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Andrew HeiskellAndrew Heiskell
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Session:         Page of 824

Heiskell:

If you remember, in that third phase, we bought Temple, and even though a lot of people didn't look on that very well, we were expanding. We created--we started Money magazine. We started People. We restarted LIFE. HBO and ATC turned their corners after years and years of indecision. We got ourselves--in other words, we got ourselves organized to be a big, successful corporation.

Q:

I've read somewhere--I can't quite remember where--that it was in that period in the early 1970s where you decided on the “four legs” upon which this corporation would stand. There would be forest products and video cable, whatever--

Heiskell:

Books and magazines.

Q:

--books and magazines. Was that kind of just in hindsight, or was that a forward-looking strategy? I mean, did you come to that decision and then follow that strategy?

Heiskell:

Yes. Yes. We came to those decisions rather slowly, and, you know, very few things spring full-grown out of the mind. They tend to spring full-grown out of long experience.

Q:

Right, right.

Heiskell:

No, our cable--all our cable and HBO business--was sort of two steps forward and one step back all along, because we didn't know





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