EricLyman
01-26-2006, 09:18 PM
There's a great article in the Feb. issue of Wired about LAIKA and Phil Knight:
LINK: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.02/knight.html (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.02/knight.html)
During the four decades that Phil Knight spent building Nike into a merchandising and pop culture machine, he came to realize the company would outlast him. "Obviously, man is mortal," he said in April after stepping down as CEO. But facing mortality isn't easy. What would the 67-year-old marketing genius do next? Hit the lecture circuit? Too shy. Golf? Sure, but not every day. Spend time with the grandkids? That's no full-time position. In fact, Knight tipped his hand back in 1998, when he gave $5 million to Vinton Studios (http://www.vinton.com/). Will Vinton, the Oregon animator known for his dancing California Raisins commercials, was looking to open a Hollywood office so he could make movies. Knight, a Portland native, was eager to support local artists. "Vinton was on a roll," Knight says, "and I wanted to contribute as a passive investor." Within four years, Vinton had burned through the money but hadn't made a single animated film. The studio was nearly bankrupt when Vinton came back asking for more cash. By this time, the search for a successor at Nike had begun. Knight gave Vinton $450,000 more, but there were strings attached. He wanted control of the company.
LINK: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.02/knight.html (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.02/knight.html)
During the four decades that Phil Knight spent building Nike into a merchandising and pop culture machine, he came to realize the company would outlast him. "Obviously, man is mortal," he said in April after stepping down as CEO. But facing mortality isn't easy. What would the 67-year-old marketing genius do next? Hit the lecture circuit? Too shy. Golf? Sure, but not every day. Spend time with the grandkids? That's no full-time position. In fact, Knight tipped his hand back in 1998, when he gave $5 million to Vinton Studios (http://www.vinton.com/). Will Vinton, the Oregon animator known for his dancing California Raisins commercials, was looking to open a Hollywood office so he could make movies. Knight, a Portland native, was eager to support local artists. "Vinton was on a roll," Knight says, "and I wanted to contribute as a passive investor." Within four years, Vinton had burned through the money but hadn't made a single animated film. The studio was nearly bankrupt when Vinton came back asking for more cash. By this time, the search for a successor at Nike had begun. Knight gave Vinton $450,000 more, but there were strings attached. He wanted control of the company.