Lessons learned in 2009: In search of the next Steve Jobs, or the next Google

Is there a Steve Jobs of publishing?

Rupert Murdoch

• In 2009, we saw Murdoch reverse his stance on paid content. Before acquiring the Wall Street Journal, he said that he wanted to take WSJ.com and focus its business model more on advertising by loosening the reins on gating content to subscribers.  When the recession kicked in, he started waving the paid content flag as if he invented the idea.
• His war of words with Google has got him on the front page of many news sites, but has it advanced the cause of any of his businesses?
• More of Murdoch's highlights and lowlights 

• Diller's flip-flopping on the future of Ask.com (formerly Ask Jeeves) has everyone baffled.  Does he want to sell Ask or keep it?  Why did they get rid of Jeeves?   
• Barry Diller's 2009

• Many were skeptical of Zell's ability to right the Chicago Tribune's ship at the time he acquired the company, but no one could possibly foresee how quickly it fell into disarray and bankruptcy.
• Google Trends: Sam Zell in 2009

• Both are dumping "non-core" assets and focusing significantly on display advertising.
• Bartz sold Yahoo's search business and seen its search market share drop ever since.
• Armstrong is hiring journalists like he's playing a game of Monopoly. I got Park Place ... I mean Glam Media.
• My question: If the top 10 Web sites already get 70% of online advertising dollars, how much more market share can Yahoo and Aol grab, and at what cost?
• Tim Armstrong in 2009
• Carol Bartz's 2009, F bombs and all

Google making all the right moves

• Local monetization, all roads lead to Rome Google. Sean Blanda's blog post on Google's emerging local efforts demonstrates how quickly the search powerhouse can become dominant in a new space.
• The AdMob acquisition is going to look exceptionally smart next year with mobile marketing forecast to grow by $4 billion.
• Following the acquisition of DoubleClick last year, Google doubled down on display advertising by acquiring Teracent. If display advertising comes back in 2010 like many believe it will, I'd put my money on Google over Yahoo or Aol this year.
• The only potential flaw that I see in Google's game plan is that they don't an answer to social networking. Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn have all had banner years and seen their valuations skyrocket. However, one could make the case that acquiring one of these companies could lead Google to lose its focus in the same way that Yahoo did.
• Google's 2009