January 24, 2008 1:29PM

Stairway to Heaven

By Alexis Glick

Oh my goodness….what a day! I’ve been doing interviews all day since I last blogged. We were in position at 7:30am Swiss time and it’s now 6pm. Haven’t eaten. Starving! On my way to the Hotel Belvedere once again for some night life. Yeah :). Actually before that I am interviewing Nasdaq CEO Bob Greifeld. You’ll see that one tomorrow morning.Today was so exciting! Activision CEO Bobby Kotick was so cool. He told me so many amazing stories, some of which I cannot repeat. (Sorry. I was sworn to secrecy!!!) One of the questions that I asked him about off air is how he buys the rights to all of the music on Guitar Hero. Three ways. One way they do it is by paying the rights to the publisher and by hiring a cover band to replay the song in question. Another way is to také the original and pay the master (i.e., pay the owner directly for the rights to that song). The third way is exclusivity. They make a deal with a specific artist, a special deal only with the arts that they feel fall into that exclusivity category. Which exclusivity deal is he currently working on? Led Zeppelin. Shhhh….it’s a secret. Stay tuned for “Stairway to Heaven!” A man after my own heart!! Just because it’s between us, he also told me a funny story about the first time he met Snoop Dogg to discuss a deal with him. He went to introduce him to a colleague and he said, “Hi. I’d like to introduce you to Snoopy Dog.” Yes….that’s right. Snoop’s manager pulled him aside and said, ‘You know, his name is Snoop Dogg, and if you say it again he’ll run you over with his car.” Is that crazy? True story. I swear.

Also I had a fascinating conversation with Tom Russo, vice chairman of Lehman Brothers, about possible solutions to the subprime/housing crisis, which he says is at the epicenter of this economy. He wrote a lengthy report all about those solutions. Spent 100 hours writing it. He gave me a copy. I’ll review it and give you the details. It was created for the G30 members. It’s truly a game changer. It was composed last November and several of his suggestions are being discussed already. I’ll bring you details later.

Oh, and his personal scoop. The late, late, late night crowd goes to a place called the Piano Bar at the Hotel Europa. It’s famous (and infamous) here for midnight singing sessions. Honestly I have not been there to give you better details. Tom tells me Barry Colson, the piano player, is being wooed by Tom and some close friends to move to New York. They are recreating the identical Piano Bar in New York City and they are begging Barry to come. Might that be the new location for CEO’s? Forget Power Lunch….next up Midnight Karoake with your best known execs.

Have to go. Time to interview Greifeld. Stay tuned for party analysis. Will I meet Gates? Perhaps Dell? And who will be on McKinsey’s dance floor tonight? Apparently, they fly in a thirteen piece band from Long Island and this is the MUST party aside from the Google party tomorrow night. We’ll see