The founder of bankrupt Veoh looked for a place to crash; Palm's chief flack cracked wise about the stock; and John Mayer saved himself from being heckled at the gym. The Twitterati adjusted to sudden reversals.
Preeminent among the magazine world's kingmaking power lists is Vanity Fair's New Establishment, which appears in the October issue — on newsstands in L.A. and New York today, but not in the Bay Area for another six days. Silicon Valley gets similar short shrift: The names who make it there are predictable bigs like Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison, or Hollywood-crossover types like Jeff Skoll, eBay's first employee turned movie producer. Walt Mossberg, now employed by New Establishment perennial Rupert Murdoch, also squeaked in. The consolation prize Vanity Fair offers: Its "Next Establishment" list, reserved for the likes of Twitter's Ev Williams. It's a marvelous piece of New York media trickery — flatter the geeks by making them feel included, but corral them into a side room so the real power brokers aren't offended by comparison. True, the "Next Establishment" suggests that these are people who might matter in the future. But in saying that, Vanity Fair's editors are also sending the message that right here, right now, its "Next" nominees are nobodies. On this year's list:
Veoh founder Dmitry Shapiro has hired investment bank Bear Stearns to find him another $40 million in venture capital. Shapiro's Veoh, an online-video site, took $26 million only last spring in a round led by Goldman Sachs. If Shapiro finds a $40 million sucker investor, that would set Veoh's value at $150 million. A preposterous surprising amount for a company with flat traffic and content pulled straight from Hulu.
