Merv Griffin, a musician, singer and actor whose Hollywood career only really took-off when he became a TV game- and talk-show host died in Los Angeles Sunday, of prostate cancer. He was 82. Griffin may be best-known to Found|READers as the creator of the game shows “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune,” or as the host of “The Merv Griffin Show.” But what you might not know is the Mervyn Edward Griffin was also a billionaire, whose entrepreneurial empire, both in range and quality, rivals most business titans we are schooled to emulate.
Skeptical? Well, if you’re younger than 40, you might not ever have seen “The Merv Griffin Show,” a lesser-known but steady competitor to Johnny Carson’s “The Tonight Show.” But thanks in part to Griffin’s celebrity revue, we now enjoy much more progressive talk-show entertainment programs like “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”:http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/index.jhtml and, even, “Digg Nation”:http://revision3.com/diggnation/. Call me crazy, but when I read the following passage from a “2006 Rolling Stone profile of Griffin”:http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/10432607/dear_mister_fantasy/, I was immediately taken back to my first live audience with *Kevin Rose* and *Alex Albrecht*.
…”his talk show, which, in its unabashed celebrity worship and cozy intime atmosphere, offered the illusion of entering a living-room salon where a slightly risque cocktail party was in progress.”
*Just replace the word “celebrity” with “tech” and there you have it.* Sorry to break it to you, Digg fans, but the beer-swilling duo — talented and entertaining tho they be — did not invent the notion of the irreverent industry love-in. They are ably filling Griffin’s (very) big shoes.
So while you’re not likely to read a Harvard Business School case study on the man Rolling Stone cheekily dubbed “Mr. Fantasy”:http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/10432607/dear_mister_fantasy/, would that you could. His holding company, the Griffin Group, manages large holdings in luxury real-estate development, casinos and gaming, film and TV entertainment, horse racing–even investment banking! This is why friends, quoted in today’s “Los Angeles Times ob-bit”:http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-griffin13aug13,0,5826787.story?coll=la-tot-topstories&track=ntottext called him a “one-man Conglomerate.” A news radio report Sunday referred to Griffin as “possibly the most successful businessman in Hollywood history.”
We figured *founders could likely to learn a thing or two from the man.* It turns out Merv Griffin modeled many perennial business virtues, and a fierce entrepreneurial spirit, throughout his career:
1) Founders will recognize *the founder-like ambition and drive present in Griffin’s youth:*
…”Dubbed the “Merv of All Trades” by Larry King, Griffin mowed lawns, put out a newspaper and sold Christmas wreaths as a child in California…” (He was born in San Mateo, California, in what is now Silicon Valley)
2) *He was a creative striver didn’t give up when at first he failed:*
…”Admittedly resentful of being told what to do, Griffin pursued a career as a band singer and eventually made a screen test, which resulted in the disastrous So This Is Love (1953). When Hollywood stardom didn’t materialize, Griffin turned to TV…”
3) *Which is why he eventually became an innovator:*
*”Griffin understood the business of television almost like no one else,”* said David Zurawik, television critic of the “Baltimore Sun”:http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bal-griffinobit0812,0,2231857.story?coll=bal-home-headlines, on the “News Hour with Jim Lehrer”:http://www.pbs.org/newshour/newshour_index.html Monday. *Griffin didn’t invent program syndication, but he perfected it* in the 1970’s. This, according to Zurawik, is what made him, and many other succeeding entertainers, enormously rich. *”Without Griffin there is no Oprah.”*
4) *A dreamer, he was also an operator who knew the value of _diversified_ business models:*
Griffin’s first company, Merv Griffin Enterprises, he sold in 1986 to Coca-Cola Co. for $250 million. The sale included his game shows, but Griffin knew the value of diversified business-models, in this case recurring revenue streams. He had written the theme music for both “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy!”, and as songwriter, kept the rights. While he no longer owned the shows, for as long as the songs are played, the music will continue to provide his estate with millions of dollars in annual royalty fees. (Griffin apparently gushed that he’d made at least $80 million on these royalties over his career.)
The Los Angeles Times reported that Griffin’s net worth had been estimated at $1.6 billion before his death. We encourage you to read more about him, in the articles referenced above, and in his books: “From Where I Sit”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0523420862/ref=sr_1_olp_4/105-2118619-3581261?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1187041378&sr=1-4, and “Merv: Making the Good Life Last”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/B000HWYVEC/sr=1-3/qid=1187040411/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_top/105-2118619-3581261?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books&qid=1187040411&sr=1-3#customerReviews. (Don’t pay attention to the reviews, you’re not reading them for his quality of prose, but rather for his ideas.)
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