Writing in The Big Money, a sister publication to Slate.com, Paul Smalera pulled together an interesting feature: "The Year of the Undead: Companies that should have keeled over in 2009, but still walk among us. Many of the companies Smalera lists are predictable, such as AIG and Chrysler, but #7 on the list is Jeff Zucker. OK, he's not a company--even if his annual salary is greater than the revenues of most companies--but it is something of a miracle, or an abomination, that Zucker is still walking through corporate suites. As Smalera puts it:
After getting General Electric (GE) to spin off his deteriorating division to cable giant Comcast, Zucker mesmerized his new overlords into giving him a three-year deal, too. Analysts argue that it was his mismanagement and personnel decisions that put his network into last place—and made it a takeover target—to begin with.
Good point, Paul. So, this early in 2010, Zucker wins The Cable Game's "Nosferatu of the Year" award. (That's my updated homage to "Nosferatu," the classic vampire horror movie, above.)
The Cable Gamer's view is that Comcast knows exactly what it is doing in signing Zucker on to a three-year contract. The Comcastians have to be smart enough to know that Zucker has terrible programming instincts: he peaked out as EP of "The Today Show" a decade ago. But the Comcastians figure that keeping Zucker around will help them the myriad regulatory, legal, and political problems that they will face in bringing this deal to completion. If Zucker can help, even a little bit on those regulatory, legal, and political maneuverings, then he will have earned his inflated salar--plus whatever performance bonus he has negotiated for himself. Moreover, the prospect of Zucker being in charge of NBC-Universal must take away some of the anxiety that rivals might feel at the prospect of a revitalized NBC under Comcast's ownership. I mean, how revitalized can NBC be so long as Zucker is in charge?
But of course, just because Zucker is on the payroll, doesn't mean that his bosses have to listen to him. TCG predicts that we will soon see the emergence of a strong manager/programmer at NBC-U. That person might be a Comcast superior to Zucker, or even a deputy to Zucker. But either way, that person will be making the key decisions. If Zucker doesn't like it, he can always quit--which would save Comcast a lot of money. Or Jeff can retire on the job, collecting three years' of salary, while polishing his memoirs.
Retire on the job--that really is the definition of the undead.
