Rosen

"He shot back, “I’ll set up a competitor in every city and put you out of business unless you stand down and give us the right to display your content.” He was playing for the biggest stakes and I knew we couldn’t stop the tsunami of internet adoption. It was going to roll right over us, and while Rosen’s was a principled stand I told Gates we’d withdraw the lawsuit. It was my excitement about the internet and desire to get it going that governed my expedient decision to waive our copyrights—the same issue that today has publishers suing AI on the same basis, with probably the same result."

"I didn’t know any of this when I cold-called Paul, thinking he might find the idea of a combination of Ticketmaster and HSN compelling. He told me of his frustrations with Rosen, and how he believed the company should jump-start online ticketing. Eureka—that was the seed and… suddenly I did see the future and got so excited about the online possibilities that I couldn’t race fast enough to get a deal done. I told Paul that if he traded his stock in Ticketmaster for stock in HSN, I’d deal with Rosen and he could get out of that tortured relationship. I’d dealt all my life with far more obstreperous characters. Paul Allen quickly agreed and ended up with 11 percent of my company and joined our board. A year or so later he sold his shares, doubling his money (not that he needed it, but if he’d kept his shares, he’d have become far richer than the Midas he already was)."