Quincy Smith Named President, CBS Interactive
Silicon Valley Insider to Head Up New Unit, Guiding CBS Corporation's Interactive Strategy, Partnerships, Platform and Implementation Across All Divisions
NEW YORK, Nov. 6 -- Quincy Smith has been named President of the newly formed division CBS Interactive, it was announced today by Leslie Moonves, President and Chief Executive Officer, CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS.A - News and CBS - News). Smith, who has advised and taken part in many of the biggest interactive and digital deals in the new media industry, will now oversee the company's entire interactive strategy and help guide its implementation across CBS Corporation's varied divisions and online businesses. He will report directly to Moonves.
In this role, Smith will work in tandem with each CBS division to formulate new media strategies and partnerships involving all interactive platforms, including Internet, mobile and video gaming. Reporting to Smith will be the wide variety of interactive media company-wide, including its wholly-owned Websites. These include, among others, CBS SportsLine.com, CBSNews.com and CBS.com, as well as innertube, a new website offering original programming as well as the streaming of CBS's most popular series. In addition, Smith will also work closely with the Company's financial team to identify new businesses that could complement CBS's core assets, building the Company's presence in the fast-growing digital counterpart to its existing programming platforms.
"This announcement is particularly significant because it reflects our belief that the future of media lies increasingly in the interactive realm," said Moonves. "Quincy Smith is one of the smartest, most forward thinking executives working in new media today. He's had his hand in building many of the biggest interactive companies of our time, and his knowledge of this burgeoning landscape is second to none. As we continue to grow our interactive footprint and develop new revenue streams, it's important for us to have a unified strategy and seamless communication across all of our many divisions. Quincy is the perfect person to lead that charge. From the beginning of its history, CBS has been fueled by entrepreneurs who saw the future in new platforms, and expanded their traditional business models into those new opportunities as they developed. With Quincy on board, I look forward to having an ideal platform for today's technologies and services to take their ideas to CBS first."
"The promise of the interactive space lies in its ability to showcase world-class content on a variety of new technologies, and to create new communities that will enable CBS to be closer to and learn more from its audience than ever before," said Smith. "With unparalleled reach in television, radio, outdoor and publishing, this Company has a unique, built-in advantage as it continues to transition into the interactive future. I share the vision and excitement of Leslie and his team and believe that the opportunities ahead for this company are virtually limitless."
The Company also announced that Larry Kramer has stepped down from his position as President of CBS Digital Media but will remain with the Company as an advisor. "I want to thank Larry for his contributions here, which were significant," said Moonves. "I have no doubt that he will continue to be at the forefront of the new media revolution, and wish him all the best as he embarks on his next chapter of his distinguished career."
Smith comes to CBS from Allen & Company, where he was involved with projects including multiple transactions for Google, Advertising.com's sale to AOL, the del.icio.us sale to Yahoo, Neopets' sale to Viacom, Loudeye's sale to Nokia and CNET's acquisition of Webshots, among other transactions. In this role he also worked with companies such as Comcast, the Weinstein Company and CBS, as well as investments for Allen & Company in SpotRunner, Fon, Ning and Sling Media, among others. Prior to Allen & Company, Smith was a Founding Partner of The Barksdale Group, a venture capital firm. Previously, Smith spent five years at Netscape where he ran Investor Relations and Corporate Development and played a role in over 20 joint ventures, investments and acquisitions including Netscape's ultimate sale to AOL. Prior to that, Smith was an investment banker for Morgan Stanley.
CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS.A - News and CBS - News) is a mass media company with constituent parts that reach back to the beginnings of the broadcast industry, as well as newer businesses that operate on the leading edge of the media industry. The Company, through its many and varied operations, combines broad reach with well-positioned local businesses, all of which provide it with an extensive distribution network by which it serves audiences and advertisers in all 50 states and key international markets. It has operations in virtually every field of media and entertainment, including broadcast television (CBS and The CW -- a joint venture between CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment), cable television (Showtime and CSTV Networks), local television (CBS Television Stations), television production and syndication (CBS Paramount Network Television and CBS Television Distribution Group), radio (CBS Radio), advertising on out-of-home media (CBS Outdoor), publishing (Simon & Schuster), digital media (CBS Digital Media Group and CSTV Networks) and consumer products (CBS Consumer Products). For more information, log on to www.cbscorporation.com.