The IR chief for entertainment giant Viacom stages earnings week
Monday, November 2, 1998
Catching a 6.38 am train, it occurs to me that while many of my fellow passengers are getting a little more shut-eye, there are a few of us who are racing through multiple newspapers. I always figure these voracious readers, like me, are involved in the market and probably either investor/public relations folks or analysts.
I get to the office by 7.15 am and turn on CNBC for the morning news. I already checked the markets before leaving home at 6.00 am. S&P futures are up three points and the European markets are looking strong. It appears the Dow is heading north again today.
With our third quarter earnings results to be issued on Wednesday, I spent a few hours over the weekend reviewing the Q&A, the draft of the earnings press release and the chairman's conference call comments. I sit down with my staff to discuss their suggested changes prior to my 11.00 am dry-run of the conference call with senior management.
I report directly to Viacom's deputy chairman, Tom Dooley, so my interaction with the chairman's office is constant. Working with them on an earnings announcement is very smooth and the dry-run goes well. We rework the press release and chairman's remarks, and also discuss the mechanics of the call.
This quarter we're trying something new for Viacom. About 50 analysts will join us at headquarters for the earnings results announcement, so in effect we'll be playing before a live audience. For those who are unable to attend the meeting, we're using the web to show the same slides that the live audience will see.
Meanwhile, we're inviting the press to listen to the conference call and subsequently meet with management to ask any questions they may have. As if that weren't enough, Jonathan Dolgen, chairman of our Paramount group, will be at the meeting to discuss the outlook for our entertainment business. All these things combined have made the execution of this call a bit more challenging. But it's challenging moments like this that make the investor relations position an exciting place to be.
Later in the afternoon, I have arranged a visit with our chairman, Sumner Redstone, for a sell-side analyst who is about to initiate coverage on us. I believe it's essential that a sell-side analyst who is initiating coverage be given an opportunity to interview the boss. Sometimes that meeting can positively affect the rating an analyst assigns to the stock.
My morning prediction proves right, with the Dow up 114 for the day. For dinner this evening, I put on my hat as president of Niri-New York and have dinner with a fellow Niri-New York board member as we scope out a good place to hold our December meeting.
Tuesday, November 3
It being election day, I'm up and voting by 6.00 am. Since I have a dinner again this evening, I won't get a chance to get to the polls before they close tonight.
In the office at 7.20 am, again CNBC. The TV is on all day, on mute. Out of a corner of my eye I monitor the tape and the chatter all day in case something appears that's relevant to my world - entertainment, that is - and sometimes I switch to listen mode. I work with a headset as opposed to a handset telephone, which gives me a lot more mobility while on the phone.
Today we review and update comments from yesterday and have a run-through of the slides that will be seen on the web. A couple of analysts on First Call indicate today that they believe our reported numbers tomorrow will beat Street estimates.
We also receive a strong buy recommendation from the analyst who met with our chairman yesterday. The stock is up 3 5/8 points for the day on strong volume at the American Stock Exchange.
At 5.00 pm the CFO from the Paramount studio arrives from Hollywood and we go over his chairman's presentation, and his slides, showing him how the internet application is going to look.
7.00 pm and I'm off to dinner with my staff and the technical crew to discuss tomorrow's earnings announcement and any new challenges that may develop.
Wednesday, November 4
Today Viacom's earnings are released prior to the market opening. CNBC is showing Asian and European markets very strong and the futures are up. Might be an ideal environment to release good earnings. Our web-enhanced conference call is at 11.00 am, followed by a meeting with the press, who are being allowed to listen to the analysts' conference.
The call goes extremely well with about 50 analysts in our live audience, 150 on the call and 70 accessing the web site. The call takes a full hour - any longer and I think the audience would start to disappear. The press seems to appreciate the opportunity to be part of the earnings conference call. I spend the rest of the day on the phone reworking models and setting up next year's plans.
I also double-check with our people about breakfast tomorrow morning. I have made it a practice of taking management out for a sell-side sponsored function, an out-of-town trip, a dinner or another meeting directly upon the release of earnings. It's a good way to get face-to-face with potential and current shareholders on the same day the company is on the wire or in the press. It also helps that management is concentrated on the reported results and right up to speed on what the analysts want to talk about.
We're all set for our 8.00 am breakfast tomorrow, where we will host about 50 brokerage clients. This is why doing investor relations in New York is so great. The 50 people with whom we'll be having breakfast are different from the 50 analysts we saw today at our live, web-enhanced teleconference.
Thursday, November 5
In the office by 7.15 am and S&P futures are trading down. I pick up some copies of our earnings release for the breakfast meeting and check my voicemail. After leaving the office at 7.00 pm last night, you wouldn't think there was much of a chance to get voicemail by 7.00 am the following morning. Still, I have four new messages to deal with.
Off to breakfast. It's really well attended and, once again, our senior guys do a superb job. Fortunately I have been blessed with the best managers as far as presentations go: they genuinely love their business and love telling the story to investors.
Back at the office I have a great deal of phone work to get through. Knowing that our Blockbuster CEO is in New York, I set up a meeting to discuss strategy. He answers some of the questions he heard on the call yesterday. What's better than an investor relations guy with a whole bunch of information directly from CEOs of various operations? Since I attend operations update presentations by senior management every quarter, my interaction with top operating personnel is continuous. This makes it easy to obtain specific information that investors may be seeking.
Friday, November 6
Today I put aside the Viacom wand for a few moments and get on a conference call with fellow Niri-New York board members to strategize and plan our agenda for an upcoming presentation we're making to a local university. Our Niri chapter has commissioned a panel of IR volunteers to come up with a curriculum and outline for an investor relations course. We've been successful in getting one program going at New York University's School of Continuing Education, and now we're attempting to inspire another university to offer an undergraduate course in IR.
Feeling good as Viacom stock ends the week at 611/4 up 13/8 for the week. I finish up a few more phone calls and look forward to next week. Unlike this one, it might actually get busy.