Bob Pittman - Lessons from Building Media Empires – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP.12]

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (0:00)
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Hello and welcome everyone. I'm Patrick O'Shaughnessy and this is Founder's Field Guide. Founder's Field Guide is a series of conversations with founders, CEOs and operators building great businesses.
I believe we are all builders in our own way and this series is dedicated to stories and lessons from builders of all types. You can find more episodes at investorfieldguide.com.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:45)
Patrick O'Shaughnessy is the CEO of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management. All opinions expressed by Patrick and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.
Clients of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this podcast.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (2:11)
My guest today, Bob Pittman, has one of the most interesting careers I've ever come across. Today, he's the CEO of iHeart Media, the country's largest operator of radio stations and podcasts. Bob also created MTV and was the CEO of Six Flags and 21st Century Real Estate and the COO of AOL and AOL Time Warner, among many other things. He's basically the Dos Equis man of business.
In our conversation, we discuss why convenience is king for consumers, his lessons from building MTV into one of the most iconic brands and media properties in the world, and the rise of user-generated content platforms and the future of media. We also discuss what qualities make for a great host, a topic that, given my current position, is always fascinating. Please enjoy my great conversation with Bob Pittman.
So, Bob, it's hard to know where to begin this conversation. You're sort of like the Dos Equis man of business, having run MTV, Six Flags, now iHeart Media, several other recognizable big businesses across different industries. I guess my opening question would just be for you, what unites all of these different things that you've done in terms of your personal motivation and interest?

**Bob Pittman** (3:17)
I think when I was a young guy, I described myself as a sociologist.
Then I think back, I think that's probably a pretty good description, that I'm only in businesses that are dependent upon the consumer. I really don't understand B2B, but I do understand the consumer and whether I'm trying to sell that consumer a house or trying to get them to buy an online service called AOL or getting them to tune into a new thing called MTV, the consumer behavior is exactly the same. It just expresses itself in different venues. So I've found that moving from industry to industry, but taking that knowledge of the consumer, not a bunch of formulas for an industry have served me well, especially in emerging industries where there are no rules. And therefore it forces you or maybe allows you to go back to what you should do, which is look at the consumer and build your business from the consumer up, as opposed to trying to cram something on the consumer.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (4:08)
Let's explore your philosophy of the consumer. And maybe we can go back to the, I'll call it like early insights or aha moments that you might've had about what makes people tick and therefore what makes good businesses because it recognizes what makes people tick. So what is your philosophy of the consumer generally speaking?