Technology >> CEO Interviews >> October 4, 1999
DAVID FRIEDENSOHN is the CEO and Chairman of the Board of BigStar
Entertainment, Inc. Mr. Friedensohn founded BigStar Entertainment with
David Levitsky in March 1998 and has led the company from inception to
its current position as one of the leading movie e-commerce sites on the
Web. Revenues for BigStar grew to over $13 million in 1999 and are
increasing at double-digit rates every quarter. BigStar went public on
August 3, 1999 and trades under the symbol BGST on the NASDAQ. Most
recently before BigStar, Mr. Friedensohn was the CEO of SonicNet, Inc.,
which was sold in December 1997 as part of Paradigm Music Entertainment
to TCI Music, a 90% owned affiliate of TCI, for over $33 million in cash
and stock. Recently, TCI Music re-sold SonicNet as part of a package of
companies to MTV, a subsidiary of Viacom International, Inc. As CEO of
SonicNet, Mr. Friedensohn managed all aspects of the company, including
marketing, finance, operations, design and business development. In
1997, Mr. Friedensohn began the development of an ad sales capability
for SonicNet. By the end of 1997, advertisers included Levi's Brand,
Coca-Cola, the Gap, Sony, Ford Motor Company and more than 20 other
corporations. Also in 1997, Mr. Friedensohn led business development
efforts for SonicNet's MusicNews that resulted in domestic syndication
agreements with Yahoo!, PointCast, and AOL's The Hub, and international
syndication agreements with the Digital Garage of Japan, Swisscom, the
Swiss PTT and Telstra, the Australian PTT. Mr. Friedensohn previously
held the positions of Vice President, Business Development and General
Manager of the Wildflower Partners Fund at Prodigy from October 1995
until January 1997. Prior to working at Prodigy, Mr. Friedensohn was
President of GB Investment Corp., a consulting company to the
entertainment industry, where his clients included Viacom, BMG
Entertainment, Sony Pictures, NBC International and National Geographic
Television. He developed his entertainment industry experience as
Director of Corporate Development of Viacom, where he developed finance
strategies, mergers and acquisitions, and new business development for
the entertainment conglomerate. Mr. Friedensohn's accomplishments at
Viacom included the Paramount Communications acquisition, the expansion
of MTV Networks International, and the development of Nickelodeon
Pictures and Viacom New Media. Mr. Friedensohn received a BA from
Dartmouth College in 1983 and an MBA from Columbia University in 1987.
Mr. Friedensohn has spoken at a variety of Internet and business
management conferences including those sponsored by Red Herring, Jupiter
Communications, the New York New Media Association, and the Young
President's Organization. He has also been featured in articles in
newspapers and national periodicals such as The Wall Street Journal,
Fortune Magazine, AdWeek, AdAge, The New York Times, the New York Post,
and BusinessWeek. Profile
readers.
Mr. Friedensohn: Bigstar is the leading on-line marketer of filmed
entertainment products, based on customer
