{"id":308745,"date":"2010-02-11T18:46:05","date_gmt":"2010-02-11T23:46:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.xconomy.com\/?p=63075"},"modified":"2010-02-11T18:46:05","modified_gmt":"2010-02-11T23:46:05","slug":"realnetworks-acting-ceo-bob-kimball-speaks-on-rebuilding-the-company-transforming-the-culture-and-spinning-off-music-and-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/308745","title":{"rendered":"RealNetworks Acting CEO Bob Kimball Speaks on Rebuilding the Company, Transforming the Culture, and Spinning Off Music and Games"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
digital media<\/a>, Leadership<\/a>, strategy<\/a><\/div>\n

\t\t\"Bob<\/a>
\n\t\tGregory T. Huang wrote:<\/strong><\/p>\n

In today\u2019s RealNetworks earnings call, we heard from president and acting CEO Bob Kimball for the first time. Kimball recently took over from founder Rob Glaser, who stepped down as CEO a month ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kimball originally joined RealNetworks (NASDAQ: RNWK<\/a>) in 1999 and served for 10-plus years as the senior executive responsible for all legal matters and business development. Prior to Real, he was senior attorney and manager of business relations at IBM Global Services.<\/p>\n

2009 was a rough year for Real financially<\/a>, but Kimball is all about the future. And about getting things done quickly and decisively, starting now. He spoke on the call about the company\u2019s retooled strategy and his plans to \u201ctransform RealNetworks\u201d into a \u201cfar more focused and simple company\u201d with a \u201cstrong new sense of purpose.\u201d He also thanked Glaser for providing the leadership and innovation that \u201cforms the bedrock of Real today.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bottom line is that Real is spinning out its music service, Rhapsody, as a separate company (announced earlier this week<\/a>), and will separate out its games division soon after that\u2019s complete. The ownership, financial, and legal structure of the gaming entity is yet to be determined. That leaves two main focuses for Real, both built around its media entertainment software platform: its software-as-a-service business for wireless carriers, and its RealPlayer business for consumers. (These two divisions create virtually all of Real\u2019s cash flow today.)<\/p>\n

Here are some more highlights from Kimball:<\/p>\n

—\u201cI know where our strengths are, and, perhaps more importantly, I know where our weaknesses are,\u201d he said. \u201cI know how we make money, and how we don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

—\u201cI haven\u2019t seen this level of excitement in the hallways of RealNetworks in many years,\u201d Kimball said. Besides the talent and determination of Real\u2019s employees, he pointed to the company\u2019s \u201cpristine balance sheet,\u201d which includes nearly $400 million in the bank, and no debt.<\/p>\n

—\u201cWe plan to be content agnostic. We will make it easy and fun for consumers to enjoy their content anywhere, anytime,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

—Kimball outlined a three-step plan for Real: simplify, restructure, and grow. Not necessarily one after the other, but in parallel. \u201cWe must move quickly,\u201d he said. \u201cBy the end of the year, we will …Next Page »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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digital media, Leadership, strategy Gregory T. Huang wrote: In today\u2019s RealNetworks earnings call, we heard from president and acting CEO Bob Kimball for the first time. Kimball recently took over from founder Rob Glaser, who stepped down as CEO a month ago. Kimball originally joined RealNetworks (NASDAQ: RNWK) in 1999 and served for 10-plus years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1747,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,16,7,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-308745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-internet","category-mobile","category-news","category-software"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1747"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308745\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}