyder’s takeover of Johnny Rockets, a faux-retro burger chain that was started on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles in 1986. Just a couple weeks after he announced he’d taken over, the chain’s Georgetown store, its most visible local outlet, was shut down by the city for health code violations including “failure to reduce the presence of rodents” and “operating with gross unsanitary conditions that may endanger public health.” A report on WTOP radio said the inspectors were tipped off by “gnawed hamburger rolls.” Johnny Rodents, anybody? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shilsu Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 Great... Another retarded article from the City Paper that ensues in another thread filled with posts like, "Who the heck reads the City Paper" and "How does this guy have a job". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoney26 Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 Haters will be haters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Califan007 The Constipated Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 but the fan base’s dislike for the owner is plain for all to read on the board. Wait...weren't they saying just the opposite before? lol :doh:... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Lloyd Christmas Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 lol ouch sad but true all phrases that can be used to sum up this article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Lloyd Christmas Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 Wait...weren't they saying just the opposite before? lol :doh:... if youre referring to this article, he just said the mods protect snyder but the majority of everyone else dislikes him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laxpck Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 What a worthless piece of garbage article by a worthless piece of garbage author on a worthless piece of garbage topic. People with money spend it. On what they want. Called Capitalism and Free Market society. Of course the City Paper knows NOTHING about money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinfan2k Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 When were George Michael, Michael Wilbon, Lindsay Czarniak ever employed by the redskins? NewsChannel 4 produces shows about the redskins. Wilbon is a host on redskins report which isn't produced by the redskins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLongshot Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 *yawn* Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thinking Skins Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 wow. Is there a school these reporters go to and learn how to use these unnamed sources? I couldn't even finish reading the article cause it was written so bad. BTW, who the heck actually reads the articles in City Paper? I use it to see whats going on in the area, but I didn't even know they had articles until like last week. And this is the first time I've actually seen a sports article in this. If anything, Horatio, you lose cool points for reading City Paper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redskins:Victory_or_Death Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 In 2005, he acquired Extremeskins.com, at the time an independent fan message board, and made it a part of his team’s Web site. Snyder’s moderators protect him like a Jonas Brothers street team, but the fan base’s dislike for the owner is plain for all to read on the board. Which just goes to show that they have no idea what actually goes on here. Congratulations on another relentlessly ****ty hack job of a Redskins article, City Paper! :applause: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tennessee Ed Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 In 2005, he acquired Extremeskins.com, at the time an independent fan message board, and made it a part of his team’s Web site. Snyder’s moderators protect him like a Jonas Brothers street team, but the fan base’s dislike for the owner is plain for all to read on the board. Snyder's "modyguards" sure have done a good job this off-season, with the draft, FA, coaching search, etc. CityPaper=:dunce: :notworthy:laugh::notworthy:laugh::notworthy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Lloyd Christmas Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 without starting a war, is there any reason all of you are jumping to snyders defense here? what about this article is so untrue or way off base? seems like the guy is saying snyder buys stuff and it doesnt pan out, which unless someone can claim otherwise, its kinda true. edit: yes his claim about the moderaters isnt true, that was a stupid thing to write. but youd be insane to think that high amounts of snyder bashing dont occur here, because theres plenty of fans who arent a fan of his. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lombardi's_kid_brother Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 What amazes me to this day is how Snyder has the gazillions of dollars that he has. It seems like he never owned a company that actually, you know, did what it was supposed to do. Snyder Communications seems like a highly-leveraged shell company for a zillion little companies that he managed to sell at the height of the craziest bubble in history. True. He's managed to squeeze every penny out of the Redskins but as the Yankees and Red Sox and Patriots and others have proven, that is not exactly a challenge for high-profile sports clubs. Everything else has been a disaster. He's he lucky? Good? Both? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lombardi's_kid_brother Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 wow. Is there a school these reporters go to and learn how to use these unnamed sources? Were there unnamed sources in the article? It was really just a compiliation of stock reports and other public documents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Lloyd Christmas Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 What amazes me to this day is how Snyder has the gazillions of dollars that he has. It seems like he never owned a company that actually' date=' you know, did what it was supposed to do. Snyder Communications seems like a highly-leveraged shell company for a zillion little companies that he managed to sell at the height of the craziest bubble in history. True. He's managed to squeeze every penny out of the Redskins but as the Yankees and Red Sox and Patriots and others have proven, that is not exactly a challenge for high-profile sports clubs. Everything else has been a disaster. He's he lucky? Good? Both?