My 60 seconds with Quincy Smith

Owen Thomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:00:00 EDT

If CBS were to greenlight a TV series about life at a modern media giant, the director would find it hard to cast anyone but Quincy Smith as himself. Call it 60 Seconds, a version of the news show sped up for the Web. His $1.8 billion CNET buy is just the latest episode in the life of the fast-talking president of CBS Interactive. Smith is sui generis; the stereotype, which grates on him but fits, is that of a frenetic dealmaker. Last month, he said he was looking for "the next YouTube"; instead, he bought a company which, having been founded in 1992, is eight times older than the current incarnation of CBS. CBS handlers offered to have him speak to me; I accepted. In the middle of the mile-a-minute conversation-argument, I think we both wondered what we'd gotten ourselves into. A partial transcript — the most I was able to type out while trying to keep up with Smith's banter:

Quincy Smith: We like the logo. We may borrow it.
Valleywag: CNET in the eye? It's already yours. That was one of your new employees, Andrew Mager. So Quincy, what do you buy now? There's nothing left.

Smith: What are you talking about? Are you crazy? That's like saying the Internet has stopped.

Valleywag: Have you heard of Jonathan Zittrain? I'm told he's trying to stop the Internet.

Smith: Zittrain and I went to college together, but I don't think he knew me. He was much smarter. I don't want people to think this is one big deal. The Internet is a big new medium, not rebroadcast television. Hey, we have a platform to retaliate now!

Valleywag: What, do I have to watch out for Caroline McCarthy?

Smith: We're going to put the two of you on mixed martial arts. Until you have that platform to really build that out — you've got to make sure you have a footprint. Think about CNET and all the properties they have, not just CNET.com. That's like saying CBS Interactive is just CBSSports.com. There's MP3.com, there's Radio.com, there's Chow, there's UrbanBaby.

Valleywag: So you're saying all the acquisitions you did before CNET are pointless, and now that you bought CNET, you can do more?

Smith: Now I know why no one ever talks to you. No, we did Wallstrip, we launched MobLogic.tv, we bought DotSpotter, which you guys broke, which was really an acquire-hire — those guys are redesigning CBS.com. But we think we're getting a real asset in CNET, there's a real business there. Look, I'm getting the hook, good talking to you!

At last I understand how Smith gets so many deals done: He just talks his targets into submission. Quincy, if you ever go back into investment banking, they might need your help up in Redmond.

CBS eyes gossip site for $10 million

Megan McCarthy — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 18:57:53 EDT

Why was a roomful of venture capitalists and lawyers clinking champagne glasses at Zibibbo in Palo Alto last week? The target of their fulsome praise was entrepreneur Anthony Soohoo, a former Yahoo executive. And the reason? He had managed to flip his website Dotspotter, yet another celebrity gossip site with thoroughly derivative social-networking features, to CBS for a quick $10 million. Dotspotter's short one-year lifepspan didn't scare off serial charmer Quincy Smith, the startup-mad head of CBS Interactive. Having bought financial videoblog Wallstrip and Web-based social music site Last.fm, we can only conclude that Smith's strategy is to buy a lot of startups, throw them against the wall, and see what sticks. Nice work, especially when CBS shareholders are footing the bill. And who's receiving the checks? One of Dotspotter's beneficiaries, we hear, is Facebook CFO Gideon Yu. Nice to have a backup plan in case all those social networks turn out to be a fad.

Gawker: valleywag, dotspotter

My 60 seconds with Quincy Smith

CBS eyes gossip site for $10 million