Immunity challenges are for wimps
So let me get this straight. First, CBS (NYSE:CBS) sells off its amusement park chain. Then it announces that its smaller radio stations may be next to go on the block. I thought the Survivor finale was last week! It looks like the company is voting off pieces in some kind of bizarre tribal council. Can you even bring tiki torches into a boardroom without upsetting some kind of fire code? It's pretty unreal.
The board has spoken. You must leave the conglomerate immediately.
Maybe it's me, but I figured that once the company was spun off by Viacom (NYSE:VIA) that CBS was the appropriate bite-sized media mogul. Investors won't mind seeing the company's balance sheet buffed up. The $1.24 billion it is getting for its parks and whatever it gets for its radio stations will go to good use. I just hope the company knows what it's doing, since it seems like regional amusement parks and local audio broadcasting hubs would be great places to promote its other properties. Once you sell them, that promotional vehicle is gone forever.
What's next, CBS? Selling the letter C off your corporate moniker? Where's the immunity idol when you need it?
Google is poetry in motion
This week Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) announced that it would allow advertisers to run "click to play" video ads throughout its network of virtual billboards. Unlike the noisy and annoying rich media ads that are springing up all over the place, these ads don't run unless a site visitor clicks the play button to get the action going. A static visual ad is all that loads at first.
I'm no dummy. I realize that this is a great way to reach out to conventional big-name advertisers who still haven't been weaned off the eye candy ads. The problem is that it will be hard to get third-party publishers on board to showcase these ads -- instead of opting for four more contextually relevant text ads in these blocks.
Maybe I'm wrong and Google will be able to score big with this move. I just don't like anything that takes space away from the perfect solution of unobtrusive text ads that blend into content and search results, and have a higher probably of being clicked because of their timely appearance.
Let's see. Literally. Figuratively. I argue that a Google that isn't broken doesn't need to be fixed, especially if the fix isn't really feasible.
Until next week, I remain,
Rick Munarriz
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz recommends windshield wiper fluid when trying to look back. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story. The Fool has a disclosure policy. Rick is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.
