LOS ANGELES With their stocks in freefall for the second time this week, the response from media moguls Wednesday was along the lines of: What? Me worry?
DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, speaking along with other executives at an investor conference, set the tone early by predicting the movie industry will weather just about any economic storm.
"Both traditionally as well as recently, we have seen that our product is, at worse, recession-resistant and, more optimistically and historically, has actually been recession-proof," he said.
As the CEO spoke, the Dow was well on its way to Wednesday's 450-point decline. And that 4.1 percent drop made it the best-performing index of the day. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were off 4.7 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively, while The Hollywood Reporter's Showbiz 50 index dumped 5 percent
Echoing Katzenberg's optimism in various ways were News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes and CBS' Leslie Moonves.
Ironically, the executives were speaking in New York at the Communacopia conference hosted by Goldman Sachs on a day when the venerable Wall Street firm saw its own stock sink 14 percent, its steepest one-day decline in history.
The Eye's president and CEO Moonves even turned the tables on one of the Goldman analysts as they sat down for their fireside chat. "Interesting week to be here," Moonves quipped. "Can I ask you a question?"
Turnout at the event didn't seem much affected by the current mayhem on the Street: Several attendees said they welcomed the opportunity to get away from their offices, the trading floors and/or their Bloomberg terminals.
Murdoch, who has been criticized for buying publisher Dow Jones when newspapers are out of favor, promised he is not planning further acquisitions of papers. The News Corp. chairman added he is unlikely to make a big deal as long as the economic outlook remains "murky." (Read more on Murdoch's comments from the conference.)
Continue to next page →
