“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”, said the philosopher George Santayana. Netscape was the first internet IPO in 1995, marking an important milestone for the consumer internet industry. What has happened in the 16 years since then? Hundreds of internet companies have come and gone. Shareholder wealth in the billions of dollars has been created and lost. In hindsight, what seems to separate the winners from the losers, and what can we extract from their experiences? Michael Zeisser has been a humble student of the industry and learned a thing or two from assembling a portfolio of some of the best known consumer internet companies for Liberty Media Corporation. In this presentation, he shares insights from his longstanding involvement with the internet and digital media. Michael will highlight the innovation shifts that our industry has experienced in its short life, and draw some lessons from what it has taken to navigate them.
Speaker: Michael Zeisser, Senior Vice President, Liberty Media Corporation
Michael Zeisser is Senior Vice President of Liberty Media Corporation, a leading media holding company. Michael oversees Liberty Media’s companies and investment activities in eCommerce, interactive gaming and digital media.
Michael has led numerous M&A transactions in the US, Canada, and Korea, and oversees Liberty’s eCommerce Group of companies. Michael has served on the boards of IAC/InterActiveCorp.(Nasdaq:IACI), Fun Technologies (TSX:FUN), OpenTV (Nasdaq:OPTV), QVC Inc., Provide Commerce, BuySeasons Inc., Backcountry.com, BodyBuilding.com, CommerceHub, GSN/The Network for Games, GoPets Ltd, and SlingMedia.
Prior to joining Liberty Media in 2003, Michael was a partner at McKinsey & Company in New York, where he co-founded McKinsey’s Internet Practice, and was a member of McKinsey’s Media & Entertainment and Private Equity practices.
Michael is a frequent speaker on industry issues. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Silicon Flatirons Center, University of Colorado, and was named Technology Executive of the Year 2009 by the Colorado Technology Association.
Michael earned a business degree with honors from the University of Strasbourg, France and an MBA with distinction from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, where he was a Procter & Gamble International Academic Scholar.