Warren Lieberfarb – ‘father of the DVD,’ fired from Time Warner

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>This was it: the moment to celebrate. About 250 executives from Hollywood studios and home-electronics companies gathered at the Bellagio in Las Vegas earlier this year to toast their soaring fortunes, thanks to the phenomenal success of the digital video disc. Major studios sold a stunning .4 billion worth of DVDs to retailers last year, proof that DVDs now bring in a majority’”52 percent in 2003′”of Hollywood’s revenue. Everyone noticed when the man most responsible for their good fortunes arrived: Warren Lieberfarb. The former chief of Warner Home Video deserved a round of cheers for doggedly pursuing his vision of the new format. Lieberfarb, more than any other person, merits credit for making the DVD a reality. He didn’t invent the technology. More important, he saw its potential to transform the industry. So he cajoled, strong-armed and bargained with industry players around the world to set aside their parochial interests and sign on to a universal standard for the new format. No small feat, considering whom he needed onboard: studio chiefs, computer companies, retailers and heads of electronics companies. History was against him, too’”the field was littered with failed formats (remember Beta?). “Never has one name been so associated with the launch of a major product,” says Brad Anderson, CEO of BestBuy.
 
Surprisingly, Lieberfarb isn’t Hollywood’s most popular figure. And the cool feelings are mutual, since he’s never felt fully appreciated. He had braced himself for seeing his former detractors raise a glass to their own smarts. “You will see the peacocks strutting,” he had muttered. Within minutes he ran into a former colleague and started berating him for ignoring his calls. “I won’t forget this,” Lieberfarb barked, then abruptly left.

— Further down the article —

Lieberfarb’s story is itself worthy of a Hollywood script, save for a thorny problem’”the main character is both protagonist and antagonist. His maneuverings got electronics giants, media moguls, Hollywood and Silicon Valley to agree on the new format. But he often seemed to undermine himself with his brusque manner and boastfulness. His story has a bitter twist, too. For all the billions of dollars he’s created for the industry, he has relatively little to show for his work. He is hardly impoverished. But his “DVD bonus”‘”Time Warner stock options once worth as much as 5 million’”was wiped out by the disastrous AOL Time Warner merger. Then he was abruptly fired after what some Time Warner insiders describe as a power grab by him; Lieberfarb says he was fired only for hounding bosses to restore his bonus. A Time Warner insider said his dismissal letter labeled him “disruptive.” An arbitrator is working on the dispute, and Time Warner is trying to block Lieberfarb from seeking testimony from top officers, including CEO Richard Parsons. Lieberfarb added billions of dollars to the company’s value, says David Boise, his star lawyer, adding, “The question of how a company treats someone who has created that kind of value is interesting.” Time Warner declined to comment.

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>lengthy article here.