What's Steve Case's Legacy?

Ramblings

from the brilliant-or-lucky-clod? dept

I’ve already stated that I think Steve Case is being unfairly trashed by the media and stock holders who seem to think he single-handedly brought down Time Warner. Now, Salon is takin a step back from the knee-jerk reactions and wondering what Steve Case’s legacy will be, over time. Right now, it’s tied directly to AOL-Time Warner’s share price, which (as the article points out) if you remember the bubble valuations means absolutely nothing. There’s a herd mentality when it comes to stock prices, and blaming Case for the stock price is just short-term scape-goating. In the end, the aricle suggests that Steve Case’s legacy will be based on your own timeline. If you’re not very patient in assigning legacies, you might not be too kind to Steve. However, give it some time and you might find yourself wondering why he got pushed out. Update: For a slightly different take, this News.com opinion piece trashes Case and other internet/media “visionaries” pointing out that they were stating the obvious all along and yet couldn’t execute on anything. Admittedly, people like Case and Thomas Middelhoff (who I also believe was unfairly disgraced) fell down on the final execution – but in both cases they were fighting against their own senior executives who were sabotaging the plans every step of the way. If anything, both Case and Middelhof should be blamed for not cleaning house and bringing in executives who really could execute on their visions. If, as this article claims, the “vision” was so obvious, how come all the other execs at both companies worked so hard not to let it happen?