Imagenation at Work in Abu Dhabi
In 2008, a new financing arm made a serious amount of noise in the M&E, or Media and Entertainment space. The new multi-billion dollar fund to create an innovative media+cultural center, named after its geographic location: TwoFour54. On top of that, imagenation was formed with $1B to develop content for Middle Eastern/Arabian and international markets; as well of course, as programming for the western markets. Just about every studio mogul was intrigued about this new source of equity financing to support their production slates. En route from the Cannes Film Festival, entertainment execs and their attorneys flocked en masse to Abu Dhabi, curious and hungry for a new influx of foreign capital, as past domestic and international equity lines were dry. Read more >>
Billionaire Benefactors Give More Than You Think…
In 2008, many of our national billionaires gave much of their fortunes away, involuntarily. From Sheldon Adelson, the Vegas and Macau casino billionaire who lost $24 billion ($24B) to Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and the Google guys, last year was a very difficult year to amass. Now who’s to say that losing “a few personal billion” when you still have “a few” is an innovation problem – it matters when these entrepreneurs pull back on progress and humanitarian giving to stem private losses.
Per Forbes, Warren Buffet lost $16.5B, Gates was down $12.3B and Google’s Larry Page lost more than half of his g-trove: $11.9B. Read more >>