[10430] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
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daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (com-priv-forw@lists.psi.com)
Wed Feb 23 00:43:30 1994
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 94 00:43:28 EST
From: com-priv-forw@lists.psi.com
Apparently-To: <com-priv-redist@mit.edu>
I'm confused. This week's Forbes Magazine has a story on the
profits of Encyclopedia Brittanica, which have completely dried
up in three short years. The proliferation of CD-ROM encyclopediae
is blamed.
EB did own Comptons but had to unload it last year for suddenly
much-needed cash.
The article explains EB's decision not to go CD-ROM sooner was a
cultural one -- management did not want to tick off the sales
force which, apparently, have a balls-grip on the business and were
unwilling to change to CD-ROM (which in turn would've meant
near-total elimination of the door-to-door sales force and a rapid
transition to telemarketing). Anyway, it was a deadly decision
either way, as it turns out.
I'm confused because I remember talk about EB introducing an on-
line product. No mention of it in this article.
Aaron Barnhart
