Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that while the worst of the economic downturn has passed, there aren’t any strong signs of an immediate recovery.
Schmidt expressed admiration for Hulu, the video site that carries episodes of new and old TV shows and whose owners include News Corp., NBC Universal and Walt Disney Co.
Rupert Murdoch said: “I’m shocked at the business mood, which is talking about either that we’re at the bottom of the recession or we’re going lower, but that it’s going to take years and years, like five years at least, before we see any real growth coming out of this … I would say the conference is definitely very bearish.”
Martin Sorrell, the chairman and chief executive of WPP Group was in the same mood:”We don’t see things improving.”
About Kindle:
Murdoch said not to expect a Kindle-like device from News Corp: “I don’t think that’s likely. We’re looking and talking to a lot of laboratories and big companies around the world, like Sony and Samsung. We’re all working on wireless readers for books or newspapers or for magazines. I think they’re a year or two away being marketed in a mass way, high quality ones, and we’ll be absolutely neutral. We’re happy to have our products distributed over any device provided it’s only going to subscribers paying for it.”
And about arrogance:
Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer was asked about Twitter and other social networking sites and said: “A lot of people are doing very well at making very little money. It’s not a club I’m looking to join.”