[/quote'] i work in the financial industry and every person ive talked to regarding danny boy claims he worked hard but got extremely lucky. sometimes timing is everything and his timing paid off huge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 Hey Dave. Get back to cleaning my pool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bedlamVR Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 It is not the majority of fans who dislike Dan Snyder it is a vocal minority and it is not just the mods - who were on the whole here before the Redskins affiliation - share their views sometimes complementry pro team but other times they can be just as negative as anyone else... You also wanted to have any "facts" or inaccuracies pointing out . Well how about the fact that while the Wagner/Crusie production team had been making around $10 million from paramount the exact details of the Snyder endevor were never made public but rumored to be around the $3 million mark . Also what is inteserting in those articles is that the deal essentially gives the merchanising rites to future cruise films and a potential to back any new projects . The money for the latest film most likley comes from hedge funds e.g. Merrill Lynch. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/28/AR2006082801179_2.html http://www.forbes.com/2006/08/29/cruise-dan-snyder-cx_po_0829autofacescan03.html Fox also reported last year that Merrill Lynch bought Snyder out in 2007 though there have been conflicting reports since. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,303530,00.html Hmmmmm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Califan007 The Constipated Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 if youre referring to this article, he just said the mods protect snyder but the majority of everyone else dislikes him. No...I meant there was an article in the City Paper about a month or so ago saying that an ES member got banned for criticizing Snyder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Lloyd Christmas Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 It is not the majority of fans who dislike Dan Snyder it is a vocal minority and it is not just the mods - who were on the whole here before the Redskins affiliation - share their views sometimes complementry pro team but other times they can be just as negative as anyone else... i bet if someone started a poll, over 60% of people here would claim they didnt like dan snyder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Lloyd Christmas Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 No...I meant there was an article in the City Paper about a month or so ago saying that an ES member got banned for criticizing Snyder. if somebody got banned for criticizing snyder, wouldnt that prove his point that the mods protect him like a jonas brothers fan club? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tennessee Ed Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 edit: yes his claim about the moderaters isnt true, that was a stupid thing to write. but youd be insane to think that high amounts of snyder bashing dont occur here, because theres plenty of fans who arent a fan of his. BLC, I am a "noob" around here, but DS has gotten a lot of love this off-season (onExtremeSkins, no where else). For the first time ever, because of the FO moves, or lack of IMO...:applause: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Califan007 The Constipated Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 without starting a war, is there any reason all of you are jumping to snyders defense here? what about this article is so untrue or way off base? seems like the guy is saying snyder buys stuff and it doesnt pan out, which unless someone can claim otherwise, its kinda true.edit: yes his claim about the moderaters isnt true, that was a stupid thing to write. but youd be insane to think that high amounts of snyder bashing dont occur here, because theres plenty of fans who arent a fan of his. Because of their reputation...it's not like balanced, objective journalism has been their forte'. They salivate at the chance to rip Snyder and the Redskins, so an article like this tends to just be "more of the same", regardless if it's sprinkled with facts. As well as, they seem to know very little about economics and business...they feel that if a profit does not immediately materialize, then the whole thing is a failure. Take the comments about the movie "Valkyrie"...they act like 1) successful studios never have flops, 2) that having a flop means the producing venture is a failure, and 3) that pushing a movie back is unheard of unless the movie is a complete and dismal failure as well. None of these are true...yet the City Paper runs with it gleefully, because it fits their template and fits their agenda. Anyone--ANYONE--thinking they're getting unbiased journalism from this rag is smoking something illegal or just plain naive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thinking Skins Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 Were there unnamed sources in the article? It was really just a compiliation of stock reports and other public documents. In 2005' date=' he acquired Extremeskins.com, at the time an independent fan message board, and made it a part of his team’s Web site. Snyder’s moderators protect him like a Jonas Brothers street team, but the fan base’s dislike for the owner is plain for all to read on the board.[/quote'] Alright, maybe I was a bad reader then, confusing 'unnamed sources' with personal bias percieved as public opinion. Whats this fan base he's talking about? Cause I see a fan base thats at most divided on how they feel about Snyder. Some love him, some hate him, some couldn't care less about him. Is this an article or an editorial? Articles are supposed to show both sides of the story. I don't see that in this article. I see this as a poly out to damage Snyder's (in the writer's opinion already destroyed) public image. Triple X Radio, his bizarrely named radio network, has to this point been essentially unlistenable for D.C. residents, and not just because of content issues: The stations’ signals are so weak, the programming can’t be heard downtown after sunset. Snyder requested that the three stations be combined for ratings purposes, and in the latest book their total audience ranks 23rd in the Washington market. So is the are the low listening numbers because of bad talent or because of a bad signal? Whats downtown? I can hear 92.7 downtown, but not 730. Is this a quote or a personal opinion? Cause its not a fact supported by evidence. So I guess once again its personal opinion trying to be disguised as fact. But its okay, this is the city paper. Nobody reads taht for the articles. But they do list some good things going on this weekend in DC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fansince62 Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 i bet if someone started a poll, over 60% of people here would claim they didnt like dan snyder. three things going on here: 1) Snyder the man 2) Snyder the business person 3) Snyder the Redskins owner a. I don't know the guy so it's hard to really judge his character b. I don't know enough about Snyder the business person though I have known wealthy people who appear to do the same thing: they don't create...they buy the products of the efforts of others, pare them down, repackage and sell at a premium. c. I do know the Redskins have failed to reach a Super Bowl - let alone a conference Championship - during his ownership. That result, until changed, speaks for itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.